September 14, 2012: Rosh Hashanah Edition

Sponsored by the Benjamin and Anna E. Wiesman Family Endowment Fund AN AGENCY OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA

FOOD for thought September 14, 2012 | 27 Elul 5772 Vol. 92 | No. 51 3 Sections

2 | The Jewish Press | September 14, 2012

Introduction

American Jewish Press Association Award Winner

Nebraska Press National Newspaper Association Association Award winner 2008

What’s for dinner?

Welcome to the Jewish Press Rosh Hashanah edition! Here we are again; summer has ended, the kids are back in school, and the High Holidays are almost here. It’s amazing how fast time passes when you’re having fun. This time, we’ve put together an issue centered on the many roles food plays in our lives.

It’s about much more than just the perfect borscht; food is something that ties us together, often taking center role in our best memories. It’s not about what meal we eat as much as who we eat it with. Friday night dinners, holiday spreads, birthday celebrations and whatever it was we had for lunch after that Bris (do you remember? I don’t-but I definitely remember who was there).

Taste and memory are closely linked. It’s evident in the story about Brandon Thomas, as told by his mother Andie, in how many of you wax poetic about the food in Israel (Sybil Kaplan will take you down memory lane with her description of Jerusalem’s restaurants) and in how so many people seem to have a favorite Julio’s moment.

When we think about Jewish food, there are a few obvious examples that come to mind. There’s challah, and matzah ball soup, gefillte fish and kugel and stuffed cabbage. Then there is falafel, shoarma, couscous and halvah, we have kreplach and towering deli sandwiches, and, of course, the trusted bageldon’t forget the lox. And every single one of those menu choices comes with a plethora of stories. Those included here are but the tip of the iceberg; luckily, we now have a food section on our website where you can continue to see your favorite recipes and read about the people who create them. As always, if you miss anything, give us a call. There’s always room for more stories, whether it is in the next paper or online.

Speaking of that website: 5772 has been a pretty exciting year for the Jewish Press. After much research and debate, we moved forward with the new JewishOmaha.org. While creating our new online home, we gave voice to the One Campus initiative, as every single agency and department can now be found in the same place. In order for that to hap-

(Founded in 1920) Andrew Ruback President Annette van de Kamp-Wright Editor Richard Busse Creative Director Shiri Tene Advertising Executive Jessie Wees Advertising Executive Lori Kooper-Schwarz Assistant Editor Barbara Kirkpatrick Bookkeeper

Jewish Press Board Eric Dunning, Caryn Scheer, Bobbi Leibowitz, Past President; Phyllis Brown; Daniel Christensen; Mel Epstein; Scott Farkas; Sandy Friedman; Noah Priluck; Paul Rabinowitz; Mark Senal; Nancy Wolf.

The mission of the Jewish Federation of Omaha is to build and sustain a strong and vibrant Omaha Jewish Community and to support Jews in Israel and around the world.

Agencies of the Federation are: Community Relations, Jewish Community Center, Center for Jewish LIfe, Jewish Social Services, and the Jewish Press.

Guidelines and highlights of the Jewish Press, including front page stories and announcements, can be found online at: www jewishoma

pen, we needed both an enormous amount of interagency communication, and a really great web designer. I think our new website is one of the coolest things we’ve accomplished during the past year, and I want to thank designer Peggy Zier, as well as every single professional who spent time and energy on making this project a success.

As always, many people have worked together to make this special holiday edition happen, and they deserve thanks.

First of all, the Jewish Press staff members who worked tirelessly on this issue: creative director Richard Busse, for being the best problem solver on the planet (and for having phenomenal taste in music); assistant-editor Lori KooperSchwarz, for having both great attention to detail and a healthy sense of humor; advertising executive Jessie Wees for never accepting no and having a 1000-watt smile, and advertising executive Shiri Tene for discovering so many new advertisers and putting up with being the only dog owner in ha.org; click on ‘Jewish Press.’

Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Board of Directors, the Jewish Federation of Omaha Board of Directors, or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole. The Jewish Press reserves the right to edit signed letters and articles for space and content. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the Kashrut of any product or establishment.

Editorial The Jewish Press is an agency of the Jewish Federation of Omaha.

Deadline for copy, ads and photos is: Thursday, 9 a.m., eight days prior to publication. E-mail editorial

material and photos to: avandekamp @jewishomaha.org; send ads (in .TIF or .PDF format) to: rbusse@jew ishomaha.org.

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an office full of cat lovers. I also want to thank the Jewish Press Board of Directors for taking the role of lay leader seriously, and helping us get better all the time.

Next, I want to thank our advertisers. Without them, there would be no paper to put together and deliver to your mailbox. They literally put their money where their mouth is, and when you go through these pages, please pay attention to the businesses that support us. And if you end up using their services, please mention where you saw their name.

We want to say thank you to our Jewish Federation of Omaha President Jody Malashock. She never fails to be supportive and reads the Jewish Press with great attention to detail. Someday we will ask her to be our proofreader; until then, we know she will continue to be a great president.

Thank you to Barbara Kirkpatrick for keeping the books clean and making sure we don’t always take ourselves so seriously, and to Chief Financial Officer Jordana Glazer for being a financial rock star. And of course, thanks go to Mike Silverman, who never, ever tells us what to do, but is a big fan of freedom of the press-- especially this Press.

We want to thank our freelance writers: Ozzie, Oliver, Hal, Amber, Gary, Sybil, Bert, Gloria, Sarah and Lois; we know we can never pay you back for the hours you’ve spent during the past year writing for us. We hope you will continue for many years to come. We have that same hope for our proofreaders Margaret Kirkeby, Deborah Platt, Dottie Rosenblum, and Suzanne Singer. If any mistakes remain in this issue, the responsibility is entirely mine.

There are many other people in our community in general, and our building in particular, who help us on a daily basis. Naming them all would be impossible, but you know who you are, and we thank you. Lastly, I want to thank you, our readers, for staying with this paper year after year. We wish you all a fabulous, healthy and tasty New Year!

Andy Ruback, President Annette van de Kamp, Editor and space restrictions, but it should be printed as soon as possible to ensure timeliness. Letters may be published without giving an opposing view.

Information shall be verified before printing. All letters must be signed by the writer, but the name can be withheld at the writer’s request. The Jewish Press will not publish letters that appear to be part of an organized campaign, nor letters copied from the Internet. No letters should be published from candidates running for office, but others may write on their behalf.

Letters of thanks should be confined to commending an institution for a program, project or event, rather than personally thanking paid staff, unless the writer chooses to turn the “Letter to the Editor” into a paid per-

sonal ad or a news article about the event, project or program which the professional staff supervised. For information, contact Annette van de KampWright, Jewish Press Editor, 402.334.6450.

Postal The Jewish Press (USPS 275620) is published weekly (except for the first week of January and July) on Friday for $40 per calendar year U.S.; $80 foreign, by the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Phone: 402.334.6448; FAX: 402.334.5422.

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Have a Sweet New Year

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Getting our Tex-Mex fix at Julio’s

by BERT LEWIS On my way to Julio’s, to interview Rick Fox for this story, I thought about how I would begin. When I got there, I decided to simply ask: “How does a nice Jewish boy like you come to be known as the guy who runs a Tex-Mex restaurant?” Rick settled back in his chair, smiled indulgently at the bad joke, and began to tell me the story.

Clearly, it didn’t happen overnight. Rick described many

Rick Fox, owner of Julio’s

jobs he held, from his earliest up to the present day Julio’s; however, he pointed out the first restaurant job was as a busboy for one of the city’s few (at the time) French Restaurants. He worked under the watchful eye of the meticulously trained head waiter, who never allowed anything but perfection from his busboys! This, then, was the beginning of a career shaped by various jobs in other food establishments. And, some of those were as a bartender. He tells that one night, while on the job behind the bar, he ran into some of his old buddies.

“These guys told me they were getting together to open a kind of bar and grill place, located in the Old Market district. They urged me to join them as a partner,” according to Rick. As it happened, he had been somewhat restless in his current job, so he listened to what the guys had to say. In August of 1977, the first Julio’s opened in the Old Market area. Rick described it as basically a bar that served some food items, among which were a taco and perhaps a burrito with maybe one or two other Mexican favorites. He says “our customers demonstrated their preferences by giving less of their attention to the familiar American choices, and more to the lesser known Mexican items.” In other words, people loved those “unusual” choices.

“Remember, this is 1977,” Rick says, “and there really weren’t Mexican restaurants all over town, as there are now.

That food was something “new” and quickly welcomed and accepted.”

Obviously. Two years later, in 1979, the young businessmen decided to expand and opened Julio’s West on 132nd and Arbor. By now, the idea of Mexican food was clearly a good idea, and it was time to capitalize on it. Their chef had been sent to Mexico, where she worked for six weeks, gathering and learning recipes and knowledge about the food and it’s preparation and presentation.

Things went well, with the restaurant becoming known for the Tex-Mex specialties.

By now, the original group has split, and Rick Fox proudly tells me that his Julio’s is in its 23rd year of business. In recent years, the location has changed from 132 and Arbor to 120th and Center, and the faithful who wouldn’t eat their Nachos any place else enjoy a larger and more comfortable happy place to eat their favorite specialty goodies.

All of the above simply reflects the history of the way a small group of very young men decided to go into the restaurant business, and what happened when they did.

Perhaps more interesting is to sit with Rick, when it’s “after the lunch rush”, and listen to him talk about the warmth of the restaurant, the almost family feeling provided by the many regulars who have been coming for many of the 23 years. He spoke about the pleasure of being stopped one recent evening by a young girl, who told him she was celebrating her 16th birthday.

And, that she had been celebrating her birthday at Julio’s every year since she was 7 years old. How could he not beam, telling such a sweet story?

He also mentioned that on one special night every week, a family comes in for their Tex-Mex “fix”. He says there may be just two of them, or there might be six or eight, but sure as it’s Friday, some or all of that family will be there, around their own “special table”. Again that happy smile flashes, seemingly with the knowledge there’s something special about the place.

Maybe something extra?

(How do you say hamish in Spanish?)

He ticks off a list of regulars who never miss showing up... people who have been coming since grown up 23-year- old Julio’s was just a little place where they had great nachos and tacos. Rick also recognizes that some of his employees have been with him since they too were “just kids”. One youngster presently working there is the child of a long time employee - second generation on the payroll. Rick tells these stories as though he’s speaking of his family. And in a way, they are something like family, these folks who hustle plates full of the sometimes spicy and always delicious alternatives for meat and potatoes.

So what’s the bottom line here? Is Julio’s the kind of place it is because of the well-loved Tex-Mex menu, or does the big guy running the place get all the credit? Do people come in and relax and prepare to enjoy the entire experience because Fox makes it the kind of place where that can happen, or does it just happen? If you’re a regular, you no doubt have strong opinions. and you also know, (if you’re a regular) you can expect to see people there who seem to always be there when you are. Hmmm. Something to think about.

Also, here’s something else to wonder about. After all, Omaha is a place where Tex-Mex food is more than readily available. There’s no shortage of places to choose when having a taco attack... this isn’t the 1970’s anymore. So when somebody says “let’s do tacos for dinner tonight,” there are many, many options. And yet, I know exactly which place I’d recommend.

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Michael Boekstal: Lincoln’s Lowland entrepreneur

by SARAH KELEN If Rosh Hashanah has you making resolutions like living greener, making healthy, home-cooked meals, and doing tzedakah, Michael Boekstal would love to talk to you.

Michael is a rabbi, a handyman, and a professional who works with adults who have developmental and behavioral challenges.

Boekstal’s latest venture combines all of these interests in one box (and it literally is a box).

A native of Holland, Boekstal has developed a business called the Lowland Oven (www.lowlandoven.com), selling his own handmade Dutch hooikist (hay box) slow

employment so they can support themselves,” Boekstal noted.

Currently, through Region V Services, Boekstal works with a young man who has developmental and behavioral needs. One of the activities they do together is woodworking in Boekstal’s workshop, making small storage boxes for jewelry or fishing tackle.

Doing this gives them a project to work on together, and it helps the young man develop his practical skills as well as his social skills. Boekstal is hoping that, as the Lowland Oven expands, he will be able to hire and train a diverse staff of workers who

L’Shana Tova!

Wishing everyone a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Michael Boekstal with a Lowland Oven.

MCGILL, GOTSDINER, WORKMAN & LEPP, P.C., L.L.O. A T T O R N E Y S

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New Year.

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cooker. The Lowland Oven is a hyper-insulated box that helps stews, grains, and meats cook slowly at an even temperature, but more quickly and economically than a slow cooker. To cook a meal in the Lowland Oven, one starts the food boiling on the stove top (or campfire), and after ten minutes transfers the closed pot to the Lowland Oven, where the thick walls and tight closure keep the food at cooking temperature for hours.

Originally, the hooikist was a way for farmers to have a hot midday meal as they worked in the fields. They would set off in the morning, carrying their boiling pots in a hooikist. At lunch time, they took out the still hot food, sat on the closed box, and ate a hearty lunch before returning to their physical labor. During World War II, a Dutch family’s hooikist might allow them to eat a hot meal even despite shortages of fuel.

In the 1960s and 1970s, this old-fashioned slow cooker was left behind by a generation more interested in modern innovations.

However, the hooikist began to reappear in Holland with this generation’s “green” movement.

With the Lowland Oven, Boekstal is adding some new twists on an old technology. Rather than insulating the Lowland Oven with hay, Boekstal is using a material made from recycled denim jeans. This material is an extremely efficient insulator, it is biodegradable, and it is made in the United States. It also keeps used clothes out of the landfill, which makes the Lowland Oven ecological in its construction as well as its use.

The Lowland Oven will certainly appeal to eco-friendly cooks, as well those who like returning from a hike to a hot meal at their campsite. However, Boekstal’s real goal with The Lowland Oven is to provide employment and skills to those who would otherwise be at a disadvantage in the labor market: people with developmental disabilities, those overcoming addictions, or individuals who have served prison terms. “It’s the highest form of tzedakah, helping people find

might otherwise struggle on the job market.

“There’s a Yiddish saying in the Netherlands: ‘may you have lots of personnel.’ It’s a curse, because it’s so hard dealing with workers,” Boekstal joked. The Lowland Oven is still in its infancy, but Boekstal’s goal is to grow his business to about ten employees. After that, he would love to help other social entrepreneurs in different cities set up their own Lowland Oven manufacturing facilities with a similar mix of employees.

In developing his business, Boekstal was inspired by the model of the Grayston Bakery in Yonkers, NY, the producers of the brownies in Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.

Grayston combines socially-responsible entrepreneurship with the highest level of product quality. They give jobs to those hard to employ, thereby helping strengthen their local community. The Lowland Oven shares the Grayston Bakery’s emphasis on care in their manufacturing as well as its social justice mission. Boekstal also plans to donate a portion of the Lowland Oven’s profits to a food charity.

Currently Boekstal and his wife, Shannon Mitchell Boekstal, are experimenting with their own Lowland Oven, converting recipes from stovetop or electric slow cooker. The Lowland Oven website has a blog on which they are posting some favorite recipes. As Shannon’s garden is producing a bumper crop of zucchini and eggplant, look for lots of summer vegetable recipes. They are getting good ideas from friends, as well.

A Dutch friend found out about Boekstal’s business on Facebook and pointed out that a hooikist is the best way to cook rice. The Boekstals tried it and agreed: “you can’t overcook it!” Cooking your rice or potatoes off the stove also helps save burner space for the dishes that need direct heat.

When you are sweating by the stove, stirring fruit compote as the brisket and the tsimmes bake for hours, you might just be inspired to order a Lowland Oven. Maybe your holiday preparations will be that much easier, that much more eco-friendly, and that much cooler in 5774!

September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 5

She makes it sound so easy

by OZZIE NOGG Ina Garten’s culinary career has risen like a perfect soufflé.

Professionally known as the Barefoot Contessa, Garten -born Ina Rosenberg in Brooklyn -- is a self-taught cook who parlayed an aptitude for science into an epicurean empire consisting of a gourmet eatery, best-selling cookbooks, magazine columns, cake mixes (some at $14.95 a pop), an E m my - n o m i n at e d Food Network television show plus a breezy online blog.

Ina’s 2012 Fourth of July posting read, “This year, like every year, I’m grilling Hebrew National knockwurst and serving them on Eli Zabar’s delicious brioche hot dog rolls with Gulden’s Mustard in the squeeze bottle. No fancy Dijon mustard here!” Though she’s Jewish to the core, Ina ain’t your bubbie’s balabusteh.

It’s a wonder the woman knows cholent from chalupas.

Her mother refused Ina’s requests to help in the kitchen and instead encouraged her to concentrate on schoolwork. “In high school, I was an okay student but when it came time for the annual science fair I came alive. The nerdy boys in my class would spend the entire year studying something really important for their projects, like how to cure cancer. I, on the other hand, would throw together some crazy experiment a month before the science fair and I’d win all the prizes. It made the boys nuts. Looking back, I realize that while the guys were going to the library and studying what had already been done, I was more interested in experimenting to develop something new. I’d form a hypothesis, test my theory, and then note the results. For me, cooking isn’t all that different from those science projects except that, instead of hydrochloric acid, you end up with chocolate cupcakes.”

Life as the Barefoot Contessa was not in Ina Rosenberg’s original game plan. She met her future husband, Jeffrey Garten, when she was 15, married him at 20, and in 1972 moved to Washington, D.C., where she became a nuclear energy wonk writing policy papers in the Ford and Carter administrations. On weekends, to escape the tedium of her job, Garten cooked and hosted dinner parties at home. In her free time she flipped houses for extra cash.

By 1978, Garten found herself thinking, “There’s got to be more to life than this.” When she spotted a newspaper listing for a specialty food shop for sale in the Hamptons, Ina and Jeffrey drove up to Long Island to see the store. “I fell in

L’Shana Tova

love,” Garten said. With the profits from her real estate deals, Garten made an offer on the spot. Two months later she owned Barefoot Contessa, named after the movie starring Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner.

“The former proprietor is Italian and her family called her the ‘barefoot contessa’ when she was young,” Garten explained. “The name is all about being elegant and earthy

Ina Rosenberg Garten aka the Barefoot Contessa. which is what we’re about.” Ina’s parents were not pleased.

Their daughter, with a prestigious White House job, was resigning to open a grocery store? Why? To which Ina answered, “My job in Washington was intellectually exciting and stimulating but it wasn’t me at all. I had no experience in the food business, but I knew it was exactly what I wanted to do.”

Jeffrey Garten was sure his wife’s venture would be a onesummer thing. Ina acknowledges that she “didn’t know how to hire people, how to slice smoked salmon or how to choose brie.” But she did know how to make bread, brownies, roast chicken and other comfort food that people would buy at Barefoot Contessa, take home, heat up and enjoy.

Within a month the lines were out the door, with fans praising the simple, delicious food. Soon, Barefoot Contessa became a popular gathering place, attracting celebrity clientele such as Steven Spielberg and Lauren Bacall. After twenty years, Garten sold the shop to her employees, tried her hand at writing a cookbook, and BAM (to echo Garten’s colleague Emeril Lagasse), Ina’s debut Barefoot Contessa Cookbook sold over 100,000 copies in its first year.

Today, Amazon lists ten Barefoot Contessa titles. As of 2008, Garten’s cookbooks have sold over 6 million copies combined. She admits to being shocked at her initial success. “I think in a world of cookbooks that are designed for chefs to show off their special style, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook recipes are accessible, the kind of food that

everyone really wants to eat. I think my experience with the store taught me that, while people like really interesting meals when they go to restaurants, they really prefer very simple food at home. The recipes in my books don’t require some spice that you have to go to India for.”

On screen, Garten comes across as calm, warm, funny, nurturing, unpretentious, and everyone’s slightly zaftig big sister.

(Martha Stewart describes her pal Ina as “brighteyed and applecheeked.”)

The Barefoot Contessa TV shows are filmed in Garten’s white and stainless steel East Hampton kitchen, which (though it’s equipped with an eight-burner Viking stove) Ina calls, “A kitchen with nothing to prove.” The programs focus on robust, guest-oriented food, and feature her husband and their actual friends. A few weeks ago, viewers watched Ina and Sesame Street’s Elmo whip up a batch of Elmo’s Hearty Oatmeal Heart cookies.

“I think I was always interested in cooking but I never had an opportunity until I was married,” Garten said. “The first meal I ever made I baked challah.” Though Garten is famous for her fabulous food and memorable parties, her favorite meal is simple roast chicken with vegetables in the roasting pan, a dish she serves her husband every Friday night.

