3 Tips for Navigating Rosh Hashanah in Eating Disorder Recovery

Rosh Hashanah, a holiday to celebrate the Jewish New Year, is a time to gather with loved ones and enjoy traditions of food and prayers. Yet for those in eating disorder recovery, this celebration can bring up stress with more food around.

By: Elizabeth Foot

This year, Rosh Hashanah takes place from sundown on September 15th through nightfall on September 17th. Families and communities celebrate the Jewish New Year during this time, often serving symbolic foods like apples, honey, and challah. It is also a time to reflect on personal alignment, spiritual rebirth, and relationships as a new year begins.

Celebrating holidays can be stressful for those with eating disorders. If you are struggling with an eating disorder or know someone who is, there are steps you can take to enjoy the holiday and have a more peaceful Rosh Hashanah.

Communicate Your Rosh Hashanah Plan

Communicate with family members or friends if you want to bring your food to the holiday celebration. Making a plan with your support network can help align everyone to make this food-focused gathering less stressful. Coming to the celebration with a plan can limit unintended triggers during prayer or meal sharing.

Incorporate Moments of Peace

Finding or making peaceful moments might look like stepping away to a bedroom or hallway to take deep breaths or asking loved ones to go on a short walk before or after the meal or prayers.

Use the Opportunity to Reflect

A core tenet of Rosh Hashanah is self-reflection, and engaging with loved ones and religious traditions offers an excellent opportunity to continue working through recovery. The triggers that often arise around holidays are challenging, so having an understanding support system can make the situation much more manageable. If you celebrate with close friends and not at home, this is an opportunity to bring friends closer in reflection and your recovery. Communicating expectations or what traditions you will uphold is also an option.

Remember that Rosh Hashanah is only a few days out of the year and is not a defining factor of your recovery from an eating disorder. Protecting your peace and reflecting on how far you’ve come can go hand in hand on this holiday.

At BALANCE eating disorder treatment center™, our compassionate, highly skilled team of clinicians is trained to diagnose and treat the spectrum of eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, and other disordered eating and body image issues. Our clinical treatment team has extensive experience working with clients in the Jewish community. Our admissions team is happy to answer any questions about BALANCE’s programs.

Read more about our philosophy here, or book a free consultation call with our admissions team to discuss the next steps here.

This post was written by BALANCE Blog Contributor, Elizabeth Foot (she/her).

Elizabeth is currently pursuing her Master's of Public Health in nutrition and dietetics from the University of Michigan, on track to become a registered dietician. Prior to returning to school, Elizabeth received her B.A. in Public Policy from Hamilton College in 2020.

Since graduating Hamilton, Elizabeth has worked for an infertility insurance company as a marketing associate, has volunteered with Multi-Service Eating Disorder Association (MEDA), and has advocated on Capitol Hill for expanding insurance coverage to registered dietitians as part of the Eating Disorders Coalition (EDC). Elizabeth is also a strong supporter of intuitive eating, HAES, and is excited to become a licensed practitioner working in the ED field. In her free time, Elizabeth can be found creating recipes, practicing yoga, or counting down the days until she can get a dog.

Eating Disorders, Jewish Community, HolidaysAmanda Nussbaumeating disorder, eating disorder recovery, mental health, jewish community, jewish new year, rosh hashanah and eating disorder, rosh hashanah, rosh hashanah ed recovery