Kosher cooking
For some reason, the cheese kreplach has been overshadowed by it’s better known “relation,” the cheese blintz. That is too bad because cheese kreplach are soooo symbolic.Here’s just a few meaning that have been attached to these soft, doughy stuffed triangles. Shavuot is in the third month–that’s when you count from Nissan. The Torah tells … Continue reading
For centuries, Sephardic women have been baking a bread called the the Siete Cielos in honor of Shavuot. In Ladino Siete Cielos means the seven heavens. This refers to a teaching about how the seven celestial spheres opened up when G-d gave the Torah on Mount Sinai. Ladino is a blend of Hebrew and Spanish … Continue reading
Tinted Eggs Believe it or not coloring eggs is a Jewish custom, though our color scheme doesn’t include pink, lilac or lime green. Lag B’Omer is the 33rd day of the Omer count between Passover and Shavuot. On L’ag B’Omer the fatal plague infecting Rabbi Akiva’s students ended. L’ag B’Omer is also the yahrzeit or … Continue reading
While Ashkenazim spent the night after Pesach packing up the Pesach dishes, Morrocan Jews have a party called Mimouna. They have been doing this for centuries though no one is really sure why. Unlike most holidays, Mimouna doesn’t appear in any books of Jewish law and it’s celebrated only by Jews of Morroccans and North … Continue reading
There is no real reason to eat matzo balls on Pesach. Neither Pharoah nor Moses ate them and yet they are integral to the Seder. In many homes it is unimaginable to retell the story of the Exodus without taking a break midway through the telling to enjoy a bowl of matzo balls swimming in … Continue reading
Some people go for walks or sit in coffee shops when they want to have heart to heart talks. Not Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld. When Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld wanted to have a deep conversation one of his students, he’d invite that student to help pickle the herring. Fish pickling on the curriculum at Shear Yoshuv, the … Continue reading
It is centuries old custom to serve stuffed cabbage on Purim. Cabbage was of course a staple food in Eastern Europe, abundant and easy to store. The connection to Purim? Gematriya again, the ancient art of letter number equation. Cruv which means cabbage has the same letters and numerical value as Baruch which means blessed … Continue reading
For years, a neighbors always sent us a plate of chickpeas for Purim . None of us understood the gift. Why chickpeas? I never bought chickpeas, not even in cans. Weren’t the only people who ate chickpeas were Italians, vegetarians or people who were having Shalom Zachor–a Friday night party celebrating the birth of a … Continue reading
Hungarian Purim: Kindl No kindl, has nothing to do with the eponymous ereader . Kindl is an almost forgotten Hungarian Jewish pastry that deserves to be remembered. Kindl is made of pastry stretched so thin you’re hardly meant to notice it . Inside is a tantalizingly sweet and tangy mixture of walnut chunks, raisins, lemon … Continue reading
When I was a kid lekvar was something one bought in a store. A single company Simon Fisher, manufactured the stuff . I believe that they are still at it, but sadly they don’t sell their product in my neighborhood. In English lekvar is known as prune butter. Set aside any crude quips, and know … Continue reading