“Entertaining is about connecting with people. It’s not about the food, it’s about the friends. Twenty years of catering parties in the Hamptons taught me that the best parties were the ones where the host and hostess were relaxed and having fun. I can’t tell you how many people from Greenwich have told me, ‘I’ve made your mac and cheese for my guests and they were thrilled.’ It’s not about impressing, but about making people feel good. And the less cooking you do while they’re there, the more comfortable they’ll be.”

In Ina’s fuss-free approach, you don’t have to cook everything yourself. “Your friends will have just as much fun if you serve them a fabulous cake you bought at a local bakery.” Furthermore, she suggests you plop the platters of pasta, baskets of bread and bowls of berries on the kitchen table and have at it. “I love things that are served family style, so everybody shares the experience. I think the less experienced we are, the more likely we are to try to overreach. In fact, you should do just the opposite. Of course, it takes a lot of confidence to keep things simple. But I think people feel empowered by my cook books. It’s all about ‘I can do this.’”

L’Shanah Tova!

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Omaha Steaks: A family business and family tradition

by MARY BORT changed dramatically over the years. What consumers once The cookbook, other recipes, cooking tips and suggestions Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation enjoyed for dinner is not what they like today. That’s why we are included on the company’s website. You can also downIf you travel out of state and tell people you live in Omaha, offer items like portion-controlled steaks and seafood filets, load a nutrition analysis and a food allergen and sensitivity Nebraska, a common response is, “Omaha? Oh, yes, you’ve heat and serve entrees, and quick and easy complete meals guide. got Omaha Steaks, right?” Omaha Steaks is recognized for busy families.”

Simon and his family enjoy the products offered by around the world for its quality steaks and other prodOmaha Steaks. “A typical dinner at our house always ucts. This successful family business started in Omaha includes something from the grill,” he stated. “Here’s in 1917. an example: Omaha Steaks Private Reserve Filet Todd Simon is Senior Vice President and fifth genMignons, grilled vegetables, steamed rice and a nice eration family owner of Omaha Steaks. “It’s been great bottle of Cabernet.” to be part of a family-owned company with a century “My favorite beef dish is a 14 ounce Boneless Strip, long story, and very interesting to witness and be a served medium-rare with French fries,” continued part of the evolution of the Omaha Steaks brand,” he Simon. “And I prefer to cook a steak on a grill, outside said. “At the same time, it’s always a challenge as we on my Weber grill, served medium-rare. There is no constantly push ourselves to build on and do better well-done in my house.” than the previous generations to ensure that we do all Of course, not every cooking endeavor turns out we can to provide a better life for our employees, our exactly as planned. “When I’m invited to dinner at customers and our family.” someone’s home, I am often asked to grill the steaks,” An emphasis on family carries into the company’s explained Simon. “This can be a bit of a challenge perspective regarding customers. According to when you’re not familiar with the grill and how hot it Simon, “While our company offers gourmet foods, gets. I was once asked to grill 12 really large steaks for our mission is to deliver exceptional experiences. a party at a friend’s house. I put all the steaks on the Omaha Steaks offers customers the opportunity to grill. Then I got distracted and didn’t watch them gather and reconnect with family and friends while closely. The steaks were totally over-cooked. In fact, enjoying a delicious meal.” they were torched. Thankfully, the Omaha Steaks When asked what was the company’s “secret to sucstore down the street was still open.” cess,” Simon explained, “We kiddingly say that Omaha Omaha Steaks and the Simon family are known for Steaks is an overnight success that took nearly 100 generously supporting Omaha’s Jewish community, years to perfect. There really is no secret to it. Success the Arts, and many Omaha charities. The company requires hard work and a genuine commitment to also supports education scholarships. “Philanthropy is customers. Over the years we’ve experienced tremenboth a Simon family tradition and an Omaha Steaks dous growth in the size and scope of our operation, tradition,” noted Simon. “They are one and the same. but serving our family of customers has always Each generation has learned from the previous generFront row: Fred Simon, Todd Simon; Back row: Alan Simon, Bruce Simon remained at the heart of everything we do.” ation about the importance of supporting our comOmaha Steaks’ line of products is extensive. While known Omaha Steaks doesn’t just sell food – the company also munity. We owe much of our success to the tremendous for their high quality steaks, they also offer other beef helps customers learn the best ways to cook the food and community support we’ve received and we truly feel that it entrees, seafood, poultry, veal, pork, lamb, deli-style meats, create an enjoyable family meal. The “Great Gathering is vitally important to give back.” appetizers, snacks, desserts, sauces, complete meals and Guide and Cookbook” is provided with Omaha Steaks In addition to Todd Simon, Omaha Steaks is led by fiftheven pet treats. Part of the company’s success has been due orders. “It offers complete cooking instructions on all our generation family member Bruce Simon, President and to a willingness to evolve and grow with the customers’ pref- items along with grilling charts and other important prepa- Chief Operating Officer, and fourth-generation family erences. ration tips,” said Simon. “The cookbook is also offered members Alan Simon, Chairman of the Board, and Fred “We continually expand our product line to better serve online and is a convenient way for customers to access the Simon, Executive Vice President. Dave Hershiser serves as our customers,” explained Simon. “Our lifestyles have information.

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September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 7

Eating the world over in Jerusalem

by SYBIL KAPLAN A specialty of the café is a senior citizen menu.

Ticho House, also known as “Little Jerusalem,” is open 10 Jerusalem has become a great resource for finding special restaurants in which to dine. Here is a sampling to try next a.m. to midnight, Sunday through Thursday; Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Saturday night from sundown until midnight. It is time you travel to Jerusalem. located at HaRav Kook 9; phone 02 624-4186.

Racha Maalot Last May, 2011, Racha opened, named after the highland “The soul of the restaurant is the food,” declares Jerusalemarea in the northeastern corner of western Georgia, where born Chef and owner of Maalot since 2010, Gad Yaari. most of this family’s members were born.

He used the name of the (Georgia, a sovereign state, street for the restaurant name is bounded by the Black Sea because it means “to go up” in on the west, Russia on the a spiritual way, it has a posinorth, Turkey on the southtive sound and the street was west, Armenia on the south named after the first elevator and Azerbaijan on the southin Jerusalem, part of the west.) apartment complex across the Mom, Tina Shimshelashvili, street. is head chef and supervisor of Maalot is small, quaint, the kitchen and staff and gives European style with a wood the food her special touches; deck outside. From Spanish her daughter and two sons cuisine, Yaari took the idea of also work in the restaurant Tapas, mixed with the tradiwhich was once storerooms tional food of his family for a 50-year-old warehouse. Chef Yisrael, Racha, Georgian restaurant Chandeliers, carpets and dark Credit: Barry A. Kaplan/Jerusalem (grandparents came from Greece, Bulgaria, Iran, furniture add to the atmosTurkey, Iraq and Kurdistan) phere. Dishes and glassware and the French technique of come from Georgia.

European restaurants.

Georgian food is very speThere are 10 main courses cial--full of meat, nuts, pomeplus two specials every day; granates, peaches and wine seven sandwiches; five salads that matches the food. Very and a soup of the day; five little oil is used in cooking, desserts; and many beverages and the liquid comes from the and alcoholic beverages. The nuts and the meat.

18 Tapas choices are available Chalia (khalia) is an entrée one piece or four and include favorite. Long-cooked beef leek and beef patties, stuffed with onions, black plums and vegetables, salmon carpaccio, pomegranates; another one is duck breast, lamb and figs chanakhi, lamb with eggplant and grilled entrecote strips. and potatoes. Chinkali, a Chef/owner MiMi, Bistro Mimi, French restaurant Credit: Barry A. Kaplan/Jerusalem The menus change with the blintz-like dough with meat season every three to four months. Eggplant soup is the inside, is another favorite.

Churchkhela is in the dessert category--a combination of most popular item on the menu.

Maalot is open Sunday through Thursday, 12 noon to figs, plums, quinces, wine and hazlenuts cooked, dried and sewn onto a string then dipped in juice and dried in the 10:30 or 11 or last customer in winter, sometimes to 2 a.m. shape of a sausage which is then cut into pieces when served. in summer; Friday, noon until 2 hours before Sabbath; Racha is open Sunday through Thursday from 5 p.m. to Saturday evening, 2 ½ hours after Sabbath ends until 11 in the last customer; Friday, 1 p.m. to one hour before Sabbath; winter, until 12:30 in summer. It is located at 7 Hamaalot; Saturday evening, one hour after Sabbath ends until the last phone 03 500-4334.

Ima customers leave. It is located at 6 Havatzelet; phone 02 537“Ima” is a restaurant of Iraqi and Kurdish food, in an 6600 or 050 427-7772. imposing 100-year-old house, with five rooms and the origBistro Mimi Mimi is the epitome of a gracious, energetic, attentive and inal thick stone walls and arched doorways. Owned by the warm hostess as she bustles about her small restaurant and Binyamin family and opened in 1981, one of the Binyamin kitchen in a red checked pinafore/apron over a modest top sons, Yoram, supervises the operations. But the kitchen, up the street in a business mall, is supervised by “Ima,” Iraqiand skirt with her head covered.

Mimi and her husband and four children moved to Israel born Miriam.

On the menu are appetizers, soups, fried kubbeh and from France in 1997; subsequently she returned to acquire a kubbeh in soups, main courses, side dishes, desserts and degree in baking from LeNotre Culinary Institute.

She opened her French restaurant in the Jewish market in beverages. Stuffed vegetables are another favorite of the 2010 because she loves it. “It is a big pill against depression! It restaurant including stuffed squash, red peppers, onions and has lots of life and good smells. It is a big melting pot of Israel.” vine leaves.

(Kubbeh or kibbe or kibbeh is a native Iraqi Jewish dish, Decorated with red checked tablecloths and accessories, the small restaurant is very warm and homey. Bistro Mimi torpedo shaped and fried or shaped into balls or patties and serves sweet and savory crepes, sandwiches, quiches, salads, baked or cooked in different types of broth.)

Ima is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday through soups, coffee and teas, ice cream, pastries and Parisian macThursday; Friday, 11 to 4. It is located at 55 Shmuel Baruch aroons and tarts.

Bistro Mimi is open Sunday, 12 noon to 7 p.m.; Monday (foot of Agrippas); phone is 02 625-5693 and reservations and Tuesday, 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to are requested.

A few steps inside the Mahaneh Yehudah market, on the 9 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 1 1/2 hours before Sabbath. It is located at 4 HaEshkol, 077 covered Etz Chayim Street, is the Ima Kubeh Bar, offering 531-1483. less expensive, similar fare.

Little Jerusalem – Anna Ticho Al Dente Ticho house was one of the first houses in Jerusalem built Shuki Shukrun is both chef and owner of Al Dente since outside the Old City Walls, in the second half of the nine- March 2009. The single young man grew up on Moroccan teenth century. Anna Ticho, an artist, from Moravia (the food. When he was kitchen manager at Al Dente, he discovAustrian-Hungarian Empire) came to Palestine in 1912 with ered he was good in Italian food. her cousin, Dr. Avraham (Albert) Ticho, an ophthalmolo“You don’t have to be Italian to be a good Italian cook! You gist, whom she later married. They bought the house in have to understand the soul of the kitchen and how to work 1924 and converted the lower level into an eye clinic where with simple ingredients, “ he said. she worked as his assistant. After Tichos died, Anna Al Dente is a wood frame building with a glassed-in porch bequeathed the house to the Israel Museum where today it with stone walls, elegant yet modern. The restaurant offers contains temporary exhibits, examples of Anna Ticho’s appetizers such as antipasti, bruschetta, focaccia and soups; works, Dr. Ticho’s collection of Chanukah lamps, a reference three kinds of pizza; seven salads; 16 sauces and types of pasta; library and a café with garden.

11 specials, two types of calzone; five fish entrees with salad The “Little Jerusalem” café and restaurant menu is sprinkled and potatoes or a side dish; eight desserts; cold and hot beverwith Anna Ticho’s art as are the paper table coverings. The ages, beer and an impressive separate wine menu of all Israeli food is simple and tasty, not sophisticated, and fresh every day wines. The tortellini, gnocchi and rotelle are all home made. including pasta and sauces, baked potatoes, sandwiches, Al Dente is open Sunday through Thursday, 12 noon to 11 sautéed options, omelettes, soups, salads, appetizers, children’s p.m.; closed Friday, Saturday and Saturday evening. It is menu, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and wines. located at Ussishkin 20; phone 02 625-1479.

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8 | The Jewish Press | September 14, 2012

There’s more to kosher wine than Manischewitz

by AMBER PARTIN Not that there’s anything wrong with Manischewitz. Or Mogen David for that matter. They are the rock stars of the commercial kosher wine world. Everyone knows the labels. If you haven’t had a taste, you know by association that you’re in for a cloying kiss to the palate and flavors that are unmistakable. But when it comes to being a kosher wine consumer, variety is every bit as important as the purchase itself. You want to get your money’s worth. You want to adhere to kosher guidelines, but you also want something that’s easy to swallow, easy to enjoy.

Wine and liquor stores are abundant in Omaha, but only a few offer kosher selections that do not start with the letter “M”. This lack of variety creates an inconvenience for practicing Jews or those who have adopted the kosher lifestyle for other purposes. While researching for this article, I hunted endlessly for more than what was already offered. I was a booze bon vivant as much as the next woman, but I was humbled by my lack of knowledge in this area as well as my meager findings. I thought to myself, it would be dreadful if someone needed to pick up kosher wine for a special event, and when they arrived to their ever-so-convenient large retailer, were faced with choosing between a bottle of purple and a bottle of purple. It seemed a bit unfair. Keeping it kosher shouldn’t mean you have to settle for one or two choices at the store.

It is a little-known fact to the less informed kosher customer (like me) that there is more to kosher wine than bot-

tled, purplish sweetness. There are reds and whites and lovely goldens that are eager to twinkle charmingly from your glass and compliment every meal for every treasured event.

Of course, these tasty, unique gems cannot be found in your local retail behemoths (i.e., Target and Wal-Mart).

After a determined search, and avoidance of the larger commercial chains, I found an attractive, albeit small, variety of kosher wine available at a handful of specialty stores and markets. If I wasn’t raiding shelves, I placed calls. I soon discovered that requests for kosher wine always brought a

slight, surprised pause in response. The local wineries and wine shops I pestered gave me a polite and apologetic, “No.” I was a tad discouraged, but I would not be stopped in my quest for kosher. My furrowed brow was soon smoothed again toward the latter part of my endeavors, when I rang up well-known, but smaller retailers with my same question.

“Oh, yes,” came the replies. “We do have a few kosher brands.”

I almost raised a toast! My fingers were crossed as they listed what was available. Please, nothing starting with letter “M”.

Thankfully, the thirteenth letter of the alphabet was not in the forefront of what was stocked on their shelves.

Through a careful and perhaps somewhat snobby elimination, I put together a list of stores that carry the lesscommon wines for the kosher consumer.

Trader Joe’s located at 10305 Pacific, receives many requests for kosher wines. (Way to go, kosher hunters!)

Apparently, when customers are informed of the variety available at this popular, paradise-themed retailer, the responses are very positive. The best part, aside from the festive flavors are the prices. Baron Herzog is sold for a smooth $11.99. Sarabee kosher Moscato is a sweet $5.99 and Terrenal sells for a wallet-friendly $4.99.

Brix of Omaha, located at Village Pointe, offers two kosher wines. Joyvin is available for $10.99, and Bartenura kosher Moscato sells for $17.99 a bottle. Bartenura is a sparkling, light, delicious wine that despite being a Moscato (which is always sweet) has a dry finish.

Whole Foods, situated at 10020 Regency Circle, stocks a single kosher wine. Yasmin is available in a deep, smooth red or aromatic white. Each bottle sells for $11.99.

Any of these above-mentioned stores are quite gracious in answering customer questions and concerns in regards to their selection. And they don’t pause for surprise when asked if they carry kosher wine. In fact, they seem to welcome the questions--a departure from your average wine inquiry, I’m sure.

Other retailers in Omaha carry Manischewitz, Mogen David and Baron Herzog. Bag n’ Save also sells these popular wines, but adds Joyvin to the mix.

So, by all means, kick your wine shopping up a notch.

Don’t sacrifice new and exciting flavors on the altar of convenience. And don’t feel restricted to buying a bottle of purple when you could buy a bottle of white.

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reviewed by SYBIL KAPLAN Be Like God

by Dr. Ron Wolfson, Jewish Lights Publishing, $15.99 paperback, 44 pp, September 2012 Dr. Ron Wolfson, professor of education at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, has written about 10 books for children and adults. Now he has written this stimulating handbook for eight to twelve year olds to motivate them to be a partner with God. He helps them define how to create a personal relationship with God and uses kid-friendly stories to illustrate his points.

He tells his readers that “this book is written to inspire you to create your own God’s To-Do List.” He begins his interactive book with 10 chapters suggesting 10 “superpowers”-create, bless, rest, call, comfort, care, repair, wrestle, give and forgive. He asks his reader to reach each chapter which has examples of good that God does and how people use their powers to imitate God’s ways.

He then asks his readers to consider items on God’s todo list. Think of what God is calling the reader to do.

Create a to-do list. Do them and keep track. Think how doing these changes your life. Share the list. Read the list every day. Do one to-do every day.

He guides the readers in the conclusion; includes three more ways to be a superhero and do God’s work on earth; analyzes Shalom Aleichem; and provides a space for the reader’s to-do list. Notes and a bibliography conclude the book.

I would take exception to this being a book for 8 to 12 year olds and instead suggest for 10-12 year olds as an outstanding companion to studying for a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. It would also make a wonderful High Holy Day gift to a 10 to 12 year olds from parents, grandparents, other relatives or friends.

September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 9

Sharing the Shabbat spirit

by OZZIE NOGG One-year old Naama Abraham, daughter of Rabbi Steven and Shira Abraham, is already the beneficiary of her parents’ affection for food. “We skipped baby food altogether and started Naama on solids at six months,” Shira said. “We never gave her baby mush, but small soft bites of what we’re having. She eats what we eat, within reason, of course. No chocolate, no hot dogs. She loves salmon and could eat fish salad all day long. We try to always eat together -- sometimes before or after different meetings -- but family meals are very important to us, and the whole self-feeding method lets kids participate from the get-go.” On a recent visit to New York, the Abrahams -- Naama included -- had lunch at the Prime Grill, a Kosher restaurant in the City. “She ate half my BBQ short rib sandwich,” Shira said.

Ah, those New York City Kosher restaurants. “I really miss them,” Shira admitted, while reminiscing about the years she and Steven spent as students in Manhattan. Shira earned a BA in Art History from Columbia University, a BA in Midrash from The Jewish Theological Seminary, and an MS in Museum Education from Bank Street College of Education. Steven Abraham received his BS in Business from the University of Baltimore, an MA in Jewish Education from The Jewish Theological Seminary, and his rabbinic ordination from JTS shortly before the young family moved to Omaha where he assumed the position of Assistant Rabbi at Beth El Synagogue.

“From an early age I remember being in the kitchen with my mom,” Shira said. “From everyday dinner to baking for holidays, she included us in the process. I still look to her for inspiration. We often talk about what our Shabbat menus will be, and she shares recipes all the time.” It was during Shira’s joint program at Columbia and JTS that she first realized how much she enjoyed making meals. “It was my first Shabbat at college, the first time I really cooked on my own, and a friend and I hosted dinner in our dorm room. We asked a few friends who asked a few more friends and we ended up with forty-five people. I have no clue how we all fit into that room.” The Shabbat dorm dinners soon became a tradition. “From one week to the next, we never knew how many would show up. A whole corps of students cooked -squash souffles, chicken, salads, one big pot luck. You’d bring your own plates and forks and once we had to set the tables up in the hallway. It was great. The experience was more than Shabbat. We were invested in creating a Jewish community. It was such fun that all these young people were staying in on a Friday night, making dinner together, staying up late, playing board games. As our little community evolved, we each found our own comfort level with Shabbat observance. Some would come for dinner and then go to the movies. Some would stay in and sing z’miryot (songs) all night long. Looking back, my friends and I were figuring out how Shabbat fit into our lives, but it was those Shabbat meals that truly shaped how many of us observed and continue to

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Shira Abraham and one-year old Naama Abraham.

SHIRA’S SHABBAT SQUASH SOUFFLE (PARVE) Ingredients: 2 10 oz. pkgs. frozen butternut squash 1 cup soy milk 2 eggs 1/2 stick margarine, melted 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup flour, sifted 1/4 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. cinnamon Directions: Preheat oven to 350°.

Cook squash as directed on package.

Beat eggs and add milk, then flour, then rest of ingredients. Beat well and add the squash and beat again.

Pour into a greased 9x13 glass baking dish. Bake uncovered for 1 hour 15 minutes.

