Let the Feasting Begin--It’s the Jewish New Year : Religion: Thousands in L.A. usher in the Hebrew year 5751 with prayers

The start of the 10 Days of Penitence was just hours away. But Masha Metzger wasn’t going to have to apologize for leaving anything out of her food basket.

The Hancock Park woman was standing in the checkout line at a Fairfax Avenue market Wednesday after finishing the shopping that would to carry her through the two-day Rosh Hashanah celebration that marks the start of the Jewish New Year.

Thousands of Los Angeles-area Jews ushered in the Hebrew year 5751 with prayers at neighborhood synagogues at sundown Wednesday and then at family feasts at home. The observance ends at sundown on Yom Kippur, Sept. 29.

“Tonight we’ll be having fish, vegetables, soup, turkey and stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potato tsimmes , potato kugel souffle, honey cake and apples dipped in honey,” Metzger said, checking over her shopping list.

“Thursday night we’ll have fish, honey orange chicken, Jerusalem kugel , carrots, green beans and carrot cake. Friday night we’ll have chicken soup, roast, salad, potato knishes, a green vegetable, green noodle kugel , fruit and apple cake. And challah bread at each meal.”

Metzger said she was expecting to feed about 15 at each meal.

“I’ve got giant pots to cook in and plenty of help from the kids. They’re 17, 16, 14, 12 and 6,” she said, pausing to run down a mental list. “Well, not the 14-year-old--he’s no help.”

At a fish market a few doors away, Barry Weiss of Los Angeles was buying a carp to serve at his family gathering.

“We’ll be eating it tonight, tomorrow--for as long as it lasts, in fact,” he laughed as he selected a large one from the glass-fronted display counter. “It’s a big fish. But we have a big family.”

Feasting is a customary way of starting the Jewish New Year. Delicacies are prepared for good luck. Breads and apple slices dipped in honey are accompanied by prayers for a sweet new year.

Fairfax Avenue--a center of Los Angeles-area Jewish culture--was filled with last-minute shoppers hurrying to finish before sundown.

“I’m not that religious--I’m more traditional,” said Beverly Hills resident Lili Winter, who ducked into a bakery to buy a round-shaped loaf of challah bread. “Being on Fairfax makes you feel more Jewish than you really are.”

Since Rosh Hashanah is a time for self-examination and penitence, her husband, Herbert Winter, said he would reflect on ways to avoid “shouting at my wife once in a while.” Upon reflection, however, he quickly added: “After being married 43 years, I really don’t do too bad!”

Inside the bakery, Beth Lewis pulled number 53 from a ticket dispenser and settled in for a wait. “I came down here from Woodland Hills to buy bread,” Lewis said.

“I came from Torrance,” said shopper Renee Rodson, standing next to her. “That’s nothing, I came from Houston just to get challah, “ chimed in Esther Berens, visiting friends in town for the holiday.

The electric sign on the wall behind the harried bakery clerks read: “Now serving Number 53.” Lewis laughed. “We’re going to be here three weeks past Purim,” she joked, referring to a Jewish holiday that comes in March.

Up the street at a bookstore and gift shop, Max Narod of Granada Hills tried on a prayer shawl and then bought it. “I’ll be using it at home starting tonight. We get together with the in-laws after we come home from the synagogue. It’s definitely a joyous holiday,” he said.

Shop co-owner Ebbi Haroonian said business was brisk from customers purchasing New Year’s cards, candles and prayer books. He said rabbis and cantors bought more than 50 ram’s horns during the last two weeks to use at Rosh Hashanah observances.

The ram’s horn was used in biblical times to call the Israelites to meetings. These days, the shofar , as it’s called, is sounded after Rosh Hashanah prayers are recited. “If their old one has a crack in it, it’s not kosher to use it,” Haroonian explained, fingering a $185 horn.

Many Fairfax Avenue shops will be closed today and Friday because of the holiday. But not all.

Bank manager Menachem Dagan said his branch at the busy corner of Fairfax Avenue and Beverly Boulevard will be open. But probably empty.

“Sixty or 70% of our clientele is Jewish,” Dagan said, interrupting himself to take a telephone call--in Hebrew--from a customer with a question about his account.

“We’ll be open,” falafel stand employee Anat Efraim said glumly. Then, she added brightly: “But I’ll be off!”