Simanim Part II

Here are the brachot (blessings) and the "requests" said with each of the Simanim before the main Rosh Hashanah meal.

After Hamotzi and before eating the main holiday meal, say the following:

Date (tamar)

Say the blessing borei pri ha’etz and eat a date; then take another date and recite: May it be Your will, Hashem our God, God of our forefathers, that they (our enemies) cease to exist
(yitamu sounds like tamar).

Take a vegetable (not one of the symbolic ones below) and recite the blessing borei pri ha’adamah, while having in mind the other vegetables that will be eaten.

Leeks (karte)
May it be Your will, Hashem our God, God of our forefathers, that they be decimated (she’ikartu sounds like karte) – our foes and our enemies and all who seek our harm.

Beet greens or Swiss chard (selek)
May it be Your will, Hashem our God, God of our forefathers, that they be removed (yistalek sounds like selek) – our foes and our enemies and all who seek our harm.

Black-eyed peas (rubiya)
May it be Your will, Hashem our God, God of our forefathers, that our merits increase like rubiya.

Winter squash (kara)
May it be Your will, Hashem our God, God of our forefathers, that You tear up (sh’tikra sounds like kara) the evil edict of our judgment; and may our merits be declared before You.

Pomegranate (rimon)
May it be Your will, Hashem our God, God of our forefathers, that our merits be plentiful as the seeds of a pomegranate.

Head of a lamb or fish (rosh)
May it be Your will, Hashem our God, God of our forefathers, that we be like a head and not like a tail.

Apple dipped in honey
May it be Your will, Hashem our God, God of our forefathers, that there be renewed for us a good and sweet year, from the beginning of the year until the end of the year.

(Translations are from The Orot Sephardic Rosh Hashannah Mahazor, Orot, Inc. 1996)