Serves 8 Note: Does not freeze well. To make ahead, bake for 1 hour. Before serving, bring to room temperature and bake the final 15 minutes. observe Shabbat today.”

And now, a charming sidebar to those college dorm days.

“Steven and his roommate were both friends of mine in the dorm,” Shira said. “So, one night the roommate gives a party and I’m asked to bring a cake, which I put on a large, green serving plate. For some reason, I don’t take the plate home with me after the party. Months later, after Steven and I start dating, I see the plate in his apartment and recognize it as my own. Steven tells me it’s still there because his roommate really, really likes it. When Steven and I got engaged, we used that plate as part of our tena’im -- betrothal ceremony -- where it’s customary for the mothers of the bride and groom to deliberately break a piece of crockery to seal the deal. Our moms smashed THAT plate. Steven’s roommate is still mad.”

A new gas grill stands on the Abraham’s patio. “I cooked a whole chicken on the grill last month,” Shira said. “Then the skies opened up and started to pour so I finished it in the oven.” A kitchen scale is her favorite tool. “I use it all the time. From portioning out ground beef for burgers to measuring the flour for loaves of challah. If I’m feeling particularly exact, each braid section gets weighed, too.” Shira’s iPad sits on the kitchen counter. “Most of my recipes come from my mom, but I do look up recipes online and keep my iPad in the kitchen for just that reason. I love watching cooking shows, reading cook books, and I’m a fan of the new magazine called Joy of Kosher by Jamie Geller.” Shira’s own tastes are simple. “Challah dipped in chicken soup. Yum. Anything that my mom makes. Or just some good cheese, crusty bread and a ripe tomato; add a glass of red wine, and I am a happy person.” When it comes to the results of her efforts, Shira is cool as a cuke. “I’m pretty put together in the kitchen. What’s the worst that happens if there’s a recipe disaster? Another glass of wine while you wait for the turkey, or eat a flat, but delicious, soufflé? Doesn’t sound too bad to me.”

The Jewish year, in Shira’s view, gives her a reliable template for menu planning. “During the holidays, I always look for new recipes that incorporate various symbolic foods.

Using apples, honey or a pomegranate in new ways lets me create a menu that both reflects my family’s traditional favorites and includes new dishes. To me, as a committed Jew, there is something so great about cooking, eating, and just dealing with food on a daily basis. It’s my way of ensuring that I’m ‘doing Jewish’ everyday.” When she’s feeling nostalgic, Shira uses her grandmother’s recipes. When she’s bored, out come the experimental variations on a theme. “If company’s coming, I generally make the old standards, because I know they work. I love having people over. It’s fun to sit in your own home and entertain friends. I could ask people for dinner on a Tuesday night, but Shabbat is a built in reason to invite company over for a meal. It’s Judaism in action. If you didn’t grow up in a kosher home or an observant home, being part of a Shabbat celebration is more meaningful than reading about the beauty of Shabbat or hearing about it from the pulpit. Sharing a Shabbat meal is a lovely, and very effective, entry point into Judaism.”

Happy New Year!

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10 | The Jewish Press | September 14, 2012

Popularized in America by Jews, pickles pack a punch

by JOSH LIPOWSKY TEANECK, N.J. (JTA) -- Walk into a kosher deli and a big bowl of pickles is typically waiting at the table.

Ever wondered why?

“Pickles are vital to the deli experience,” says Rabbi Gil Marks, author of The Encyclopedia of Jewish Food.

Deli mavens know that the tastiest cuts of pastrami and corned beef are also the fattiest, but after a few mouthfuls the fat covers the palate and masks the flavor of the meat, Marks explains. Just as wine does with chicken or meat dishes, he says, a pickle cleanses the palate between bites, so the flavor of the hot pastrami on rye continues to shine, while also interacting with the sandwich, creating new flavors.

July marked National Pickle Month, which “originated as a way for people to honor and appreciate all types of pickles,” says Brian Bursiek, executive vice president of Pickle Packers International, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that represents the worldwide pickled vegetable industry.

And honor the pickle we have. Americans put away more than 2.5 billion pounds of pickles each year, and the North American pickle industry is valued at about $1.5 billion annually, according to Pickle Packers.

Folks have been chomping on pickles, which take their name from the German “pokel” -- meaning salt and brine - for some 4,000 years in one form or another. (Disclaimer: The writer is the 2011 Teaneck Pickle-Eating Champion.)

Sours and half-sours are the most popular flavors in the New York area, but not so much with out-of-towners, says Stephen Leibowitz, chief pickle maven (the title on his business card) of United Pickle in the Bronx, N.Y., the largest Jewish-owned pickle plant in the country and also one of the oldest. In the Southwest, for example, spicier pickles tend to tempt palates more, according to Pickle Packers, and Leibowitz says that hot and spicy pickle chips are gaining popularity nationwide.

If there’s a consensus choice, it’s the dill pickle, followed by sweet pickles, according to Bursiek. Among the most popular dill pickles is the kosher dill.

“It’s what you call a universal American pickle,” Leibowitz says.

Universal indeed: From France to Israel to Dubai, the most popular product shipped overseas by United Pickle is the kosher dill. In addition to its flavor, Leibowitz credits the

kosher dill’s longer shelf life for its attractiveness abroad.

Despite its name, the kosher dill has nothing to do with the pickle’s adherence to kosher laws.

Stephen Leibowitz of United Pickle “The name ‘kosher’ was likely carried forward by generations who remember popular TV advertising during the ‘70s,” Bursiek says, likely referring to the Vlasik commercials. “It brought a lot of attention to their brand, but also to the pickle category in general.

“Typically it is a pickle made in the traditional manner of Jewish New York City pickle makers, with a generous addition of garlic to the brine.”

Unlike the sours and half-sours, the dill pickles also get a dose of dill seasoning in the brine.

As with many other types of food, Jews did not invent the pickle or the pickling process, but they did popularize it, which

is why the Jewish style of preparation became a standard.

Sours and half-sours -- prepared in salted water brines -don’t include dill, but the common denominator among all three types, and what separates the kosher dill from other dills, is garlic. Its addition, which is credited with why the kosher moniker stuck even after kosher dills became the pickle of choice for mass production, is purely Jewish.

“We adapt foods to our taste,” Marks says. “One of the things Jews, particularly Ashkenazic Jews, love is putting garlic in things.”

Some 100,000 to 250,000 acres in more than 30 states are devoted to growing pickling cucumbers, according to Bursiek. Despite the geographic diversity of pickle production, when talking about the kosher dill, the focus always comes back to New York City, the gateway to the United States for the Eastern European Jewish immigrants who brought their pickling prowess with them in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

“When [Jewish immigrants] came in 1910, they came here with no skills,” says Alan Kaufman, owner of The Pickle Guys, the last remaining pickle store on the Lower East Side’s famed Essex Street. “They did what they knew how to do: They made pickles. It’s an inexpensive item to make; it’s an inexpensive item to buy. And when people buy it, it tastes like home.”

Kosher dills may be an homage to the glory days of Jewish pickling, but the days when Essex Street was known for its assortment of pickle purveyors are long gone, and Kaufman doesn’t see them returning.

After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, when travel over New York’s bridges was severely curtailed, Guss’ Pickles, one of the oldest and most famous Lower East Side pickle establishments, lost the majority of its foot traffic and closed its doors. United Pickle, which had been supplying Guss’ with its pickles for decades, bought the name and now the label can be found in stores across America -- a far cry from the Lower East Side pickle storefronts of yore.

“You can’t pay the rent just standing in the store selling pickles,” Leibowitz says.

Kaufman, a former employee of the Guss’ store, disagrees.

He opened his shop shortly after Guss’ closed and has more than 30 pickled concoctions, including pickled pineapple, Continued on page 11

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September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 11

Getting to know the RBJH kitchen: Kenny Waytes

by OZZIE NOGG When Kenneth Waytes yells, “Soup’s on!”, he really means it. Waytes, a cook at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, is considered the facility’s king of the stock pot, a title he worked hard to win. “Four years ago I was hired by the Home as a dishwasher, but I wanted to be a cook,” Waytes said. “Mike Aparo took me under his wing and started me out as a prep cook and then spent hours teaching me his soup recipes. But I got all stressed out and nervous that the soup wouldn’t be good. So Mike sent me back to the dish room, gave me time to relax, and I got my nerve back. Thing is, I want to give residents what they want and like.

They can’t go out to eat.

They have to eat what we give them, so we want it to Blumkin Home cook Kenny be good.” According to Waytes can coax residents into Aparo, “Kenny has turned taking that extra bite. out to be a wonderful cook. He listened and applied everything he learned.

Blumkin Home residents aren’t shy about telling us what they like, and Jerry’s meals are very well received by the residents. Their positive comments prove it.”

Waytes grew up on his mom’s spaghetti, mac and cheese, and home-made biscuits. The kosher environment at the RBJH was new to Kenny, but he took to it quickly. “I’ve gotten used to making biscuits without milk, and I don’t eat cheeseburgers any more. Kosher food seems normal to me now.” This ‘kosher component’ of the Blumkin Home was addressed by Aparo in the Nov. 14, 2008 edition of the Jewish Press. “A few weeks ago a couple toured the Blumkin Home for a relative who needed nursing care. The couple stayed for lunch. We were serving BBQ ribs that day. The visitors thought the meal was delicious and couldn’t believe they were eating kosher food.”

Working in the Blumkin Home kitchen, with all its bells and whistles, is a treat for Waytes. “We’ve got kosher food prep areas for both meat and milk meals, an onsite bakery, a flame broiler with smoker box, an ice maker that can spit out

700 pounds of ice, and a mobile induction cart that cooks like gas but without the flame. My favorite piece of equipment is the combo oven that lets us cook, bake and steam, all in one unit. We can roast a chicken, do vegetables, that thing does it all.” In his own home, Waytes cooks in a crock pot.

Kenny’s shift begins at 10 a.m., but he hits the time clock KENNY WAYTES’ CAN’T-WAIT-TO-EAT-IT TOMATO SOUP Ingredients 1 can no-salt-added diced tomatoes (14 1/2 oz) 1 cup jarred roasted red peppers, drained (or substitute fresh roasted red peppers) 1 cup fat-free evaporated milk 1 tsp. garlic powder 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper 2 tbsp. fresh basil, rinsed and chopped (or 2 tsp. dried) Directions Combine tomatoes and red peppers in a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth.

Put tomato mixture in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat.

Add evaporated milk, garlic powder, and pepper.

Return to a boil, and gently simmer for 5 minutes.

Add basil and serve.

Serves 4 early. “I don’t like to come into the kitchen five minutes before you’re supposed to start. I get there early, to observe what’s going on and give help if anyone needs it.” His experience working in other nursing homes entitles Waytes to some bragging rights about his present employer. “The Blumkin Home is the best. The three dining rooms means we get to know the residents personally. I love working in the West wing. I know everybody in there. I call all of them by name and they all call me by name. For some reason the residents’ favorite meal is tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. I always make extra, but the serving trays are empty when I take them back to the kitchen.” Waytes has a way with residents who lack appetite. “Some residents have eating problems, don’t want to eat at all. But I coax them to just take a bite for me, to get them started, and they usually finish at least half of what’s on their plate.” Thinking about his own family, Waytes said, “My mom is in a nursing home now, rehabbing from surgery. She would have loved it here at the Blumkin Home.”

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Pickles pack a punch Continued from page 10 “If you have a great sandwich and a rotten pickle, you’re pickled garlic, pickled tomatoes and, of course, the kosher going to say the whole meal stinks,” Kaufman asserts. “But if dill - all pickled in-house. His customers include a number you have a great sandwich and a great pickle, you’ve got a of regulars, as well as tourists nostalgic for the old Lower great meal.”

East Side experience.

Kaufman says everyone should try pickling.

Earlier this year, his store “Like making beer or wine, was featured on Food pickling’s a great thing,” he Network’s Next Food Network says. “It’s not too hard; it just Star as part of a culinary tour takes a lot of practice.” of the neighborhood.

How does the process differ “Pickles are timeless,” for half-sours, full-sours and Kaufman says. “The neighthe kosher dill? It’s all about borhood is not always going the amount of time the to be the same, but pickles cucumber stays in the brine. will always be here.”

At United Pickle, for example, While Jews may have popufresh cucumbers will sit in larized pickles in Europe and salt water brine with garlic the U.S., it was the Chinese and spices for at least 45 days who more than 2,400 years to become full-sour pickles. ago created the modern form The Pickle Guys keep halfof pickling. They used a sours in the brine for two process called lacto-fermenweeks, while the full sours tation, Marks explains, that soak for at least three months. didn’t reach Eastern Europe Kosher dills, meanwhile, until the 1500s. In this verinclude dill and sit in the sion, only a little salt is added brine for a minimum of 10 to water to create the brine, days. which then produces forms of Pickling at home acid and healthy bacteria -Want to make pickles at Alan Kaufman of The Pickle Guys Lactobacillus. home? Here are a few guide“Pickling was something even the poorest of people could lines, courtesy of http://www.howtopickle.com. do. All you needed was salt and a little water and a barrel,” Pick the firmest cucumbers you can find and make sure Marks says. they are thoroughly cleaned.

Many of the brands on store shelves today labeled “kosher Tightly pack your cukes into canning jars. dills” aren’t true kosher dills, Marks says. Historically, Mix your brine ingredients together and bring them to a kosher dills were prepared in a salted water brine with gar- boil, then pour the brine into the jars. lic and dill, but many mass manufacturers began using vineDepending on the type of pickle you want, your pickles gar-based brines decades ago to save time. Vinegar, he says, will be ready the next day (new or half-sours) or a few throws off the flavor, so to get that authentic kosher dill fla- months later (full-sours). The longer the pickle stays in the vor, it’s best to find a pickler using natural brines. brine, the sourer it will become.

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12 | The Jewish Press | September 14, 2012

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by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT ing his culinary degree. Season with Sage is a labor of love Editor of the Jewish Press and respect, from the students and staff at the Institute, a Brandon Michael Thomas, son of Andie Gordman, loved final “tribute to Brandon’s spirit.” With the publication of to cook. He attended the Institute for Culinary Arts at the cookbook, which was underwritten by Brandon’s famiMetropolitan Community ly, a scholarship was estabCollege, and had clearly lished in his name. All profits found his passion in life. That from the sale of Season with life was cut short on July 12, Sage are donated to the 2010, when Brandon died in Brandon Michael Thomas a motorcycle accident. Since Culinary Arts Memorial then, there has been one Scholarship fund at Metro thing that never fails to Community College. remind his loved ones of “The cookbook really their time with him: helped with the healing Brandon’s food. More specifiprocess,” Andie says. “It was cally: Thanksgiving dinner. very student driven, even the To hear Andie tell it, photography was done by a Thanksgiving has always Metro student. It facilitated been a big deal in her family. hands-on learning in several When Brandon was a year different classes, as the stuold, Andie says “the men dents also had to market the took over.” Growing up, finished product. It pushed Andie Gordman and Brandon Thomas Brandon took to cooking the staff and the students, with the family like a fish to and it gave many of his water. Together with his friends focus while they were uncle and Andie’s brother Jay grieving for Brandon. This Gordman, he ruled the way, they could actually do kitchen. something.”

“It wasn’t just the cooking,” But Brandon was more Andie says, “but everything than an aspiring and passionsurrounding it. The planate chef. It wouldn’t do to ning, the shopping, they were summarize his life that way; busy with it for an entire his zest for life extended to week. The first year after my other areas as well. It’s just mom quit the Thanksgiving that, when you hear his famikitchen, my dad Bob and my ly talk about him, that ‘food brother stepped in, and it thing’ always pops up. For became a family tradition. instance, after he graduated Ultimately, that is where from Millard North High Brandon found his passion.”

School, he went on a Young Those dinners were always Judea course. Nine months in fabulous, Andie remembers: Israel, during which he also “It sparked something in traveled to Poland, Morocco, him, and he started to cook Ethiopia, to name but a few. more and more as he got “While in Israel, he cooked older. He really had the run an entire Thanksgiving meal of the kitchen, and I cleaned for the other kids, because he up the mess afterwards.” figured some of them were And then everything homesick, and he wanted to changed. Brandon’s story is help,” Andie says. “Of course partially about what could Photo Credit: Abi Smith he learned a great many and should have been; things while traveling, and he Thanksgiving in 2010 was did tell me about all the difparticularly difficult. ferent food. But he also “Brandon died in July, now gained valuable perspective more than two years ago, and when he watched an entire that first year we did not have Ethiopian family squeezed a regular Thanksgiving,” into one tiny apartment the Andie says. “It was simply size of his bedroom.” too hard. However, Brandon “For many people,” Andie would not want us to wallow, says, “Brandon’s life stopped and it is very important to that day in July. As for me, I remember that. This will think often about what would always be a tough day, but at have been; about all the the same time, it’s the one things he would have done. holiday our entire family gets He was the spitting image of together, and it can be a time my brother, and just as outto not only grieve, but going. He used food to conremember and celebrate nect with people, talk to peoPhoto Credit: Abi Smith ple.”

Brandon, and tell stories ROOT VEGETABLE MASH about him.”

And so “Brandon had been and Ingredients: Thanksgiving 2011 saw the always will be my role family back together in the 8 medium red potatoes, skin on, cut in 1/2 inch dice model,” syas sister Lindsey.

2 medium turnips, peeled and cut in 1/2 inch dice kitchen.

“You could just see the spark It’s equally hard to walk 2 medium parsnips, peeled and cut in 1/2 inch dice in his eyes when he did into the Culinary Institute, 1/4 cup heavy cream something he loved, weather because Brandon spent so 3 tablespoons unsalted butter it was snowboarding or cookmuch time there, and it’s 4 ounces cream cheese ing. Brandon was always the where he was in his element. Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper guy to encourage you and Cook the vegetables: Put the potatoes in a pot, cover push you to do your best “Another place that reminds me of him is Blue Sushi, them with salted water and bring them to a boil over high because he only saw the best where he worked,” Andie heat. Do the same, in separate pots, with the parsnips and in people. says. “And Jay’s house, the turnips. Cook until each vegetable is fork tender, 10 to Now, about those recipes: because it’s where we had that 15 minutes. Drain the potatoes and place in a large bowl. at Brandon’s last Drain the turnips and parsnips. Pulse them in a food Thanksgiving, the men made last Thanksgiving dinner.”

If taste has a memory, the processor with the heavy cream until the mixture is smooth. Turducken from scratch. The Mix it all up: Place the turnip-parsnip puree, butter and fact that Brandon was able to cookbook produced by the cream cheese in the bowl with the potatoes and, using the look at that and say to himCulinary Institute is a fitting potato masher or a sturdy whisk, mash until the potatoes self, “Sure, why not,” is a tesmemorial for Brandon. At are fully incorporated with everything else. Season with tament to his the time of his death, he was salt and pepper.

Makes eight servings.

Continued on page 14 a few credits shy of complet-

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September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 13

Friday Night Chinese

by HAL G. SENAL I’m Hal and I’m an addict.

Truth be told, I’ve been one all my life. It’s not something I’m necessarily waving a flag about, but there it is.

I’m just happy that I’m not the only one. On the contrary, I take comfort and I gain a sense of solace that, in actuality, we are everywhere, walking amongst the “normies.”

Yes, my name is Hal and I’m a Jew that’s addicted to Chinese Food.

Hey, what’s that chirping noise?

Crickets. Huh. Well, like I said, at least I’m not alone with my cravings for Sesame Chicken, Beef Lo Mein or Moo shu Po--... um, whatever. Well, I guess it takes all kinds, now, doesn’t it?

I told my wife what the topic of this piece was about and I got an eye-roll (no, not EGG roll... eye roll!! Stay with me people! Come on! We can go do take-out later! Just keep reading for another 1,000 words or so. I’ll even call Michael, the owner of House of Hunan before you even finish reading this, while your mouths are beginning to water). Her reason: “Because those are the only places open on gentile holidays! DUH!! Everyone knows that, dear!”

Really? Does everyone know that?

And if so, how do the Chinese know that we Jews will come a-knockin’ on Christmas?

It’s like they just know; which is kind of weird, in and of itself.

To a certain extent, it’s almost as if we’re a minority being racially profiled by a whole other minority. And it’s based on–what?–our palate?

Well, if that’s the pair of shoes that fit, then I’m happy to wear it.

Let’s face it: Stereotypes come from somewhere, right? I happen to be one who subscribes to the belief that every lie, stereotype, or rumor starts with some grain (rice, perhaps?!) of truth.

And in the grand scheme of things, in all of history, aren’t there enough negative stereotypes to take offense to? I mean, it’s pretty well-known that Jews like Chinese food. Where, when, how and why the stereotype came to be is, well, superfluous. Who cares?

