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
Offal is the British name for animal gut, what we Americans euphemistically call or organ or “variety meats.’ I prefer the British term because it sounds like “awful” which is the opinion most people have of this type of food. Because organ meats are high in fat and cholesterol lots of people won’t touch the … Continue reading
Many years ago a couple lived together in a small Polish shtetl . Though they were both basically good people, they had a disagreement they couldn’t resolve. In time their difference grew so severe that they were contemplating divorce. But before throwing in the towel they sought counsel from the local wise man who happened … Continue reading
Though nobody knows for certain whether Mother Sarah braided six strand challot in her tent, these lovely edible macrames have been featured on Ashkenazi Shabbos tables for centuries, maybe even longer. The number six is no accident. On the Shabbos table there are two loaves. That means if each one is fashioned from six strands … Continue reading
As far as I can tell there isn’t any mystical reason for eating gefilte fish with chrain, no kaballah about the fish being white as in mercy and the chrain being red as in judgment. The pairing is purely a matter of taste,-the sweetish relatively bland fish contrasting with the fiery sauce though it must be pointed out … Continue reading
I’m not a gefilte fish lover. I’ve been known to refuse the stuff even when it’s dressed up like a fishy petite four.But gefilte fish isn’t something to sneer at. It is actually a reflection of Jewish culinary genius.Since Shabbos means fish but the Sabbath laws forbid using a utensil to separate the bones from the flesh (you can … Continue reading
For years I looked at those women in the supermarket whose carts were piled high with margarine, sugar and flour with a mixture of awe and disgust. What could one possibly do with 12 sacks of flour, a dozen bars of margarine and enough white sugar to cause permament tooth decay and ADHD? Then I became … Continue reading
For years, even decades, I avoided baking bread. Bread baking? Me? Bread has strange ingredients like yeast-now what does one do with that? And even stranger instructions. Proof the yeast. What kind of proof? Is this something legal? Punch down the dough Why? What did the dough do to deserve such violence? Meanwhile, my friends had … Continue reading
