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This will eventually morph into farfel!

Forget the Siberian Tiger and the Mountain Gorilla! There’s something far important that may be vanishing from the planet—farfel.. The once ubiquitous gravel shaped noodle known as the Ba’al Shem Tov’s tzimmes is almost nearly extinct, replaced on our Shabbos and Yuntif tables by ziti, penne, couscous, tagliatelli, quinoa, basmati rice, fingerling potatoes and Heaven knows what else.

Last week, I couldn’t even find a bag at my local grocery store—and I live in an orthodox suburb of Jerusalem, not in Tokyo or Rejdavik, Iceland.

“Giveret, are you sure you don’t want petitim.” the manager asked .

No, I didn’t. Fortunately, my friend Shoshana came to the rescue, bringing me a bag from a Hassidic owned supermarket in Jerusalem.

Hooray for the Hassidim—the only group in Jewry who still remember farfel.

Just as I was about to open the bag another friend who is a Jew by choice, did me one better. She gave me a recipe for home made farfel. I had thought making my own but had nearly scrapped then idea when I couldn’t find a recipe in any of my cookbooks.

“Oh it’s easy,” my friend effused. “I used to do it all the time.”

Her enthusiasm didn’t surprise me. Jews by Choice often are often more appreciative of our traditions that those of us who are to the manor born. There’s a lesson in that somewhere which brings me to the point of this little discourse.

The reason I’m so passionate about farfel isn’t because of the carbs,. You can find those same starchy molecules and arguably a better taste in fettucine, spaghetti, rigatoni and a hundred other pastas but you won’t find what farfel has—a message for our souls.

Like fish heads and honey in apples, farfel is a siman, a symbolic food. In Yiddish, the word farfel recalls another word, farfellen which means wiped out, over, finished. Those little oddly shaped noodles remind us that the old year (or week) is over and that it’s time to begin again which is a very important thought to have.

I don’t know if Adam Harishon ever ate farfel but that is what Hashem told him on the very first Shabbos which was the second day of the very first Rosh Hashana and the day after his expulsion from Gan Eden.

Poor Adam. He really messed up. One mitzvah to do and he got it wrong.. As day turned to night, he looked over the horizon certain that the world was ending but then Hashem invited him and Chava (Eve) to celebrate the Shabbos and make a new start.

And so it is with us Best wishes for a Happy New Year. May we all be written and inscribed into the book of life..

Here’s my friend’s recipe for homemade artisanal farfel

One and one quarter cups of whole wheat flour (you can use white but why not take advantage of the additional nutrition?)

One half teaspoon salt

One egg lightly beaten

Beat the egg lightly with the salt. The add the flour working through with your fingers until you’ve formed a hard ball.

. Let the ball stand one hour to dry until it’s hard enough to grate (or wrap it in cellophane and allow to dry overnight)

Then grate the dough ball by hand or with a processor until you form little gravel like pellets –that’s the farfel. You can also chop it into tiny chunks if you prefer.

Spread those out on a tray or a sheet of baking paper to dry some more.

Saute one small onion or a quarter of a cup of finely minced leek and one clove of garlic. You can add four or five fresh mushrooms if you like.

Cover with 2 ½ cups of boiling chicken broth and cook together for 10 minutes or until the broth evaporates. Enjoy

Alternative. Put the farfel into a pot of boiling salted water and then add to soup in place of kneidlach.

Note: this dough produces enough soup noodles for eight but only three to four servings as a pilaf. If you’ve got a large group double or triple the recipe.

END.