It just is what it is.

Trust me... there are lies and, yes, maybe even some truths, out there, that are far more offensive, far uglier than what

Chinese New Year 2011 in London. dishes we, as a people, have a particular yen for (pun very much intended, thankyouverymuch!).

All I know is that for nearly 20 years, my folks and I ordered Chinese take-out every Friday -- perfect Shabbos dinner, don’t ya know! Now, living in Minnesota with my lovely eye-rolling, exasperated spouse, I miss it.

I took “Friday Night Chinese” (Somewhere, an NBC network executive is reading this and trying to come up with a hit TV show about a little town in Texas with a determined coach and his family sitting down with their TV trays watching Friday Night Lights while eating Chinese food. Wow. I

think, somewhere along the line, this article went meta on everyone! Sorry about that! We now return to our regularly scheduled neurotica!) for granted.

I miss it.

It’s more than that, though. Maybe it’s not just about the food we eat. Not to assault you upside the head with a cliché, but maybe it really does all come down to tradition. Going deeper still, maybe it’s about the company we keep while we continue those traditions.

We’re not the only ones who remember faces and places.

There are millions of Chinese people -- people who have come to this country with the hope of starting a new life, maybe start a restaurant or a family -- that have come to recognize the faces of parents with children who grow up to become men and women who, in turn, have kids that become parents.

And so on and so on...

I’d bet a pretty penny that a lot of those Chinese (or whatever part of Asia they arrive from -- after all, these days, Sushi and Japanese cuisine has apparently become Chinese food and Chinese food has become Japanese food and Sushi.

It never ends, really; integration, that is. God bless America) see parts of themselves in us, in that we’re a people that tries to maintain our traditions, our values.

Sometimes, tradition is easily confused with stereotype.

So, no –I don’t have any solid explanation why non-Jews automatically associate Chinese food with M.O.T.s. I just know why I do.

In the end, I associate Chinese food with our people because, in the end, those Friday night Shabbos dinners, while not exactly kosher -- literally- and figuratively-speaking -- were some of the best nights of my life: just me, my mom, dad, and our now dearly-departed dogs.

My wife and I are still new to this whole marriage business. Two-plus years of marriage later and we still haven’t had a Friday night Chinese Shabbos dinner on our own, sadly enough. Does that make us any more or less Jewish? Of course not! Don’t be silly. Contrary to popular belief, people are not what they eat.

Do some people see it that way? Sure. I mean, if not eating traif makes you a better Jew than me, fine. I can live with that. I won’t argue. But then again, don’t mistake my silence for agreement, because I will go down with that ship.

Continued on page 14

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14 | The Jewish Press | September 14, 2012

New book for the High Brandon Thomas Holy Day season

EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The Jewish Press office is closed Monday-Tuesday, Sept.

17 and 18, for Rosh Hashanah and Wednesday, Sept. 25 for Yom Kippur; the deadline for the Oct. 5 issue is Tuesday, Sept. 25, 9 a.m. Questions? Call 402.334.6448.

want to try it, you’ll just have to buy the book. Instead, we decided to go a little easy on our readers-- but not too easy.

I have a feeling Brandon wouldn’t have wanted that.

SWEET POTATO CAKE WITH BROWN SUGAR ICING

Bundt cake pan).

Mix the wet ingredients: In a large bowl, mix the oil, sugar and brown sugar until they are thoroughly combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue mixing until they are fully incorporated. Add the mashed sweet potatoes and mix thoroughly.

Sift the dry ingredients: pass the cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt through a large mesh strainer three times.

Combine wet and dry mixtures: add the dry mixture, in thirds, to the wet mixture, folding until they are combined.

Divide the batter among the tins.

Bake the cakes: bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted in the center of each comes out clean, 25-30 minutes if you are using miniature Bundt cake tins or muffin tins, and 45-50 minutes if you are using a large Bundt cake pan. Meanwhile, make the icing... when the cakes are done, remove them from the oven and let them cool in the pans for a few minutes. Tip them out and let them continue to cool on a rack.

Photo Credit: Abi Smith Ingredients: 1 cup oil 1 cup sugar 1 cup packed brown sugar 4 large eggs 2 pounds sweet potatoes, baked, peeled and mashed (about 4 cups) 3 cups cake flour 2 tsp. baking soda 2 tsp. baking powder 2 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. ginger 1/4 tsp. cloves 1/2 tsp. table salt 1 cup toasted pecans, chopped Fire up the oven and prepare the pans: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 (12 cup) miniature Bundt cake tins with nonstick spray (You can also use muffin tins or one large

BROWN SUGAR ICING Ingredients: 1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 cup packed brown sugar 1/4 cup half and half

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted Dissolve the brown sugar: melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and bring to a boil.

Add the half and half and return to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add powdered sugar and whip it: pour the brown sugar mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment. Set the mixer on low speed and slowly add the powdered sugar while the mixer turns. Turn the speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture is smooth. It should be thin enough to drizzle. Assemble the dish (sprinkle the toasted pecans on top).

Friday Night Chinese Continued from page 13 I’ve recently been reading Stephen King’s phenomenal 11/22/63. There’s a line in the book that keeps being repeating throughout: “Dancing is life.”

Well, okay, Uncle Stevie -- I’ll see your dancing and raise you food.

Food is life. It can bring back memories, experiences, smells, and even music.

START WITH

A SOLID

Food is something that everyone and everything on this planet needs: Nourishment. And I think we can all agree that nourishment doesn’t always have to revolve around our mouths or bellies. It can go deeper than that.

Food can nourish the soul, given the right circumstances.

So, Jews like Chinese food. If that’s wrong, then I don’t want to be right!

Now, about those egg rolls...

Associated Counseling Professionals

reviewed by SYBIL KAPLAN It’s a Mitzvah

by Liz Suneby and Diane Heiman, Jewish Lights Publishing, $18.99 hardcover, 32 pp. September 2012 If you know any 3 to 6 year olds, sit them down and read this to them, showing them all the illustrations of animals, and they should squeal with delight-as did the 3-year-old on whom I practiced reading this book.

Each set of pages illustrates animals such as bears, beavers, kangaroos, zebras and others in actions regarding a particular mitzvah. The refrain (it’s a...it’s a... it’s a mitzvah) is so catchy, soon the children anticipate it and say it with you.

A meerkat, also known as a mongoose, from South Africa, which stands on its back legs and uses its tale to balance, sits on each set of pages. It is the narrator and explains each mitzvah in a sidebar.

Regretfully, noticeably missing and needed is this brief explanation about the meerkat.

The book will make a wonderful introduction to good deeds for young readers because its style is so appealing, encouraging and animated. Welcoming new friends, forgiving someone who makes a mistake, cheering on your friends and giving tzedakah are just a few of the 12 mitzvot mentioned.

This would be a great gift to take to any family with small children, especially before or during the High Holy Day season.

Elizabeth Suneby and Diane Heiman met as Brown University freshman. Elizabeth, who lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts, writes magazine articles, web sites and marketing materials for corporations. She is also writing a book about a girl in Afghanistan who wants to attend school.

Diane is a lawyer who lives in Bethesda, Maryland.

They have collaborated on See What You Can Be, a careeractivity book for preteen girls; Origami Fortune Tellers; and The Mitzvah Project Book. They are currently at work on a book for preteen/teen Jewish boys.

Laurel Molk lives near Boston, where she works as a freelance illustrator and children’s book author.

Continued from page 13 kitchen courage. It’s turkey stuffed with duck stuffed with chicken, and it takes up eight pages in the Season with Sage cookbook. We are not reprinting the recipe here; if you

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September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 15

Fair and frantic: Miriam Gross ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT the Internet nowadays, and the sky’s the Editor of the Jewish Press limit. What makes that better, is that we If you’ve been lucky enough to be invited have access to different cultures and nationto one of Miriam and Rabbi Jonathan Gross’ alities; there are Jews in so many places, and Shabbat dinners, you know it Kosher food in many cases doesn’t get much better. has been influenced by the Miriam is a fantastic cook, locale. There’s Italian Kosher, and what’s more: she is an and Moroccan Kosher, or imaginative one. A chicken or Algerian Kosher. Different a tomato could do worse than types of food have become end up in her kitchen. A foraccessible to different commer caterer, she is ideally suitmunities, versus in the past, ed to make her guests feel she where cooking was local and went the extra mile. Boring that was that. Kosher food, doesn’t live here. these days, has become a synWhat is your process for an thesis of all these different average Friday night dinner? styles of cooking.

I am at Star Deli until 2 In addition, there’s very p.m. every Friday... and then I little nowadays you can’t buy Miriam Gross head home and get started. a Kosher version of. When I Sometimes I’ll have done my shopping the was a kid, there were so many things you previous day, but just as often I do it Friday couldn’t get your hands on, and the fact that afternoon. I always serve some type of meat, that has changed has really opened up many vegetables; I marinate what needs marinat- possibilities. ing and when I’m done, about one hour That gefillte fish in the red sauce you cooked before Shabbat, everything goes in the oven. once-- are you going to share the recipe?

I try not to have massive piles of fresh vegI remember that dish! That was the same etables on hand, at least not more than I week I did a demonstration at Whole Foods. plan to use. Fresh vegetables and fruits are It was based on the concept of serving a traoften so beautiful, it’s tempting to buy too ditional food, like gefillte fish, in a commuch of it, so I usually have just carrots, pletely different flavor and giving it a differsalad greens, herbs from the garden, onions, ent personality. potatoes and maybe baby kale. Cilantro You take your favorite tomato sauce, you seems to not really want to grow well in the fry up some onions and garlic and add it to herb garden, so I buy that as well. Other veg- the sauce, and let it simmer. Then you take a etables, to be honest: I buy them frozen. gefillte fish log (which I hope Bag ‘n Save Nowadays you can get your hands on really will continue to sell) and let it defrost just great frozen vegetables, especially at Trader enough so you can roll it into balls. Roll Joe’s. If I do buy something out of the ordi- them in a little bit of seasoned flour, and pan nary, like asparagus, I only do it if I have a fry them before dropping them in the tomaplan to cook them right away. to sauce.

What's your kitchen personality?

How did you become such a good cook?

When I was a caterer, I really focused on In the 1970s, my mom loved tofu and stirbeing a great boss, and in order to manage fry. We ate a lot of typical 70’s health food. that, you have to be self-aware. I admit I’m a And Baltimore didn’t really have any decent little frantic in the kitchen. I know what I Kosher restaurants. After my Bat Mitzvah, my want and how I want things to turn out, and grandparents treated me to a New York trip. I being aware of that, I tried to be fair to the went to stay with them, they took me to a people I worked with. If I told them to cut show, and took me out to dinner, and it the carrots, but neglected to give them exact opened my eyes. The flavors were phenomedetails about how I wanted them cut, I’d give nal, they just popped; I had never tasted anythem the benefit of the doubt, even when I thing like it. That’s how I came to realize there secretly thought: “Oh no, they’re cut too was much more that was possible with Kosher thick, or too crooked!” It’s not fair to them. food. After that, cooking became my hobby.

However, I’m one of those people who What do I tell my children to ensure they struggles a bit with help in the kitchen. I like learn some essential things about cooking? doing it myself.

They should mimic what I did: treat it as a When I cook at home, I’m similar. Once hobby! On a random day, when they’re I’m really cooking, I hit that momentum, unexpectedly out of school, when you’re not and I forget about everything else. I’m using the kitchen, let them cut loose and try extremely focused on what I’m doing. So, things out. when someone offers to help, I need to have When should Jewish children be allowed to something in mind I can allow them to help wield a kitchen knife? with, without always saying “No, it’s fine, let Start small and have them cut soft things! me do it myself.” I guess I’m a bit of a whirl- The softer food they’re cutting, the better wind in the kitchen. I get in there, and they can avoid that unexpected momentum. things just start happening, and fast! Part of A really ripe strawberry, perhaps? The thing being a good host is knowing when people is, an adult can just as easily cut him- or herlike to help out, what they are interested in, self; it’s not so much about the knife, as it is and facilitating that. about what you’re trying to slice with it.

What can no break-the-fast go without?

What will you absolutely never cook?

Oh, you have to have good soup! You Something that requires more than ten don’t want to overeat on the heavy stuff ingredients. Or a watermelon boat. No immediately after the fast ends. The best offense, but I will never, ever make a waterthing is a clear broth-based soup, which you melon boat. can make ahead of time, and is extremely Quick: deserted island, you can have three easy to heat up. Eat a cracker or two while ingredients. What are they? you’re waiting for it to be ready to eat if you Butter, nice crusty French bread, and a must, and make sure it doesn’t have a bottle of wine! creamy, too rich base. It will clear your What should everyone try in the kitchen at palate and makes for a easy transition after least once?

25 hours of not eating and drinking.

Everyone should at least one time in their In popular media, “Kosher” sometimes has life roast a whole chicken. Go to Williams connotations of traditional and old fash- and Sonoma, and purchase the poultry scisioned. Should we work harder at changing sors they have - they are great and you’ll that perception? need them. Take your favorite spice mixture Over the past ten years we have seen a to cover the chicken with. Cook it in the huge evolution in Kosher cooking. The great oven at 500 degrees for exactly one hour. thing is, the world is so much smaller nowaEditor’s note: recipes for Miriam’s Gefillte days, especially when you take the Internet Fish and Roasted Chicken can be found on into account. So many people get recipes off www.jewishomaha.com.

L’Shana Tova Wishing everyone a happy New Year.

Senator Mike Johanns Paid for by Mike Johanns for Senate, 5555 South Street, Suite 100, Lincoln, NE 68506

16 | The Jewish Press | September 14, 2012

(Un)cooking: The living food movement

by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Preparing raw food seems like a lot of work. At least, that’s the first thought that came to mind once I started reading the recipes. Who knew that almonds should be soaked for 10 hours before you can use them for hummus, or that burdock should always be grated in lemon juice? As a matter of fact, what is burdock? Or Hiziki? Why are people so enamored with this way of preparing food? We asked Deborah Platt, who is one of our proofreaders and has treated our entire office to samples of her food on several occasions.

Deborah Platt’s first encounter with the raw food movement occurred about eight years ago, while she was living in California. “My first thought was that it didn’t sound very appetizing,” she remembers. “But at the same time, I had already been eating macro-biotic for a while, so the jump wasn’t as big.”

When she was eating raw completely, Platt lost 40 pounds, felt fantastic, and a new healthy habit was born: “Raw does not mean ‘unprepared,’ and there is enormous variety,” she says.

There are rules, of course. The raw food movement offers a vegan or vegetarian diet, and consists of food that is never heated above 115 degrees Fahrenheit. There are numerous variations, and most adherents eat plant-based food about 75 to 80 percent of the time.

The raw food movement originated in Switzerland during the late 1800’s, when Dr. Maximilian Bircher Brenner, who also invented muesli, discovered the consumption of raw apples cured jaundice (he tested it on himself). He began to experiment with other raw or living foods, and a new diet

Deborah Platt serves lunch to the Jewish Press staff was born. In November 1897, he opened a sanatorium in

Zurich called "Vital Force." It is still treating patients today.

Advocates of the diet insist that cooking, micro waving, frying and baking anything above 115 degrees destroy most of the vitamins and nutrients that can be found in food, although there is no scientific proof for that.

Many foods in raw food diets are easy to prepare, such as fruits, salads, and meat- or dairy alternatives. Other foods can require considerable advanced planning to prepare. Rice and some other grains, seeds and nuts, for example, require sprouting or overnight soaking to become digestible.

“Cooking often takes the essence out of food,” says Platt.

“When eating raw, you eat less, because your body digests so much more of what you eat.” What’s hard about it: the preparation. There’s a lot that goes into avoiding cooked and processed nutrition. “And,” says Platt, “preparing food is such a social concept. It’s easier to do together, to have others around you doing it with you, and much of the raw food you prepare you have to prepare in multiple servings. That’s harder to do if you’re doing it for one.”

Platt relies on her food dehydrator to prepare much of the living food she eats. She makes her own almond milk and avoids all dairy; everything raw she eats is parve, and so keeping kosher is not difficult. A lot of hard work, sure, but “it tastes good, and it makes me feel better,” she says.

Although she no longer eats completely raw, she still incorporates a lot of it into her diet.

Editor’s note: For raw versions of all-time Jewish food favorites, such as latkes, beef borscht or ‘gefillte this,’ visit http://www.circle-of-life.net/OyVeytoJoyVey/rawfoodkosherrecipes.php

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SURPRISING SEAWEED SALAD 1 handful dried hiziki, arame, or combination 4 to 6 inches burdock root 1 small carrot Juice of 1/2 lemon 1 ear of corn, kernels cut, or 1/2 cup frozen sweet corn 2 tbsp. olive oil 1 tbsp. flaxseed oil 1/2 tsp. toasted sesame oil 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. tamari soy sauce 1 tsp. finely grated ginger Instructions: soak the seaweed in water for at least 10 minutes. In the meantime, grate the burdock into lemon juice (burdock oxidizes quickly, and the lemon will keep it from turning brown) and grate the carrot. Mix the burdock and carrot together with the corn and seaweed. Put the grated ginger in your fist and squeeze the juice in the bowl; add all other ingredients and toss together. Serve on a bed of greens.

HUMMUS 1 cup whole blanched raw almonds, soaked in cold water for 10 to 12 hours 1 cup whole raw cashews, soaked in cold water for 10 to 12 hours 1 tbsp. minced garlic 1 1/2 tsp. onion paste or 1/4 cup raw minced onion 1/2 cup lemon juice 1/4 cup water 1/2 cup olive oil 2-3 tsp. sea salt (Celtic brand recommended) 2 tablespoons tahini Freshly ground pepper to taste Extra olive oil to garnish Instructions: drain the nuts well. Using a food processor (work in batches if necessary), process the almonds, cashews, pepper and garlic until pureed and smooth. Add the onion, lemon juice, water, olive oil, tahini, and salt.

Process until smooth; serve drizzled with the extra olive oil.

Serves 4.

September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 17

Street food eating in Israel

by SYBIL KAPLAN One of the nicest and most distinct Israeli traditions is food. Jews coming from the Middle East and Far East, from Europe, Australia, South Africa, North and South America—all adopted the local cooking habits to their dietary laws and passed them on to their children. The cooking style of the countries where they lived came as part of their baggage when they made their way to Israel, and they blended with those who had come before them.

One thing about which there has been little debate is Israeli street foods.

It’s not an exaggeration that in the greater downtown areas of most Israeli cities and towns, there are street food kiosks on every corner! These offer a wide variety of foods for visitors and natives alike. Many of these foods have crossed the ocean and appear in North American cities, but one might ask what are the real street foods of Israel and what is their origin?

Chickpeas are among the oldest cultivated plants and native to northern Persia. They are a staple of peasant cooking, a source of cheap protein and have been in the diets of Jews of the Mediterranean and North Africa for centuries.

Hummus Chickpeas form the basis of hummus and falafel.

“Israelis hold hummus in such high regard that it is rarely made at home. Instead it is savored—or rather worshipped—at a favorite hummusia,” writes Janna Gur in The Book of New Israeli Food.

Hummus is one of Israel’s national foods because it is “filling, nutritious and cheap” and requires no forks and knives just “pita bread and an expert wrist.” To the cooked mashed chick peas are added garlic, salt, cumin, lemon juice and tahini. Hummus is then spooned onto a plate with tahini in the center and olive oil and chopped parsley added as a garnish. Scoop it up off the plate with pita and enjoy!

Tchina Tahini or tahina or tchina is from the Arabic word meaning ground because it is ground sesame seeds. As a dip, tchina is then combined with ice cold water, lemon juice, crushed garlic and salt. Tchina is eaten with pita.

Falafel Falafel probably came from Egypt where it was created by Egyptian Christian Copts who served up this dish with fava beans during Lent when meat was not eaten.

It is a combination of chick peas, garlic, parsley, lemon juice, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. Sometimes burgul, dry bread crumbs and eggs are added. The mixture is shaped into small balls, often popped into deep oil to fry by a gadget called a falafel maker which scoops up the mixture and then releases it into the oil.

Falafel is served inside a half or whole pita with your choice of salads, sauces, dill pickle, techina, sometimes eggplant and sometimes French fries.

Sabikh One street food which Israelis claim they invented or

Clockwise from above: Shabbat challot from Marzipan, Juice Bar, Nuts of all varieties, Many kinds of candy, and Salads and peppers to accompany felafel Credit: Barry A. Kaplan

brought from Iraq is sabikh. Sabakh means morning in Arabic. In fact, it is pita stuffed with deep-fried eggplant, boiled egg, potatoes, techina, tomatoes, onions and parsley.

