With bagels sold on every corner and in the supermarket frozen food section why bother to make them at home? Sadly, many of those so called bagels are nothing more than soft rolls with holes in their middles. In Poland and in the Jewish neighborhoods of the early 20th century US, bagels were crisp on … Continue reading
Here’s a little secret you’re unlikely to hear from your financial advisor. Just before Yom Kippur have a friend feed you a slice of honey cake. Two slices even. And not because the sweet carbs will help you fast better. A pre Yom Kippur gift of honey cake, also called Lekach is the secret to a … Continue reading
While I grew up eating honey cooked carrots every Rosh Hashana, I never realized this was holy food until I read Rabbi Dovid Meisel’s account of the every day life of Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, the previous Satmar Rebbe. In case you’re unfamiliar with his story, the old Satmar Rebbe walked out of Bergen Belsen alive. … Continue reading
Now I understand why nobody makes Teiglach anymore. You know, Teiglach, that ancient Lithuanian Jewish Rosh Hashana delicacy assembled from hundreds of tiny balls of honey soaked dough. My eyes light up when a recipe is labeled “easy” and “quick.” Teiglach is clearly not this. Teiglach harkens back to a time when women rolled their … Continue reading
It feels like the summer has hardly begun but this Shabbat we usher in the month of Elul, the opening act to the High Holiday Season. Elul is a heavy time for Jews. Since Rosh Hashana is the Yom HaDin, the Judgment Day, Elul is the time to prepare for that judgment. The way to do this is … Continue reading
I know that this is hard to believe but the Torah doesn’t anything about blintzes or cheesecake, or cheese kreplach or even sour cream for Shavuot. The only cooked food mentioned is bread, as in the Shnei Lehem, two loaves made from the wheat of the new crop and brought to the Temple along with the … Continue reading
Growing up I thought I knew the scoop on L’ag B’Omer . The story I was told was about Rabbi Akiva’s students who disrespected one another and then died in a plague. On L’ag B’Omer (the 33rd day of the Omer count which spans from Passover until Shavuot) they stopped dying and we celebrate. Now that I lived in Israel … Continue reading
I suspect that the custom of eating turkey on Purim to commemorate King Ahashverosh’s reign (Mi Hodu Ve’ad Kush) as well as his limited intelligence (a turkey brain) is based on a mistaken word play. In modern Hebrew the bird is called a Tarnegol Hodu, literally an Indian chicken referring to the now outmoded name for the … Continue reading
Yes, I was a bit confused to learn that there is a recipe called Amalek Kugel. Amalek? Isn’t his evil tribe our greatest historical enemy? Wasn’t the wicked Haman his grandson? Aren’t Hitler, the Hamas terrorists, the Hizbollah, Ahamdinjead said to be his descendents? Naming a kugel after him sounded about as strange as naming … Continue reading
It is mind-blowing to consider the ways that Torah teachings show up in Jewish cooking.This week is Shabbat Shira, when we read the Song of the Sea, Moses’s poetic prayer uttered after the sea split. This is one of the peak moments in Jewish history when, our people achieved a perfect faith and the simplest maid servant … Continue reading
