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Since Rosh Ha-shana is the beginning of the new year, we try to be on our best behavior, which is a good omen for blessing throughout the year. People should try not to be angry or fight with family or friends. They should make special efforts to create a positive, happy atmosphere by complimenting others and being affectionate and loving. Some people buy gifts for their family members in honor of the new year. It is customary to greet everyone with the wish, for a "Happy New Year and May you be written and inscribed in the book of life.”
As a good omen for the entire year, it is customary to eat good, high-quality food on Rosh Ha-shana. Additionally, there is a widespread custom to eat foods with positive symbolic meanings. Thus, it is customary to dip the challah in honey or sugar, and to eat apples dipped in honey or sugar, to symbolize a sweet and good new year. Pomegranates are frequently eaten, as they have many seeds, expressing a wish that our merits increase. Many eat fish, which symbolize fertility. Some have the head of a ram or a fish, expressing a wish that we be the head (winner) and not the tail (loser).
Many foods are eaten because wordplay on their names can yield positive wishes. Some examples are tamar (dates), which yields “Let our enemies and sins come to an end (yitamu)”; selek (beets), which yields “Let our enemies disappear (yistalku)”; karti (leeks), which yields “May our enemies be destroyed (yikartu)”; and pumpkin (kara), which yields “May our merits be proclaimed (yikaru) before God.”
There is a widespread custom to recite the Tashlikh prayer on the afternoon of the first day of Rosh Ha-shana. Its name comes from a central part of the prayer: “Hurl (tashlikh) all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19). Since we would like the water to obliterate our sins, we recite it next to a water source. An additional reason to recite it near water is because water is associated with purity.