It is often topped with ambah, an Indian mango pickle.

Shashlik/Kebab Two very typical Israeli foods, particularly in Middle Eastern restaurants are Shashlik and Kebab. These words are often used interchangeably, although they mean something different. Shashlik are pieces of meat put on a skewer and grilled; kebab is ground meat combined with parsley, onions and garlic and wrapped around a skewer and grilled.

Shwarma Shwarm is the Turkish word for grilled. See that large, vertical rotating spit? Boned turkey is cooked on it, sometimes with lamb fat on the top for flavoring. Pieces are then shaved off and served inside pita or laffa, the pizza-size pita, as a wrap and served with salads.

Mixed Grill I happen to have a very strong stomach, but one of my favorite foods (and one of my husband’s) is mixed grill. This is done on the street and in restaurants and consists of chicken livers, hearts, regular chicken, onions, paprika and a special spice blend very quickly stir fried and often stuffed into pita.

Burekas Burekas are a stuffed, turnover-type pastry made from thin phylo dough spread on a cookie sheet, sprinkled with oil and sometimes filled with spinach, potatoes or butter before melted butter is spread on top and the whole pastry baked until brown and puffy then cut into squares.

Nuts One cannot forget nuts and seeds, freshly roasted—sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chick peas, pistachio nuts and more are favorites from the street vendors.

Coffee Cafes are very popular in Israel, practically on every corner. Most, if not all, are dairy and some even serve alcoholic beverages. Two of the most popular coffee drinks are café afukh and ice café.

Café afukh means upside down coffee. It was probably given this name because originally a small amount of coffee was added to the milk. Today, café afukh is the same as cappuccino. Interestingly enough, German Jews who came in large numbers in the 1930s brought the concept of a small amount of coffee with a lot of milk, otherwise known as café au lait.

Ice café has two meanings in Israel. One is what we might call slush or crushed ice with coffee or coffee flavoring added; the other is actual coffee with ice cubes added.

Sahleb In winter, a drink which originated in the Arab countries, has come into Israel, served from very large brass or silver containers. The drink is Sahleb made from the flour of ground tubers of orchids, possibly with rose water added; sometimes milk and sugar are also added. What emerges is a starchy, cream of wheat-thick drink, eaten with a spoon, garnished with coconut, crushed pistachio nuts and cinnamon.

Fruit juices On street corners and throughout the markets are places offering freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable drinks in varying sizes.

Whatever you choose to eat, whether standing at a kiosk or walking along the street, you will find these street foods reasonably priced, plentiful and healthy as well.

Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, food writer, lecturer and cookbook author. She also leads walks though Machaneh Yehudah, the Jewish produce market.

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18 | The Jewish Press | September 14, 2012

It’s a small world...

Read it and eat Reviewed by LOIS FRIEDMAN Recently an article caught my eye about the Reagan Presidential Foundation condemning the auction and $11,000 sale of a vial that allegedly contains blood residue from Ronald Reagan. Reagan was hospitalized after the March 30, 1981, assassination attempt. Cece Zorinsky, wife of Senator Ed Zorinsky, and I were driving up Massachusetts Avenue as I remember when traffic became a parking lot, sirens wailed and suddenly the Presidential limousine with Secret Service men hanging on everywhere zoomed by in the opposite direction. We later learned the details of the shooting!

Cece shared many moments with me while they were in Washington. We talked on the phone and would chat about an event she was working on. Somewhere along the line I gave her my college roommate’s incredible banana bread recipe, which was often the recipe Cece would send when one was requested for a publication.

BANANA BREAD 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup shortening 1 cup mashed bananas (2) 1/2 cup milk 1 egg 1 tsp. soda 2 cups flour 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 cup nuts Mix all ingredients together and blend well. Put batter in greased loaf pan. Sprinkle with a handful of chocolate chips.

Bake 350 degrees for 1 hour.

I visited. It was always exciting to share a slice of their life...

Ed’s office, lunch in the United States Senate Restaurant at the U.S. Capitol. We went to dinners at Embassies, special celebrations and events in D.C. like the Congressional Club’s

First Lady Luncheon. Each member could invite two guests to this dazzling event at the Shoreham Hotel Ballroom. Beautifully decorated tables, gift totes, favors – a demitasse cup and saucer, a tiny Congressional Club plate, a white dove. The entertainment for one of the luncheons was themed “It’s A Small World”. What fun it was to watch Cece meet and greet.

Susy Zorinsky, their daughter who lives in Arizona, and I talked and emailed catching up. Among all the Zorinsky papers she found an article from the November 31, 1977, issue of the Dundee Sun newspaper complete with a couple of their recipes.

CECE ZORINSKY’S APPLE PIE 1 pie crust 5-7 apples 1/2 cup sugar 2 tbsp. flour 3/4 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 tsp. nutmeg 2 tbsp. butter I often use the frozen pie crusts when in a hurry. When making the pastry I refrigerate it to make it easier to roll. Use a 9 or 10 inch pie pan. Pare apples and slice. Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg (use 3⁄4 C. sugar for tart apples). Toss with sliced apples coating them thoroughly. Fill pie shell. Dot with butter. Cover with top crust. Prick with a fork. Bake 400 degrees for about 50 minutes.

ED ZORINSKY’S FLUFFY SCRAMBLED EGGS 1 large onion Butter or margarine 12 eggs 1/2 cup milk Salt, pepper, Lawry’s Seasoned Salt Dice onion (with less tears if it has been refrigerated). Saute the onion in the butter or margarine until golden brown. Beat eggs thoroughly. Add milk, salt, pepper and seasoning salt.

Beat again thoroughly. Add eggs until almost foamy. Pour over onions in electric fry pan and constantly fold or mix with spatula while cooking. Eggs should be quickly removed from pan while moist. Serve immediately. Serves 6.

Lois Friedman can be reached at ReadItAndEat@ yahoo.com

September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 19

Former Omahan creates a Garbanzo “Beananza” restaurant chain in Denver

by GARY JAVITCH It’s fast! It’s casual! And the consensus is... “It’s Great!”

The “It” is the Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill, established by former Omahan, Alon Mor, along with his partner, Panera entrepreneur Ken Rosenthal.

The pair launched their first restaurant in Denver at the end of 2007. It soon attracted devotees of their ambience and just as quickly became a fastgrowing restaurant chain, adored by fans of highquality Mediterranean food.

In fewer than five years, their operation now includes 14 restaurants in Colorado, nine in Denver alone, and the pair has opened eateries in two other states, Oklahoma Alon Mor and Texas, as well.

The partners expect more sites to open around the country. Possible locations include Maryland and the D.C. area, and places along the East Coast, like New York City, and along the West Coast, perhaps in Orange County, (Los Angeles area) California.

The Restaurant Often referred to as “fast cazh,” this restaurant type falls between self-service and full-service (with a waiter staff).

Diners who favor this trend desire fresh, lean, low-calorie dishes, reasonably priced and easily available, according to Denver food blogger, Jean Wohletz.

Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill diners go through a line, choosing what they want and customizing their meals.

And what a selection to choose from. Their eatgarbanzo.com website states that diners at the “Grill” can select a style of entree-- “pita (white or whole wheat), plate, salad or laffa (a burrito-style wrap) - then add chicken or steak, (often referred to as “shwarma,” a Middle Eastern term for roasted meat), falafel, hummus, greens or any combination thereof, finally topping the whole thing off with salads, sauces, dressings and extras.

By the time you reach the end of the line, you have “a tasty, filling and surprisingly healthy made-to-order meal,” their website states. You then pay and find a table to enjoy your customized order.

“Nothing is pre-made at the Grill. Every single morning we prepare whole grains and vegetables on site. We are dedicated to being as natural as possible,” Beth Hardy, the marketing manager stated.

She offered other reasons for their early success so far.

“We also developed a winning formula,” Beth observed.

“From the beginning, Garbanzo’s big picture outlook has been made up of a series of details: Do things right. Make things fresh. Make them authentic. Make sure each ingredient is perfect. Make sure customers are happy from palate to pocketbook.

“Apparently, we struck a chord. Word spread. Lines formed. People got onboard. The business expanded. The outpouring of support and interest in the brand has been phenomenal.” Beth added.

As to why everyone likes the taste so much, it’s because “nearly every recipe we use came from my grandmother’s kitchen,” Mor said in an article in the Denver Business Journal. The paper quoted him in a series of stories on successful Denverites who had earned membership in a distinctive group called the “Forty under 40.”

Mor continued, “My grandmother used to take me to the farmer’s market on the weekends and taught me the importance of utilizing fresh ingredients to make healthy, flavorful meals.”

Alon longed for those kinds of food in America.

Omaha roots Israeli-born Alon Mor came to Omaha as a kid with his family, when his Dad, Dr. Menachem Mor, became the first Klutznick Chair and Professor of Jewish Civilization at Creighton University in the late 1980’s.

Many Omahans may also remember Alon as the popular B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (BBYO) director at the JCC. Or as the guy that married Mel and Lois Epstein’s daughter, Rikki.

While in Omaha, Alon earned a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Creighton University.

“But we left Omaha when Alon turned 25 because he had

never completed his commitment for (his mandatory term of) service in the Israel Defense Force. And he wanted to fulfill that obligation,” his wife, Rikki, related.

Because of his age, Alon only needed to serve one year, instead of the usual three years. Then following his military

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service, Mor became one of the “Startup Nation” by launching and operating seven cafes that specialized in gourmet ice cream, coffee and Mediterranean cuisines. Franchising his operation throughout Israel, Mor propelled the company’s operation and profit, reaching annual company sales of $4.5 million, he revealed on his website.

Those five successful years, 1997-2002, earned him a lucrative job offer in America. The next five years in the United States brought him an even greater opportunity.

Restaurant Origins Alon returned to the United States and joined the Panera Bread family in 2002. While serving as special projects manager, he aided in launching 22 Panera Bread cafes throughout Colorado, and as a district manager, the energetic leader recruited, trained and developed cafe managers. He also wrote strategic business reviews, financial analyses and monitored and implemented growth programs and initiatives.

During his tenure with Panera, he saw a gap in the “casual market.” Alon believed he could fill that vacuum by selling Mediterranean foods.

“While I can’t bring the Mediterranean Sea here, I can bring (my customers) the spices, food, and freshness that remind me of my home.”

He took the idea to Panera owner Ken Rosenthal, who had both the long-term experience and the expertise for launching major startups. The two became partners, Rikki Mor explained, and founded Garbanzo together.

Alon was named the President and CEO of Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill. Together, they turned Mor’s vision into reality, and so far, it has been a “beananza” for their team.

Uniqueness A major reason that the restaurants have attracted so many people can be attributed to the unique character of the operation.

They found that some people come in because they have no idea just what a garbanzo bean is. (It is in the legume family and “garbanzo” is a word interchangeable with “chickpea.”)

Perhaps that is one reason why Mor introduces his customers to a magnificent deep-fried, spiced garbanzo-bean fritter as soon as they walk in the door of one of his restaurants. He also has a “just ask” policy that allows them to try anything on the menu before they order.

While many restaurants have VIP clubs, Alon has established a VIB Club, a variant on the VIP acronym. They send their members “Bean Mail,” special offers, coupons and invitations to some VIB-only events.

Denver blogger, Jenn Wohletz attributed the Grill’s success as being made possible only because of the “ingenuity of ‘outside-the greasy-box thinking of entrepreneurs like Garbanzo founder Alon Mor.’” His wife and kids While Alon loves the business world he has created, his “true joy comes from spending time with his wife Rikki and three daughters, his friends and in his own kitchen,” he kvelled on his website.

His wife, Rikki, is no slouch either when it comes to creativity and ingenuity. She created her own successful startup company two years ago when she designed and developed a detangling hairbrush, called the “Knot Genie.”

The couple has on an occasion jointly talked about their entrepreneurial success before the Jewish Chamber of Commerce and elsewhere in Denver.

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Don’t eat that: How gluten affects us

by BERT LEWIS How often do you hear, after offering a sweet or a dessert, “No thanks, I’m on a diet”? Or maybe “I’m trying to cut down.”

Or the famous “I really shouldn’t, but it looks so good.” It would seem as though everybody is on a diet of some kind.

Some offer to figure out what you should be eating, then prepare that food and sell it to you. Others have you join, and then like all

the same symptoms as drug addicts.

He suggested perhaps there were elevated levels of naturally occurring opioids in these children, not unlike the “runner’s high” experienced by marathoners. Labs in Norway and Great Britain both found these compounds in autistic children. Later a scientist in Florida also confirmed this.

Further study suggested the source of these unexpected findings was something

meetings, you have to attend. Still others are owned and operated by heartless people who require that you appear before your peers and be weighed publicly. Whether or not you can have a reasonable attitude about all this, many of us are or should be on a diet of some description. Either for the sake of our health, or just because we want to look better.

On a more serious note, there are many people who must adhere closely to a particular diet, like it or not. Those are the folks who have Celiac Disease. What’s that? A brief definition calls it an “inherited autoimmune disorder”, which means the body is damaged by its own immune system. In Celiacs, a very important part of the interior doesn’t allow for the proper absorption of nutrients the body needs to function properly. Symptoms are mostly gastrointestinal, although there may be other problems too.

Ok, so what’s the treatment for somebody who has Celiac Disease? Simple. The treatment is diet, and as of now it is the only treatment. Here’s where a familiar term pops up: A gluten-free diet. Fine. But what on earth is gluten? Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, oats and barley - in other words, just about everything we typically eat.

It’s really important for Celiac sufferers to remove all gluten from the diet to permit the damaged innards to begin healing. As healing progresses, health improves, making it easier to stay on the GF diet because one feels so much better. Even after the person is healed and feels good, they must adhere to the diet or the damage will occur again.

Alright. Now when somebody says soand-so is on a gluten-free diet, it’s easier to understand. Also, the appearance of entire departments of food markets devoted to gluten-free products now makes sense.

There are hundreds of gluten free foods to choose from, unlike the early days when people weren’t so well informed about such specialty items. And many people on GF diets have figured out that many Passover foods are gluten free. Nothing with matza meal, but a number of other items are ok.

Interestingly, it’s not only Celiac sufferers who find GF meals a wise choice. In addition to those folks, families with children on the autistic spectrum have found that a gluten free diet helps with both GI and behavior issues. The idea to try removing gluten came from research dating back to the 1980s, when an Ohio neuroscientist noticed that autistic people showed some of

dietary, and the obvious suspect was gluten.

It is known that improperly digested proteins do have opioid (drug like) characteristics, and since so many children on the autism spectrum also have GI problems, it was theorized that improperly digested proteins were causing the problems.

While this is still controversial in the autism world, there are now hundreds of thousands of children using a gluten-free diet and for many families it has been life changing. Most of these children must also avoid dairy products since the dairy protein casein seems to cause similar neurological mischief in this population. In contrast, most Celiacs can tolerate dairy. It is interesting to note that many families with an autistic child also have someone with Celiac Disease.

Of course this all sounds more complicated than the usual diets with which we’re more familiar, but if for any reason anyone wants more information, there are hundreds of web sites to answer questions. As a personal aside, I have in my possession a recipe for a delicious gluten free/dairy free Honey Cake. And yes, I share.

ADDENDUM The above information regarding the use of gluten free diets for Autistic children or adults has been of special interest to me for the past twenty plus years. After my now adult grandson was diagnosed with autism as a toddler, his mother (my daughter Lisa Lewis) took a great deal of interest in the gluten free theory. In fact, she became a strong proponent of the diet, putting her own child on the regimen. Today, at age 24, he is still gluten free. His mother went on to make herself as informed as humanly possible in all things both gluten and autism. She has written and published books filled with useful information regarding diet for the gluten free, in addition to recipes etc. She’s often an invited speaker at autism conferences and in many areas, her name is synonymous with autism/diet and gluten. for more information, check out her web site at www.autismndi.com.

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September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 21

An eclectic fusion of culture and family

by OZZIE NOGG Buenos Aires is one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities, home to approximately 175,000 Jews. The community -- descendants of Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe, as well as Sephardim from Morocco and the Ottoman Empire -- is an eclectic fusion of diverse cultural and family traditions, which (of course) includes food. It’s in this environment that Buenos Aires-born Susi Frydman-Levin found her inspiration and mentors.

“First of all,” Frydman-Levin said, “I like to eat and enjoy good food. As a rabbi's wife, I had the opportunity to know and learn from a lot of amazing women. Women from German, Polish and Sephardic heritage who not only enriched me but brought to my kitchen the flavors from their heritage. From them I learned the impeccable German-style table presentation and how to prepare a high tea menu rich in pastries. From the Polish women I learned how to keep a honig leikech -- honey cake -- moist, and how to prepare small kneidalach -- matzo balls -- for homemade chicken soup. Sephardic women taught me a variety of ways to prepare rice. I collected their recipes and I keep them along with the name of the woman who gave it to me.”

The women in Susi’s family served as role models, too.

“My paternal bubbe, Chaia, was a great cook, amazing entertainer and an inspiring woman in my life. I learned from her to bake, to make challah, to broil a chicken and cook brisket, to set a table and have fun while entertaining. From my mother and aunts I learned traditional Jewish dishes that have become my signature dishes -- mandelbroit from my mom, knishes and latkes from my Aunt Rebecca, different charoset recipes from my Aunt Nelly. My Pesach china and some of the big cooking pots I have belonged to my bubbe.

They came with me from Argentina. When I cook gefilte fish in my Bubbe Chaia's big aluminum pot, it’s like still being around her.”

According to Susi, her move from Buenos Aires to Omaha -- along with her husband Mordechai (Beth El Synagogue’s senior rabbi) and their three children -- has an additional curious story. "One day, prior to moving to the United States, I was Google searching some information about the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO. Since I was in Argentina, the search was done in Spanish. The acronym for PAHO in Spanish is OPS. Do you recognize it? When I accidentally arrived at the Omaha Public Schools web site, I discovered there was a city named Omaha, Nebraska, and that it has a great school system. From the beginning, Mordechai and I felt we could only be comfortable in a new place if it provided good education for our kids. I felt Omaha would be a good place for us, and for almost ten years it definitely has been.” Susi has a Master's Degree in Education and Psychology and is a bilingual mental health therapist. The Levin’s children are Ari, Tali and Gabe. “Gabe has the benefit of living at home, so he can have his favorite meals any time he wants. Ari and Tali know that I’ll prepare their

Shalom

A happy and peaceful New Year

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Susi Frydman-Levin (back) helps her mother, Eva Frydman, celebrate her 85th birthday in Buenos Aires this past March. favorite dishes when they come into town. Stew, schnitzel, brisket, quiches. I regularly send them cookies, brownies and biscotti by mail. It’s like being close to home even though they’re far away.” Susi learned this lesson from her mother. “When I returned from a trip, camp or vacation, she would make any dish I asked for. My mom was a good cook, and I loved it all, but I usually asked her to prepare Italian ricotta baked cannelloni.”

The Shabbat table and High Holiday meals are a central point in the Levin family life, and the move to Omaha required revisions to one favorite dish. “My family likes my homemade gefilte fish. In Argentina I used trout, hake, mahimahi, and a fish called boga. I can’t find it in Omaha, but I’ve made good adaptations and my family still likes the result.

Other than that, traditional Jewish foods in South America are no different from those in the United States. Ashkenazi food was in my home while growing up and it still is. Apples and honey, round challah, gefilte fish, roast chicken, potatoes, veggies and fruity desserts. I try to buy a fruit that we usually don’t eat during the year to bring a new, earthy taste to the table.” When not using the recipes collected from South American friends, Omaha friends, family and the Internet, Susi’s go-to source for menu planning is Bubbe's Kitchen, published by the National Council of Jewish Women of Canada, Vancouver Section. “It’s a fabulous cookbook,” Frydman-Levin said. “What has been great for me is that besides the variety of good and flavorful recipes, the temperature directions are in both fahrenheit and celsius, and weights and measurements are in the metric system -which I’m used to -- as well as in the American system.

Learning to cook in the States has been a big adjustment.”

Aided by a trusty, non-stick frying pan, her bamboo cutting boards and favorite knives (about which she is very picky), Susi says, “Cooking is one of my favorite relaxing

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Mordechai also likes to cook -- grilled chicken breasts with curry, baked breaded chicken and a variety of salads. We cook in great batches, whether it be fish, chicken, stew or brisket. We freeze in portions, so we just add a salad, potatoes or rice and we always have a homemade dinner.”

During which dinner the Levins always adhere to this regulation: “There has been a golden rule since we got married.

NO TV when we’re around the table. It’s worked pretty well for us and our children.”

“Food is a great excuse to bring people together,” Susi continued. “When people come to our home I like them to feel welcome. I try always to ask for allergies or dietary restrictions because I think that showing special attention to what my guests can eat is not only a sign of respect but of love.”

22 | The Jewish Press | September 14, 2012

Bob Hutkins: The Food Doc

by SARAH KELEN bad, and the smelly at UNMC’s Science Cafe Colleagues in the Food Science and in Omaha. At that lecture, members of the Technology Department at the University of community learned about how different Nebraska, Lincoln know Bob Hutkins as the enzymes and different techniques produce Khem Shahani Professor of Food different cheeses. Hutkins also discussed the Microbiology, and anyscience of pickles during a one who meets Hutkins barbecue-themed episode between April and of NPR’s Science Friday in October may know him July. In both the NPR as “that rabid Cardinals interview and the UNMC fan.” However, newspalecture, Hutkins explored per readers in Lincoln the science that gets foods know him best as The to our table, as he does in Food Doc, a regular his Food Doc column. columnist in the Taste The format of the Food section of the Lincoln Doc column is question Journal Star. and answer. In his first Professor Hutkins’s few columns, Hutkins area of research is on focused on answering the how an individual’s diet questions he had been affects intestinal bacteasked many times over ria, so over the years the years by friends and various friends and relafamily. Once the column tives came to him with was established, however, questions about the readers began to write in Bob Hutkins health claims made on with questions of their yogurt labels or about other food and health own. Questions the Food Doc has addressed related topics. As someone who has always in his column are “how does the pop-up enjoyed writing, Hutkins came up with the timer on a turkey work?” and even a non-sciidea of sharing the science of food with a entific question that Jewish Press readers wider audience through a newspaper col- may have fielded themselves, “what does that umn. He wrote up a few sample columns U-in-a-circle mark on food labels mean?” and sent them to the editors of the Lincoln One of the benefits of the column for Journal Star to see if they were interested in Hutkins has been an opportunity to educate a column on the science of food. Thus The the public about what different food termiFood Doc was born. nology means. Product packaging features The Food Doc column appears the first words designed to communicate particular Wednesday of every month in the Journal health or quality claims, but consumers often Star, but Hutkins’s column is not his only do not know precisely what that terminology medium for communicating the microbiolo- means. Through the Food Doc column, gy of food to non-scientists. Last year he pre- Hutkins can “address food topics that people sented, Microbiology of cheese: The good, the take for granted, but don’t really understand,”

like what differentiates extra virgin olive oil from other, less expensive oils.

Although Hutkins himself answers most of the questions, when they are too far out of his field of expertise, he turns to colleagues for help. When a reader wrote in with a question about the safety of gathering wild mushrooms, there was little room for error, as some mushrooms are highly toxic. In this case, Hutkins knew his limitations: “I’ve never hunted for, nor could I distinguish between a safe wild mushroom and one that would make you ill, so I asked one of UNL’s resident experts” for help when writing that column.

As a research scientist, Hutkins has published many academic papers in scholarly journals, but he appreciates an opportunity to write in a more informal, accessible style.

“I have always enjoyed writing,” Hutkins noted, “but most of what I do for my job is technical writing for journals and grants. It’s a challenge to write for a lay audience, but I also enjoy this style of writing since I get to be a bit more creative and can also slip some humor into the column (which is hard to do in academic journals).”

The Food Science and Technology Department at the University of Nebraska promotes the Food Doc column on the departmental website, highlighting Hutkins’s work to make academic research more familiar to the greater public. Hutkins also uses some of the column topics in his classes. However, Hutkins’s students seem far from star-struck to have a local writer as their faculty member. Reflecting on how his students have responded to his local celebrity as a columnist, Hutkins joked: “mainly they make fun of my picture.”

In his Food Microbiology class, Hutkins once included on an exam a question that he had previously answered in the Food Doc

column. “Wouldn’t you know it,” Hutkins remarked, “none got the answer right.

Evidently, my students don’t read the newspaper.”

Hutkins’s research specialty of gut health may seem like a topic some laypeople would find unpleasant to discuss. Many people are put off by the notion that their digestive systems house millions of microorganisms.

However, as Hutkins pointed out, “given how many people have digestion issues, like irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, or even more serious afflictions like Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, it is not so hard anymore to find people receptive to hearing about the microbiology of the intestinal tract. Of course, it’s not exactly dinner-time conversation, but, but is definitely preferable to even more distasteful subjects, like presidential politics.”

Some aspects of digestive microbiology are, however, topics that even the squeamish can enjoy. Hutkins also studies the microorganisms used in the manufacture of cheese, bread, and wine, not to mention that deli staple: the pickle. Asked to consider which Jewish foods were his favorite products of fermentation, Hutkins offered a few examples: “Growing up in St. Louis, Mo, there was a Jewish bakery that made Tzitzel bread, a rye bread that contains a touch of corn meal. It is an awesome bread. They are very hard to find now, but genuine, barrel-fermented, kosher dill pickles are a special treat. Naturally, I also enjoy fermented fruit of the vine.”

Hutkins’s interest in food science extends from his laboratory to his kitchen, as he is an enthusiastic bread baker. “I recently obtained a forty-year-old sour dough culture from a colleague” Hutkins enthused, “and have been making delicious sour dough whole wheat breads. It may take some time, but my goal is to perfect a sour dough Challah.”

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Serving up memories

by OZZIE NOGG Shapiro also tweaked Turkish baklava. “I make it with For Ben Shapiro and his wife, Amy, the adage that claims, margarine and chopped dried fruit. While not traditional “The quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” in the usual sense, it allows people to partake of baklava at is upside down. a meat meal, and also avoid the nut allergies that some “I can attest to the fact that in the beginning of our rela- folks have.” tionship it was my cooking that won Amy over,” Ben says.

Shapiro is particularly sensitive to the special dietary Today, the Shapiro’s children -- 8 1/2 year old Matan and needs of his family and guests.

5 1/2 year old Liora -“I have created many a enjoy lending a hand in variance of recipe to the family’s kitchen. accommodate my wife’s “Matan loves to help food allergies, the most with the smoker and difficult of which is wheat. enjoys stirring the pots, I make kugel using rice adding ingredients and, of noodles, and have substicourse, supervising. Liora tuted chopped coconut prefers to comment on the macaroons in place of smells, look at the food, bread crumbs and crackrender an opinion, and ers in meatloaf, with then walk away until it’s excellent results.” ready.”

Along with his very speThe “it” could be brown cial sushi knives, Shapiro rice topped with smoked loves his electric Bodum salmon, thick butternut coffee maker, his gadgets squash soup, or a well(the house favorite is the seasoned lamb stew. The cherry pitter) and his coltype of food, says Ben, lection of Kitchen Aid “that just warms the heart. mixers. “I have just about You can curl up in bed or every attachment availon the couch while the able.” food sticks to your ribs.”

Shapiro is also a champiA native of Dayton, on of thermometers. “I Ohio, Shapiro came to make a decadent fudge, Omaha while on active and you can’t really produty. He and Amy met at duce good candy and conBen Shapiro Beth El Synagogue. Ben fections without a thercurrently works for the Air Force as a civilian assigned to mometer. More important, if you’re cooking meat on the the United States Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force rare side, you really need to make sure the internal temperBase in Bellevue. ature is high enough to eliminate any dangerous bacteria “I realized I had a knack for cooking when I was very that might make someone sick.” Ben believes that cooks young. I used to help my mother in the kitchen, and when who use poor quality utensils can get frustrated, which I grew older I worked as a salad and prep chef in restau- leads to unattractive presentation and the danger of hurtrants where I was able to learn from master chefs from the ing oneself. “All that aside, I might conclude that the most Culinary Institute of America.” At Offutt, Shapiro’s exten- important utensil in the kitchen is patience. When one is in sive Jewish education was put to use as a lay service leader. a rush, strange things happen to your cooking and your “My cooking skills served me well, too, as I volunteered to safety.” help create meals for Jewish events on the base. I’ve always Strange things can also happen when you try to time liked to bring a smile to others’ faces and tummies.” your meal to the start of Shabbat. “I recall a Friday evening Which brings us to Simchat Shabbat -- the alternative in late fall when we had guests for Shabbat dinner. Shabbat Shabbat experience offered by Beth El Synagogue -- and comes early that time of year, and I didn’t time things right, Cafe Schmooze. so the meat I’d put in the smoker was undercooked. I was “The concept of Cafe Schmooze was born out of a desire disappointed, as were the guests, because the smell was so to bring the worshippers together after Shabbat services. good. However, never to fear, I had some wonderful deli My close friends, Joanie Jacobson and Ozzie Nogg -- nay, meats in the fridge, so it worked out. The interesting thing my partners in crime -- and I realized that if we added the was that I put the undercooked meat in the oven during tastes and smells of Shabbat we could all conclude the dinner, on a low temperature because of Shabbat, and two experience by hanging out together, kibbitzing, at lunch. hours later it finished and we all had a second round of We let everyone know that they could show up at what we like to call the dessert brisket.”

Simchat Shabbat even in their exercise clothes. The point This Rosh Hashanah, the Shapiro’s holiday menu will feawas to encourage people to spend time at shul with friends ture Smoked Lamb Neck Stew with Wacame, a seaweed and then enjoy lunch, sponsored by different anonymous vegetable that Ben says is delicious. donors. I just stepped into the role of chef, cooking dishes “Also, you most certainly will find smoked ribs. In years I thought would bring back the foods from our childhoods. past, when Rabbi Jules Harlow and his wife, Navah, graced Food has always been a connecting component of Jews our table, it was almost a requirement that we offer Navah and their heritage. It’s important to embrace our history this treat. My mother also insists that I feed her ribs when and connect the generations at every opportunity, and the she visits for either Succot or Pesach.” sense of smell is one of the most powerful stimulants to Many of Ben’s creations are inspired by Sundays at trigger memory. When I was growing up, my mother fried Moosewood Vegetarian Cookbook and Spice and Spirit up a special sausage called lungenwurst. I can still smell it. Cookbook. “It’s a great Jewish reference filled with tradiShe also made whole wheat bread and I’d eat the heel, fresh tional recipes that tie a Jewish home to the seasons. My out of the oven, with butter. copy has many delectable stains in it from lots of use.”

My grandmother, of blessed memory, used to make a While Ben cooks most of the family meals, he credits Amy cake that was to die for. It was chocolate, like a triple raised with making “The loveliest leftovers. She also makes a great strudel dough, baked in a bundt pan. I’ve tried to duplicate Thanksgiving pumpkin pie, but the turkey is always Abba’s it, but it’s never comes out tasting like I remember it.

-- that’s me -- stuffed with fruit laced with alcohol.”

But back to Simchat Shabbat and Cafe Schmooze. The “For me,” Shapiro continued, “cooking is a hobby and a attendance was amazing, and the best part for me was place to get away from my normal career commitments. being able to sit with folks after services, around a Shabbos I’ve helped many families on Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, wedafternoon table, listening to their family stories. It seems dings and other life cycle events that require meals. It’s my such a little price to pay, cooking a nice meal in exchange pleasure to do this, and when someone wants to pay me I for the company and fellowship and the opportunity to ask them to make a donation to one of the many funds in share some history. our community that need support.”

Simchat Shabbat and Cafe Schmooze are now beginning Every Friday night, Ben, Amy, Matan and Liora sit down their third year. It’s blossomed into a wonderful Beth El together. program that I always look forward to being part of.”

“One of the most important aspects for us is that on The Shapiros observe the laws of Kashrut, and -- through Friday nights, we all sit together as the week has ended. It’s research and experimentation -- Ben has creatively so important to instill family and Jewish values in our chilchanged various ethnic recipes to meet halachik standards. dren by being examples and giving them the living experi“It’s difficult to find Kosher Paneer -- an Indian cheese - ences that shape who they will become.” Some weeks, that - in Omaha, but after studying the process and techniques, shape might be a round Shabbat challah, just like the one I was able to produce some Paneer that we used at one of Ben’s mother makes, the challah he remembers from his our Cafe Schmooze lunches.” childhood.

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September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 25

Getting to know the RBJH kitchen: Jerry Harris

by OZZIE NOGG “When I first got here, I said, ‘These folks are crazy. They don’t put cheese on their hamburgers and they don’t put meat on their cheese pizza.’” That candid admission from Jerry Harris expresses the culture shock he felt when arriving for his first day of work for Star Catering at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. “Kosher food was all new to me, but I’m cool with it now.”

After graduating from Omaha Northwest High School, Harris began his career at Raphael’s Italian Restaurant, Bluff ’s Run and Charlie’s on the Lake.

Among the RBJH kitchen crew, Jerry is known as Blumkin Home chef, Jerry The Fryer Man. According Harris, creator of the Deep to head chef Mike Aparo, Fried Matzoh Ball.

“He loves everything deep DEEP FRIED MATZOH fat fried. The guy will try BALLS À LA JERRY HARRIS to deep fry everything.” As Make your regular matevidenced by the Deep zoh balls.

Fried Matzoh Balls created Dip each ball in flour, dip

by Harris for Star Deli it in beaten egg, dip it in customers. “I’m a quick learner,” he said. “Aparo flour again.

Deep fry. showed me what to do and then left me on my own.

Takes like a minute.

One day I was messing around with the matzoh ball recipe, and when Aparo took a taste they got added to the menu right away. They sell like hot cakes,” Harris quipped. (As of this date, sales reports for Jerry’s Deep Fried Corned Beef Wraps were not available.)

Though Harris was initially flummoxed by the Blumkin Home’s kosher environment, he bonded immediately with his co-workers. “We just clicked. I feel like I grew up with them.” His affection for the RBJH residents shows all over his face. “They’ve grown so much on me. You can get a job,

but if you love the people you work with and work for, you really want to stick with it. I like my job and everybody here. I love the residents, so I always show up.”

Thanks to Aparo, a recent change in Harris’ original role

From the get-go, Mike Aparo recognized Jerry’s creativity, and Deep Fried Matzoh Balls are not the only wacky item to emerge from the RBJH kitchen. Other examples include the Aparo-Harris Passover Potato Latke Reuben (picture a Reuben Sandwich with latkes instead of bread) and Aparo’s Gargantuan Goldberg (a combo of more than eight pounds of challah, smoked turkey, pastrami, corned beef, pickles, olives and coleslaw).

“Mike Silverman and his friends tried to eat the big sandwich,” said Harris. “They came close. We keep inventing things so people can see what we can do in the Friday Deli.

We want them to keep coming back.”

Far from the stereotypical image of a temperamental, high-strung chef, Jerry Harris seems almost Buddhalike in his calm. “There’s nothing here that could bother me. If people are down, I can put them in a good mood. Like my mom. She was the same way. I’m in my zone when I get here. It’s Gargantuan Goldberg, a combo of more than eight pounds of challah, smoked turkey, pasabout the residents getting trami, corned beef, pickles, olives and coleslaw. The little guy on the left is Josh Gurock. their meals on time. And in the kitchen allows him to spend more time with his three Mike Aparo is one of the coolest bosses ever. He’s like a dad young kids -- Liz, Duke and Damerius. “Jerry used to be my to me. He teaches me what’s right and he teaches me what’s catering cook with great results,” Aparo explained, “but wrong. And he never taught me anything wrong.” The catering hours are unpredictable and Jerry needed a more friendship and respect between the two men is the real structured schedule that would let him have dinner with his McCoy. “Jerry is liked by all the staff who work at the family. So now, Jerry cooks for the Home, mostly day shifts.” Home, in all departments,” Mike Aparo said. “He’s a great When not at work or spending time with his children, chef who takes pride in what he prepares. His meals are Harris joins an occasional neighborhood football or softball usually spot on. Jerry says he’s worked here long enough to game. “As a kid, I didn’t like staying in the house. Still don’t.” be part Jewish. He’s our little Sammy Davis Jr.” (Fist bump.)

Building Jewish Community Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year from the boards and staff of the Jewish Federation of Omaha and the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation!

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26 | The Jewish Press | September 14, 2012

Campfires, meditation and mountain trails -alternative High Holidays celebrations

by DEBRA RUBIN WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Throughout the day, they dropped slips of paper into the beehive-shaped basket -snippets on which they had written the sins for which they were seeking forgiveness.

At nightfall, the group of about 15 people sat in a circle reading aloud the sins and then tossing the papers into the campfire.

This wasn’t the typical recitation of Al Chet, the confession of sins read on Yom Kippur, but for these Jews it marked the end of a Day of Atonement spent in a woodland park in Oakland, Calif.

“There was a real sense of recognition of a lot of things people were asking forgiveness for,” said Ari Kelman of Palo Alto, Calif., one of the day’s organizers. “All the things were individual, but there was a sense of collective recognition for the sins during the course of the year.”

While millions of Jews worldwide spend Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in synagogue sanctuaries, school auditoriums and other formal settings, some Jews find alternative ways to observe the High Holidays. That often means praying, meditating and reflecting while outdoors.

Kelman, 41, has done just that for the past few years, coordinating with friends he describes as having strong Jewish backgrounds.

“We were looking for something that didn’t feel like an endurance sport but was actually comfortable, and allowed us to interact with people we like and hit the parts of the service that meant something for us,” said Kelman, a professor of education and Jewish studies at Stanford University.

He says the service has consisted of selected traditional prayers from the machzor, or holiday prayer book, study sessions on the Torah portion in lieu of a formal Torah reading and “texts that ran the gamut from philosophy to poetry to Bible.”

Kelman says he was inspired by the experience of his friend, Amy Tobin.

“The years that I sat in synagogue, I didn’t get much out of it,” said Tobin, who has written a musical that interpreted the story of Lilith and a rock opera on the Book of Esther.

“When I’m sitting there, I’m not interacting with the ritual, or the traditions or the text.”

Yet she loves the High Holidays. “I love that there’s this intense sense of intention and renewal. And you’re always in

a different place,” said the Oakland resident.

But a half dozen years ago, Tobin and her friend Devra Aarons decided to spend Rosh Hashanah in the woods. “We brought books and a blanket and some snacks,” Tobin recalled, alternating among reading, writing and talking.

“There’s something really nurturing about being outside,”

she said. “I think the place is not even as important as the idea of giving ourselves the time and space to do what we need to do, both interactive and reflective.”

Spending time outside became a tradition for her and Aarons. Other friends, including Kelman, soon joined them.

Kelman “has drawn on sections of the service, more so than I probably would,” Tobin said. “For me, I’m more interested in the spirit of the season than I am in the specific prayers that are part of the service.”

Rabbi Mike Comins also looks for the spirit of the service -- and typically does it alone.

Comins runs Torah Trek, The Center for Jewish Wilderness Spirituality, a group that holds Jewish-content retreats and programs outdoors. While his organization doesn’t hold programs for the High Holidays, Comins, 55, takes to a mountain trail on the second day of Rosh Hashanah.

“The reason I don’t go out on the first day of Rosh Hashanah and on Yom Kippur is I very much believe in being part of the community. I wouldn’t want to choose one or the other,” he said.

But the Los Angeles-based rabbi says, “I connect to God

best in nature, so to go celebrate Rosh Hashanah, which marks the creation of the world in nature, is very meaningful for me.”

While on the trail -- typically for at least half the day -Comins does “a lot of the traditional davening,” praying, “journaling, chanting and personal prayer.”

“Part of the beauty of praying in nature is that you can stop and listen,” he said. “Most people say they don’t hear a response from God to their prayers, but if you hang up right when you’re done talking, how do you know?”

Comins says he knows the response has come “when my energy lifts.”

Others trek to the woods for holiday experiences that combine formal traditional services with the informality of being in the wilderness. The Boulder, Co.-based group Adventure Rabbi, for example, holds Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur retreats in the Colorado mountains, while the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village, CT., hosts observances for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Tiferet Gordon, 29, has attended the Isabella Freedman retreats twice. A rabbinical student at Hebrew College in Newton, MA., she’ll be leading the center’s music-filled Reconstructioniststyle service this year.

Not only does Gordon, of Brookline, Mass., find spirituality in nature, she says that attending the formal services at the retreat is more meaningful than being in synagogue at home.

In Brookline, she says, “if you want to take a break, you go outside and there are cars and people are living their lives; it’s still Wednesday, if it’s a Wednesday,” she said. “Here you go outside and it’s still Rosh Hashanah. Here, walking up and down the paths, it’s like walking in Jerusalem. You see someone walking and you know you can say ‘Shanah tovah.’”

Experiencing the holidays outdoors doesn’t always mean climbing a mountain or going to a remote retreat. For some congregations it means a nearby park on the second day of Rosh Hashanah.

Cherie Brown, 62, of Silver Spring, MD., belongs to one such synagogue, Am Kolel, a Jewish Renewal congregation in nearby Beallsville. She loves both the more formal service on the first day and the smaller outdoor service on the second day that includes lots of singing and discussion groups rather than a formal sermon and a potluck lunch.

“You’re outside, you’re in nature,” Brown said. “It has this totally relaxed feel.”

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When does high school end?

by OLIVER B. POLLAK Sometimes restaurants are more than ethnic flavor, companionship, and food. Instead, they are chance encounters with your past.

We celebrated our son Noah’s 41st birthday at Lalime’s in Berkeley on Gilman St. in May 2012. He chose the place, one of six in Berkeley’s K2 Restaurant Group. Erika and Noah arranged a babysitter.

The restaurant, rated high on Urbanspoon and Zagats, had an interesting menu, genial staff, and good spirits. The liquor prompted animated, less inhibited, conversation. Noah persuaded the three of us to let him have a second basil gimlet. What could be better?

Appetizers Marinated Anchovies, Olives, Shaved Fiscalini Cheddar Ahi Tuna Confit and Italian White Beans Roasted marrow bones Entre King salmon, spring peas, mussels, buttermilk potatoes, shellfish crème, basil vinaigrette Herb crusted roasted rack of New Zealand lamb, Carolina Gold rice porridge, almond pesto, broccoli rabe greens, and mashed potatoes Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Biscuit, porcini-maple glaze, Fiscalini mac and cheese Tap water served from a vintage glass bottle appears to be the thing in the Bay area; we saw this at three restaurants.

Karen overheard the word Baldwin Hills at the adjoining table of six from people who looked like us, white and sixtyish.

Emboldened by alcohol, I walked over, elicited information and found that some had attended Hillcrest Drive Elementary School, Audubon Junior High (now Audubon Middle School), and Susan B. Miller Dorsey High School from which I graduated in 1961.

They graduated in 1965. All had Baldwin Hills connections and one had attended Baldwin Hills Elementary, Audubon and Dorsey.

I rode my bicycle to Audubon and had two minor mishaps in three years. On the way to school in the Crenshaw shopping center stood Savon Drugs where I might park my bike and purchase a Wrigleys gum five pack – three for a dime, or a Pez dispenser. May Company and Barker Brothers furniture were adjoining.

We remembered names, classes, teachers, and families. At Audubon, Mr. Mullinex came immediately to mind. Missing a digit,

he taught wood shop where we made a wooden tray with fish, mine probably left in a garage sale. We took print, with handset type, metal and electric shop. Academic classes included math, social studies, and English taught by Mrs. Stickney. Vocational and academic classes probed our interests, skills and talents.

I walked or took a bus to Dorsey and managed to talk myself out of fights, fail Geometry because I lost my book, stammer through French and German, not live up to my potential, and generally felt odd. The high point was Mrs. ‘Mama’ Blanche Garrison, who taught English. She basically told me I could write.

Stanley Kiesel, born in 1924, reported, “High School: Dorsey. Blanche Garrison, Creative Writing. No single desks: tables and chairs.

Treated us as adults.... These women were my mothers.

They still live inside me.”

Another English teacher who spoke Norwegian introduced me to recording book information on 3x5 cards. My fellow dinner alumni remembered mathematics, me, not so much.

On the heights of the Baldwin Hills lived the well off, including Harry Belafonte.

In 1954 we moved from McConnelsville, Ohio, to Los Angeles where we lived in a three-bedroom apartment on Santo Tomas Dr. We achieved the American dream of home ownership and moved to 5700 Fallsgrove St. in 1959. The nearby Village Green planned development from the 1940s occupied 64 acres. Baldwin Hills Theatre had three cent tickets, and housed High Holy Day services.

My Bar Mitzvah occurred on January 5, 1957, a couple of months after my 13th birthday, at Tifereth Jacob Temple on West Slauson Ave. That may have been where I started eating Lasko and Vita herring. We celebrated at Frascati’s on La Cieniga Blvd. opposite Temple Beth Am. Rabbi Louis Dubin officiated, not to be confused with the more prominent Rabbi Paul “Pinky” Dubin, who ministered not far away at B’nai Israel in the Baldwin Hills on Santa Barbara Blvd, not far from a Chinese restaurant that introduced me to rudimentary Asian early 1960s California style. I picked up chop sticks, and invariably complained of being hungry again by the time we got home.

The synagogue closed in the wake of the Baldwin Hills Dam blowout in December 1963 based on oilfield subsidence, and the Watts Riots in August 1965. Rabbi Paul Dubin worked with the Board of Rabbis of Southern California from 1967 to 1997. The AZA to which I belonged met in a storefront schul in Leimert Park. A bowling alley, stamp store, movie theater, and a much used public library were nearby.

Deserts, Afters, Sweets I remember youthful birthday meals mother made steak, sautéed mushrooms, green peas, and French fries. Blums contributed coffee crunch cake. Vons or Ralphs provided a trifle or sponge cake. At Lalime’s I had an espresso, Noah a Chocolate Crunch Profiterole, Dulce de leche ice cream, pecan nougatine, hot chocolate sauce, Erika, with gluten issues, a tropical scoop of sorbet or ice cream topped with chocolate sticks, and Karen wisely refrained.

We relieved the babysitter by 10:30. All in all, a memory within a memory within a memory. When does high school end? When the fat lady sings.

Out

Dining

September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 27

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28 | The Jewish Press | September 14, 2012

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by SYBIL KAPLAN Machaneh Yehudah, known as the Shuk, is like the markets of Paris, Italy, London, Los Angeles and New York’s old Lower East Side -- all combined into one. How do you recognize the area today? Machaneh Yehudah is located a few short blocks along Jaffa Road, where the light rail runs, between downtown Zion Square and the Central Bus Station, a few blocks up from the crossroads of Jaffa and King George Streets or, on its other border, up Agrippas Street.

All of one’s senses are expanded when one walks through

authorities cleared out all the merchants and built permanent stalls and roofing.

Through the years, many people continued to come for their weekly shopping to Machaneh Yehudah, although the construction of other neighborhoods extended in all directions of the city and people moved away.

The founders would hardly recognize the shuk today.

There are 15 restaurants (not counting those on Agrippas Street): Ima Kubeh Bar (kubeh, which is Arabic for ball, is a dumpling made of ground wheat and semolina and filled

Machaneh Yehudah, and for many, it is a weekly ritual.

There is noise, interesting faces, characteristic smells and colorful food. All along the main streets, boys carry trays with stacks of hot pita, fresh from nearby bakeries; and men with brooms and carts pick up trash.

Let your nose lead you to the shops selling fresh packaged and ground coffee. Coriander, cumin and thyme -- the popular seeds and herbs for Middle Eastern foods, are just a few of the many in glass jars lining the walls of spice shops. Wide varieties of pasta and grains sit in open burlap bags on the sidewalks in front of some stores.

All levels of education and income shop in this market because of its atmosphere. There is a very special contact between merchant and customer. Aside from this, there is a far wider choice of fruits and vegetables here than in the regular grocery stores, better quality and, as a rule, better value for the money. Customers who buy here regularly get to know the sellers. The atmosphere is earthy, rough and ready, business-like with little time for superfluous talk.

What catches your eyes and ears are the loud voices of the sellers—often yelling their wares, arguing and even sometimes singing. All kinds of Arab dialects, Hebrew, Yiddish, English, Russian, French, Spanish and Ladino can be heard.

As fall goes into winter, one can see large metal containers with sachleb, a hot drink originally from Egypt. The drink, eaten with a spoon, resembles the taste and texture cream of wheat, but is made from the ground flour of orchid tubers and garnished with chopped pistachio nuts, coconut and cinnamon.

Just before the end of Etz Chaim Street (covered street) from Agrippas to Jaffa Road is the labyrinth of more sellers, known as the Poor People’s Market (small market and Georgian market).

Off the uncovered Machaneh Yehudah Street from Jaffa is the section built by 20 traders in 1931, later named the Iraqi Market, as many traders of Iraqi Jewish descent acquired shops there.

Off Machaneh Yehudah from Agrippas Street is the area called “savings and loan market,” reminiscent of a need to take out mortgages for it when it was built!

Now in its 125th year, the shuk originated in the late 1860s and 1870s, when small portions of the Jewish community began to move to below where the present-day market is located, and the neighborhood of Beit Yaakov was founded in 1885. Next to it, the neighborhood of Mahaneh Yehudah (Judah’s camp) was established in 1887 with 162 houses, founded by three business partners and named after the late brother of one of them.

At the end of the 19th century, a marketplace was established between the two neighborhoods, known as Shuk Beit Yaakov (Beit Yaakov Market); it became Machaneh Yehudah. Between 1929 and 1931, the British Mandate

with meat. It can be served in a tomato-based, vegetable or beet-based soup or fried.); Sofia and Azura also have authentic Iraqi/Kurdish “mother’s cooking” made on a p’tilia (the paraffin wick burners used because the food cooks for a long time on a small fire, allowing the spices to work). Other restaurants include: Agaz 1 and Alfonso, organic restaurants; a juice and sandwich bar; Basta Pasta; Hashipudiya, skewered meat; Humus and Rachmo, specializing in humus; Katchapuria, stuffed Georgian cheese bread; Ichikidana, Indian; Bistro Mimi, French; and Fish and Chips.

Attached to Hashipudiya, the skewered meat restaurant, on Harmonim Street, is a separate glassed-in room with a taboun, a clay oven shaped like a truncated cone with an opening at the bottom to stoke the fire. Here, hand-made eshtanur bread, the size of a pizza, is baked all day.

Soon to open will be a 24-hour Burger Bar. In 2002, Cafe Mizrachi, was opened as the first coffee shop

by Eli Mizrachi, the 60-year-old mover and shaker of upgrading the shuk over the past 10 years, keeping it vibrant and alive. In 2008, he changed it to a kosher dairy bistro with freshly prepared food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, now managed by his daughter, Moran.

Mizrachi grew up near the market where his father sold nuts and dried fruit beginning in 1952. He says the market is still based on food and only 10% of the 350 stores here are other types of businesses.

He feels the so-called changes to the shuk are “cosmetic,” with other businesses having come within the past ten years because the places were dead economically. “They didn’t come in places that were working. The market is not changing its character; it’s doing something to bring us to the new generation—to buy presents, to drink coffee, to eat in restaurants with more variety, not ‘workers’ restaurants.”

Mizrachi believes it is these additional businesses that brought life to the market because ten years ago the vendors were having difficulty surviving economically from the lack of customers. Now people spend money here instead of at the malls and the 10% businesses that are not food bring customers and refresh the market. Mizachi says there is high interest and a state of demand to take shops in the market, but only a small amount are available.

Within the past couple of years, four bars have opened.

Cinco de Mayo (the Fifth of May), which opened August 2010, overflows the small dairy restaurant area onto Etz Chaim Street, the main covered street. Amir Brunner and his partner, Gilad Allon, offer a variety of tasty foods all day long.

At around 10 p.m., they close the coffee machine and Cinco de Mayo becomes a pub, attracting young professionals, students and others from the neighborhood. Food, which they are trying to emphasize, is served until 2 a.m.

Summer 2011, Sha’anan, front man of Hadag Nahash, a Continued on page 30

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Cheering the tummy after atoning: Breaking the Yom Kippur fast

by JAMIE GELLER (JTA) -- Yom Kippur, the most somber day of the Jewish year, is also called the Day of Atonement and reminds us that we are all accountable for our actions. The concept of New Year’s resolutions that mark our secular New Year’s Day comes from the Jewish idea of repentance at the start of a new year.

As we reflect on the mistakes we’ve made over the past year, we resolve to be better people. One element of repentance is fasting, so Jews are not permitted to eat or drink on Yom Kippur. But, boy, do we prepare ourselves for the fast! We serve full, balanced meals -- light on the salt and thirst-inducing spices -- just before the fast. When it’s over, we give thanks and dig in once again.

The post-Yom Kippur meal may not contain every dish you fantasized about during the fast, but it’s sure to be satisfying.

SMOKED SALMON OMELET This recipe only makes one omelet because you really can’t make more than one at a time.

If you are serving several for brunch, make them all beforehand and keep them whole.

Warm the prepared omelets on a greased sheet pan in the oven, warming drawer or on a hot plate. Then, cut in half just before serving.

Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: two hours Ready time: two hours, 10 minutes Ingredients: 1 tbsp. olive oil 1 small red onion, thinly sliced 5 large eggs, beaten 1/2 tsp. kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 2 tbsp. chopped chives 1 tbsp. capers 3 ounces thinly sliced smoked salmon 1 everything bagel, cut in half 4 tbsp. cream cheese

Preparation: Heat olive oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook 4 to 6 minutes or until tender. Add eggs, salt and pepper, and cook 3 to 4 minutes or until just set in the center, tilting the skillet and lifting the edges of omelet with a spatula to let uncooked portion run out to edges.

Sprinkle with chives and capers and lay salmon over half of the omelet. Using a spatula, fold the omelet half without the salmon over the half with salmon to enclose it, and slide the omelet onto a plate.

Cut in half crosswise and serve on an open faced bagel with cream cheese.

Servings: 2 SWEET KUGEL WITH DRIED FRUIT Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 45 minutes Ready time: 55 minutes Ingredients: 1 pound wide egg noodles 3/4 cup dried cherries 3/4 cup dried apricots, diced 2 cups plain soy milk 5 large eggs, beaten 3/4 cup plus 3 tbsp. sugar, divided 1 tbsp. vanilla extract 2 cups cornflake cereal, crushed 3 tbsp. margarine, melted Preparation: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook noodles according to package directions. Drain well and let cool.

In a large bowl, combine cherries, apricots, soy milk, eggs, 3/4 cup sugar and vanilla. Add noodles and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into a greased 9- by-13-inch baking dish.

In a medium bowl, combine crushed cereal with margarine and remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar. Scatter the mixture over the noodles.

Bake 45 minutes or until set and the topping is golden.

Servings: 12

ORANGE GINGER POACHED PEARS Poached pears are a great lighter alternative to a rich, heavy dessert but still have loads of flavor to satisfy the most discerning sweet tooth. Serve with your favorite non-dairy ice cream and experiment poaching different kinds of fruit.

Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 18 minutes Ready time: 23 minutes Ingredients: 2 cups orange juice 1 cup water 2 tbsp. sugar 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced 1/8 tsp. salt 2 Anjou pears, peeled, halved and cored 2 cups vanilla soy ice cream Preparation: In a saucepan, combine orange juice, water, sugar, ginger and salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add pears.

Simmer until just tender, about 8 minutes.

Remove pears and set aside.

Bring mixture to a boil and reduce until a little thicker, about 10 minutes. Strain sauce through a fine mesh sieve.

Serve each pear half with a scoop of ice cream and a few tablespoons of sauce.

Servings: 4

ROASTED PEPPER PANZANELLA Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes Ready time: 25 minutes Ingredients: 1 medium loaf whole wheat rustic bread, crust removed and cut into 1-inch cubes 1 cup sliced cucumber 1/2 cup sliced red onion 1 roasted red bell pepper, thinly sliced 1 roasted yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced 1 large tomato on the vine, cut into wedges 1 ball fresh mozzarella, cubed (8-ounce) 12 large leaves basil, torn 1/4 cup olive oil 3 tbsp. red wine vinegar 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper Preparation: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spread out cubed bread on a large sheet pan in a single layer and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until dried out and crispy.

Let cool.

In a large bowl, combine cucumbers, onions, peppers, tomatoes, mozzarella and basil and toss to combine. Add bread, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and stir to coat well. Serve immediately or let sit up to 30 minutes so bread soaks up the dressing.

Servings: 6 Jamie Geller was The Bride Who Knew Nothing – until she found her niche as everybody’s favorite kosher cook next door. She is the author of the best-selling Quick & Kosher cookbook series, creator of the Joy of Kosher with Jamie Geller magazine and host of the popular Quick & Kosher cooking show online at youtube.com/joyofkosher and on-air on JLTV. Join Jamie and the world’s largest kosher food community on joyofkosher.com to discover 5,000 FREE kosher recipes, inspiring menu ideas, how-to videos, and more.

30 | The Jewish Press | September 14, 2012

Jerusalem’s ultimate outdoor markets Continued from page 28 hip-hop band, had a dream and an idea to open a bar in a 1940s building, Casino de Paris, in the Poor People’s market area. Casino de Paris was a hotel and part bar, part casino, part brothel and very “high class,” says Mizrahi, who became partner in the bar. “Jews, Armenians, Arabs, Muslims and Christians used to meet there.”

Casino de Paris, a meat Tapas bar, opens at noon for people to drink and snack in the afternoon. (Tapas are cold or warm appetizers or snacks in Spanish cuisine.) The 30 and 40-year-olds attracted to this classy bar spill over into the nice renovated courtyard which has a special ambience.

During summer 2011, Yaniv Rubenstein, who had been franchisee of a Moshiko restaurant (selling schwarma, falafel and hamburgers) for a year and a half, decided this was not so interesting.

He partnered with Eli, a chef with 15 years experience, redid the kitchen and décor, and opened Que Pasa?, a dairy Tapas bar, at 9 Egoz Street, the tiny entrance to the shuk from Agrippas. Yaniv had been to Spain where he saw the culture, the music and the tapas. “Avi creates very unique and special tapas; everything is fresh, every day he uses new products from the shuk,” says Yaniv. “And the kitchen is open so you can see the food, made to order.” Recently he decided to open at 1 p.m. for lunch and serve fish and personal pizza.

Yaniv says he chose a tapas bar because at night, “the shuk attracts more people; it’s the best place for people to come and enjoy the atmosphere. You can eat, you can relax, you can smell. If you don’t push young people to come, the market will go down.”

Yaniv is also a music producer, so Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings, he has live entertainment. Down a few from Que Pasa? is Shuka, the fourth bar in the shuk, which opens in the evening only. And Bashir, the cheese man, has recently opened Bashir Cheese Bar on Agrippas.

In addition to a super market and a number of small groceries and candy and snack shops, Machaneh Yehudah has two designer clothes shops, a consignment shop, a pet shop, two jewelry stores, several bakeries, cheese shops, halva stores, house wares and linens stores, a boutique cheese and wine shop, Ethiopian specialty stores, wine shops, and a variety of clothing and accessory stores.

On Egoz (Nut) Street is the Etrog (citron) man, Uzi-Eli Hezi, who learned about the healing properties of etrogim

(citrons) from the medical texts of the Rambam (also known as Maimonidies, a Medieval Torah scholar, philosopher and physician). Uzi-Eli has now developed soap, creams, sprays and health juices--all from etrogim he grows.

Ask an old timer how he likes the changes. Moshe Shachar is 63 years old; he has worked in the family store in Machaneh Yehudah, the Jewish produce market in Jerusalem (called by all “the shuk”), for 47 years. His father, who came to Palestine from Syria in 1930, opened the store selling vegetables and fruit in 1936.

After a few years, Moshe says, “we started with a grocery store. Gradually, we changed to pickles, cheeses and salads.” Last April 2011, Moshe closed the store, much to the sorrow of many shoppers and workers in Machaneh Yehudah who knew his fish and cheeses were the best.

In September he came back to work alone at the store which the family owns, working 46 hours a week. “I feel like fish, swimming in the sea. I enjoy the work, and my parents [from the grave] called to me to return.”

He glances over at the juice stand next to him and at the man squeezing fruit. “Me and one other brother, Yossie; 40 years we worked here.”

Renee, an artist from Indianapolis who has been shopping here for seven years, stops to shop. “I feel at home here,” she says. “Moshe is like family, a part of my life. I can’t shop anywhere else but the shuk!”

Moshe reflects, “I like the shuk before; when it was simple.

Before, the customers were like family. Now it is very modern, the people are not so close.”

Beginning in 2010, each Monday evening in July, Machaneh Yehudah becomes Balabusta, an energetic array of musical performances, art projects and more from 5 p.m. until 11 p.m. People crowd the passageways, concerts generate from the roof tops and as some vendors close their doors, other activities spring up on the side streets. This eclectic celebration of a different kind of life in the market attracts people of all ages who either don’t frequent the market or want to experience a unique style of entertainment each week. Last September, merchants took part in an art workshop to decorate the streets.

What’s the best way to experience the shuk?

Mizrachi says, “walk in it without a guide, get lost, walk all over to see the places, the people, to smell it. This is the best way to experience the shuk!”

L’Shanah Tovah

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Getting to know the RBJH kitchen: Cindy Armstrong

by OZZIE NOGG Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night, etc., etc., -- the motto of U.S. Postal Service couriers -- is also embraced by Cindy Armstrong, the most tenured cook at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. For twentythree years, Armstrong has clocked in late only three times. “Once was on 9/11,” she said.

“When I saw what was happening on TV, I sat down on the couch to watch and simply forgot to come to work.” This record is impressive enough. Add the fact that Armstrong gets up at 4:15 every morning to drive from Bennington to the Home for the breakfast shift, and With twenty-three years of employone really underment under her belt, Cindy stands the depth of Armstrong is the most tenured her loyalty to the RBJH cook.

RBJH and its residents. She tears up when speaking about them. “The elderly were always my thing. I just love them. They’re like my grandparents. Now that I’m getting older, I’m even more protective of them.”

After so many years at the Home, Armstrong’s mental filing cabinet is full of specific data. “She knows what almost every resident needs or wants,” Mike Aparo said.

“She knows that a particular resident can feed himself better with adaptive equipment, like an easy-to-hold spoon. She knows that another resident likes cornflakes every morning. Cindy is in tune with the residents’ personal preferences. With her tenured employment here, she doesn’t miss a beat. She knows the rules and regulations like the back of her hand.”

Before joining the Blumkin Home kitchen staff, Armstrong worked at the Douglas County Annex. “I started at fifteen, as a dietary aid, making salads. Then I cooked at the Annex for thirteen years.” Armstrong married, gave birth to twin daughters and a son, took Food Management courses at Metro Community College and found employment at Elkhorn Manor Nursing Home. “I Continued on page 31

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September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 31

From the Jewish Heartland: Two Centuries of Midwest Foodways Ellen F. Steinberg and Jack H. Prost University of Illinois Press, 2011

by OLIVER POLACK This book is by two Illinois anthropologists. Steinberg teaches at the University of Illinois, and Prost, the author of Cooking in 1898 Chicago, trace 200 years of Jewish food in what they call the heartland. It comprises Illinois, Indiana, Iowa (barely mentioned) Minnesota, Michigan, Missouri and Wisconsin.

Although Eastern Nebraskans may consider themselves midwesterners along with the Dakotas, we are part of the great plains.

Not to worry: the food ways detailed by Steinberg and Prost are applicable to Jewish Sabbath, Passover and High Holy Days menus as they pioneered across our country.

Chicago, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, St. Louis Jewish peddlars, farmers, city dwellers, housewives, mothers, and cooks adapted to what was available in their locale and tweaked recipes to adjust and substitute.

Ingredients such as salt, pepper, spices, allspice, curry, pickles, vinegar, pimento, herbs, condiments, extracts, parsley, thyme, laurel, chives, cardamom, sage, nutmeg, bay leaves, cloves, mustard, cinnamon andhorseradish, were not always economically available.

The authors scoured used bookstores

searching for cookbooks, mainstream commercial volumes, and fund-raising volumes with marginalia and yellowing newspaper clippings. These add-ons let them identify the personality and time period of the cookbook owner.

In the tension between “new� scientifically correct food in the late 19th century vs. traditional food, some ingredients may have been deemed as inappropriate stimulants, or worse, adulterated.

Their luckiest find was an eBay purchase of a recipe notebook owned by Mrs. L. By sleuthing detective work, they identified the owner as Dunie of St. Louis; she used the book between 1913 and 1920. They interviewed her granddaughter and teased out of the recipe book and living memories the story of a Lithuanian immigrant whose husband Isadore died young, leaving her with children to feed and raise. Cookbooks can be poignant.

This is a double adventure story. Jewish immigrants faced daunting obstacles maintaining their culinary heritage in rapidly growing industrial America. The authors were on a quest, a mission, to reconstruct how Jews were successful in maintaing a religious tradition based in great part on the sabbath meal, as well as all the other opportunities to eat in between.

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Cindy Armstrong sister, Mary, was a private nurse for Helen Kulakofsky who was a resident at the same time. Mother had a big brass school bell and we’d ring that bell when we took the ice cream cart around to the different units.

The staff would dress up in costumes -- a cow outfit, a prisoner’s uniform, a huge chicken hat -- and the residents always got a kick out of that.� The costumes have long since bit the dust, but CINDY’S TZIMMES Armstrong still brings 1 lb. carrots peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces smiles to the residents. “In 6 sweet potatoes cut into 1 inch dice the dining room I go around 1 cup orange juice (additional, if needed) to all the tables and talk to 1/2 cup honey everybody, share stories and 1/2 tsp. salt experiences with them.

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon When I think of an old song 1/2 cup pitted prunes, coarsely chopped I’ll hum a bit of it or sing a 3 tbsp. unsalted butter cut into small pieces few lines and the residents Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 3-quart often join in. The time I casserole or baking dish with non-stick cooking oil spray. spend at the Home is like Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add carrots being with a second family.� and sweet potatoes; cover and reduce heat to mediumArmstrong has introlow. Cook about 15 minutes, until vegetables are easily duced the joys of Jewish pierced with a fork. cooking to her Irish family.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine orange juice, “When I first made matzoh honey, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. ball soup at home, my son Drain vegetables and transfer to the prepared baking didn’t want to eat it. Then dish. Add prunes and toss gently. Stir orange juice mix- one day he stole some off the ture and drizzle over top. Sprinkle with the butter pieces. stove and I found him eating (At this point, the tzimmes can be covered and refrigerat- it in his room. Now we take ed until ready to bake.) Cover with aluminum foil and containers of matzoh ball bake 20 to 25 minutes, stirring once or twice, until soup to Bennington hayrack warmed through. If the tzimmes becomes dry, add a few rides instead of chili. Our more tablespoons of orange juice. friends love it so much, I give them boxes of matzoh also made many Shiva meals and can usu- meal tied up with a bow so they can make ally have one fully prepared within twenty- it themselves.� Cindy’s sweet potato four hours notice. She’s very sensitive to tzimmes is also a hit with her family and the family’s needs.� her Bennington pals. “When I first served Armstrong’s mother lived at the Blumkin it to them they went, ‘Aargh. Prunes.’ Next Home for five years. “I worked here and my thing you knew, the bowl was empty.�

Continued from page 30 cooked, drove the van. I’d sit with people while they took their treatments, sort of like social work. I really enjoy that.� At the Blumkin Home, Armstrong says she’s a “Jackie of all trades. I do the breakfast shift, make desserts and salads. You do whatever you need to do.� According to Aparo, Armstrong’s cakes are standouts. “Cindy’s

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32 | The Jewish Press | September 14, 2012

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Star Deli looks forward to assisting you with all your catering needs in the New Year.

by LOIS FRIEDMAN Place all ingredients into a ziploc bag or The old ditty, Smoke Gets in You Eyes, has glass/plastic jar with tight fitting lid. Mix new meaning for this Omaha native, son of well.

Shake 1/2 the rub on a 6-7 pound brisket, Tuna and Swede Steinberg (who were known by their nicknames). Maybe his early medium heavy, and using hands rub mixture days at Miss Hitt’s Nursery School, Dundee well in all surfaces. Go ahead and have fun Grade School or his days at Central High working it into the meat. Add more if you inspired Mason’s love of learning and teach- think you want to. ing classes in all the known barbecue Cook your cut of meat any way you want, regions of the country. grill, smoke, roast. Make sure that there is “Be Prepared,” the Cub and Boy Scouts’ some fat on the meat to give the meat flavor marching song, might have influenced and moisture. Knives and forks were invented young Mason and nurtured his interest in to trim the fat off the meat after its cooking. cooking, as did a summer cooking class at the Joslyn Art Museum when he was a kid.

Even more so was his first whiff of barbeque smoke at the Silver Pit when he was a teenager working at the family business, Cornhusker Packing Company in South Omaha. All this led to the 1990 opening of his own restaurant, Old Mill Barbeque, winner of “Best of Omaha BBQ Restaurant” for several years. He and the restaurant were chosen in 1995 as one of the seven barCHICKEN PLOV beque restaurants in the coun- 1 medium chicken, cut into 4 portions try to cook for the U. S. House 4 oz. rice of Representatives at the Food 4 oz. butter of America luncheon.

2 oz. seedless raisins or sultanas Entering competitions led 2 oz. dried apricots to Mason winning a Grand Pinch of saffron Championship at the Salt and pepper to taste National Barbeque Associa- Water tion Convention. He immediSoak the apricots and raisins in hot water for about 2 ately retired and said, “As far hours. as I know, I am the only perStrain, dry and fry in 1 oz. butter until soft. son who is undefeated in barBoil the rice in salted water for 20 minutes or until tenbeque cooking competition.” der, strain and rinse in cold water.

He has shared his love of barPut into double boiler with 1 oz. butter, saffron, mixing beque cooking and has taught well until hot. classes at Metro Community Cut the chicken into 4 portions, rub with salt and pepper College. “All this is important all over and fry in remaining butter until tender and goldso we would not lose part of en brown on all sides. our cuisine heritage.” He Serve hot with the rice and fruit mixture around each hosted a radio show, The chicken portion.

Inquisitive Gourmet, on KKAR, won various barbeque cooking conMason shared two of Tuna’s recipes and tests, founded the Nebraska State Bar-B- said, “Here are a couple of recipes that my Que Championship held in conjunction mother brought back from her trip to Russia with River City Roundup, the Omaha Bar- back in the mid 60s. She was very proud that B-Que Society and is a certified contest relatives of ours still in Russia had taught judge and contest instructor. her to make them.”

Mason is married to Linda and has taught RUSSIAN VINAIGRETTE SALAD their son, Jason, all about barbecue you might say all his secrets. Guess you can’t be DRESSING around all that smoke and good eats without 2 hard boiled eggs getting hooked.

2-3 tbsp. white vinegar Gather ye hickory, crank up the backyard 1 small cucumber grill and use this secret recipe that Mason 1 small onion shared for you to enjoy.

2 tbsp. olive oil 1/2 tbsp. capers 1/2 tsp. sugar MASON KOSHER BEEF RUB sprig of parsley 2 tbsp. dried onion soup mix 1/2 tsp. tarragon 1 tbsp. sugar 1 tpsp. garlic powder, I prefer granulated salt and pepper to taste Rub yolks through a sieve and blend with garlic oil to make a smooth paste.

1 tbsp. ground black pepper Add, capers, diced, peeled cucumbers and 1 tbsp. ground white pepper 1 tbsp. ground cayenne pepper (optional) finely chopped onions, chopped parsley, tarragon and egg whites.

1 1/2 tsp. good quality chili powder 1 tsp. kosher salt Season with salt and pepper, add vinegar 1 tsp. ground ginger and mix well.

1/2 tsp. ground mustard Serve with cold fish or as a salad dressing.

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September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 33

A vegan Shabbat dinner?

by GLORIA SHUKERT JONES While it may be hard to imagine a Shabbat dinner without the usual chicken or meat entree, Doris Parker prepares one every Friday night for her son, Dr. Garret Parker, who is a vegetarian. She has no trouble finding meatless dishes, and explains she mostly chooses among various Chinese selections that use vegetables as their main ingredient.

CASHEW VEGGIE MEAL Ingredients: 3 tbsp. soy sauce 1 tsp. cornstarch 3 tbsp. oil 1/2 cup of cashews 2 medium size green bell peppers, seeded and cut into oneinch squares 2 medium size onions, cut into wedges, with layers separated.

1/4 tsp. ground ginger dash of hot pepper seasoning 3/4 tsp. sugar 3/4 tsp. white wine vinegar 1 tsp. water or sherry Rice Place wok or fry pan over medium-high heat. When wok is hot, add two tablespoons of the oil. When the oil is hot, add cashews and stir until browned. (About one minute). Remove the cashews and set aside. Add remaining tablespoon of oil into wok. When oil is hot, add bell peppers, onions and ginger. Stir fry until pepper is tender-crisp, about four minutes. Stir in cornstarch, hot pepper seasoning, sugar, vinegar and water or sherry, and remaining tablespoon of soy sauce. Stir until sauce boils and thickens. Stir in cashews. Cook rice. When rice is cooked, add the cashew and veggie mixture over top of rice, and serve.

There are some who believe vegetarians live longer, healthier lives than those who eat meat. However, this has not been scientifically proven, and there are those who argue the opposite is true.

But whether you choose a diet that includes mostly beef and poultry, from animals who tread on the earth, or the vast variety of plant-based food that springs forth from the earth, or a tasty combination of both, it’s really up to you, the individual. Bon appetit!

Continued on page 35

Best wishes for a healthy and happy new year

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Kosher caterer Nancy Mattly

by MARY BORT Learning, stated, “Nancy was such a pleasure to work with in Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation planning synagogue meals and events. Whatever menu she When Nancy Mattly first began her catering business over was making, we always knew it would be a great meal. Her 24 years ago, she did not plan to specialize in kosher cook- easygoing nature and delicious food go together to make her ing. But now she is known for catering delicious kosher din- an amazing caterer.” ners in Omaha.

Mattly’s kosher recipes come from Mattly has always enjoyed cooking. various sources. “I’ve acquired recipes When she worked for an office in from cookbooks,” she said. “I’ve also downtown Omaha, she did small received lots of helpful input from catering jobs on the side for her boss members over the years. And I’ve and others. At the time, she was adapted many of my recipes to make preparing the food in her kitchen at them kosher. One of my favorites is a home. When the office closed, friends carrot soufflé recipe that everyone asked, “Why don’t you open your own loves. I was able to adapt the recipe, catering business?” So she took her making it parve instead of dairy.” severance and established “Culinary “Sometimes I’m asked to share a Services by Nancy Mattly” in 1988. recipe,” Mattly stated. “That isn’t Mattly happened to rent her first always easy because many recipes are catering space from Dr. Paul “Paysie” ‘in my head’ and it would be difficult Shyken. Mattly’s husband, Bob, to write down exact measurements for worked for Rick Katzman at each ingredient.”

Mastercraft. When the long-time cook According to Mattly, a challenge to at Beth Israel Synagogue decided to catering large kosher dinners is trainretire, a search committee was formed ing new staff members. “They are that included Susie Shyken and Julee unfamiliar with the rules so you have Katzman. Since they both knew about to train and watch them carefully,” she Nancy Mattly Mattly’s catering business, they conexplained. “I remember a Shabbat tacted her. dinner; it was a meat meal. A new employee almost put milk While Mattly was a talented cook and caterer, she was not in the mashed potatoes as she was preparing them. I caught Jewish and knew nothing about kosher cooking. “Cantor her just in the nick of time.”

Fettman and the former cook trained me for several “I always tell my staff, ‘While you may not understand all months,” explained Mattly. “And we were doing Bar and Bat of the rules, what we do makes a difference to the people Mitzvahs, as well as weddings that were huge. We were mak- who are going to have this meal. We need to get it right.’” ing food for hundreds of people. Over time, I learned the When Beth Israel moved to its current location on Pacific rules and adapted my recipes.”

Street, the building committee asked Mattly for her input “When I began cooking for Beth Israel, the most chal- about the new kitchen. “It was gracious of them to let me lenging thing for me was the limited amount of kosher food help plan for the new kitchen. It’s a lovely space. I’m appreavailable in local stores, especially meats,” said Mattly. “Now ciative that they included me in the planning.” it’s O.K., but not twenty years ago. You couldn’t just run to According to Beth Israel’s Rabbi, Jonathan Gross, “Nancy the store to buy more chicken because some extra people has been with us to enhance our Shabbat and holidays, bring were coming to a dinner at short notice. I had to be very, extra happiness to a happy occasion and even console us very organized.” during times of sadness. She has followed some of us from Meanwhile, her catering business was growing, so Mattly Bris to Bar Mitzvah to wedding and Bris again. Nancy was rented a place that had a much larger kitchen. In addition to there when our daughters were born and, with God’s help, I catering, she ran a small café in the space. Over time, she look forward to what she will cook up for their Bat Mitzvahs had a banquet facility that could accommodate 300 guests. and any other simchas we have on the way there and “As my catering business grew, I couldn’t do every beyond.”

Saturday Kiddush at Beth Israel,” noted Mattly. “Eventually, A couple of years ago Mattly lost the lease to her catering one of my employees, Betty Bader, became an employee of facility. Now she limits her catering business to Beth Israel Beth Israel. She took care of weekly Kiddush food prepara- events and occasional kosher dinners held elsewhere. Mattly tion and other smaller meals. And then my company was also works full time as the Catering Director for Sodexo at hired to take care of big luncheons, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, Creighton Medical Center. weddings and so on. We continue to work this way.”

Next year will be Mattly’s 25th year working for Beth Beth Cohen, former Executive Director of Beth Israel and Israel. “They’ve been so loyal and wonderful to me. I really current Executive Director of the Center for Jewish enjoy what I do and feel fortunate to work with them.”

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34 | The Jewish Press | September 14, 2012

Confessing our sins on Yom Kippur – and remembering to act nobly

by LAWRENCE A. HOFFMAN These two influences, political equality and the fresh air of and explain away the aspects of the confessions that no one NEW YORK (JTA) -- Few prayers are as well known to reason, paved the way for a century when all things seemed believed anymore. Al Chet “is an enumeration of all the sins Jews as Ashamnu (“We have sinned ...”) and Al Chet (“For possible. And indeed, scientific advances and the industrial and errors known to mankind,” said Samson Raphael Hirsch, the sin ...”), the twin confessions of Yom the founder of modern Orthodoxy. It is Kippur. Belief in human sinfulness is not as if we, personally, have done them, more central to Judaism than we think. but some Jew somewhere has, and as the Sin may not be “original,” as it is in Talmud says, “All Israelites are responsiChristianity -- inherited from Adam, ble for one another.” that is, as a sort of genetic endowment Some would say today that as much as ever after. But it is at least primal: It is the 19th century revealed the human there, patent, indelible and unavoidable. capacity for progress, the 20th and 21st We may not be utterly depraved – the centuries have demonstrated the very teaching with which American opposite. Perhaps we really are as sinful Protestantism grew up – but we are as the traditional liturgy says. Religious indeed sinners. “progressives” respond by saying that Talmudic practice, therefore, was to we suffer only from a failure of nerve say a confession every single day, a preceand that more than ever, Yom Kippur dent that continued into the Middle Ages should reaffirm the liberal faith in and still survives in Sephardi synagogues. human dignity, nobility and virtue. At Ashkenazi Jews also announce that sinstake on Yom Kippur this year is not fulness daily in a part of the service called just one confession rather than another, Tachanun (“supplications”), which but our faith in humankind and the includes a line from Avinu Malkeinu, kind of world we think we are still capa“Our Father, Our King, be gracious and ble of building. answer us, for we have no deeds.”

I am not yet ready to throw in the That translation misses the theologiEnlightenment towel. Back in 1824, cal point, however.

Classical Rabbi Gotthold Salomon of Hamburg Christianity believed that we are too singave a sermon in which he said, “All of us Jewish man praying in a mass prayer for forgiveness at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s old city, the ful to be of any merit on our own. We feel, to one extent or other, that, in spirit night before Yom Kippur, 2011.

Credit: Kobi Gideon/Flash90/JTA and soul, we belong to a higher order depend, therefore, on God’s “grace,” the love God gives even though we do not deserve it. Jews, by revolution did seem to promise an end to human suffering than the ephemeral. We feel that we are human in the most contrast, preach the value of good deeds, the mitzvot. But just around the corner. noble sense of the word, that we are closely connected to the Avinu Malkeinu hedges that bet. At least in Tachanun, and It wasn’t just Jews who felt that way. For Europeans in gen- Father of all existence, and that we could have no higher purcertainly from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, we proclaim eral, the notion of human sin, whether original (for pose than to show ourselves worthy of this relationship.” “we have no deeds” and rely on God’s “gracious” love instead. Christians) or primal (for Jews), lost plausibility. Far from Those words ring true for us today. We have something to Our two Yom Kippur confessions appeared in “Seder Rav bemoaning human depravity, it seemed, religion should cel- gain from the Enlightenment’s belief that acting for human Amram,” the first comprehensive Jewish prayer book (c. ebrate human nobility. Enlightenment rabbis began paring betterment is the noble thing to do, and that acting nobly is 860), and became standard thereafter. away Yom Kippur’s heavy accent on sin. still possible.

But do Jews really believe we are as sinful as the confesFrom then until now, new liturgies (usually Reform and Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, the Barbara and Stephen sions imply? Nineteenth-century Jews, recently emancipated Reconstructionist) have shortened the confessions, translated Friedman professor of liturgy, worship and ritual at Hebrew from medieval ghettos, doubted it. For well more than a cen- them to lessen their overall impact and created new ones that Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, is the tury, philosophers had preached the primacy of reason as addressed more obvious shortcomings of human society. But author most recently of We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession the cognitive capacity that makes all human beings equal. traditionalist liturgies too tried to underscore human promise in Judaism -- Ashamnu and Al Chet (Jewish Lights).

From our family to yours during the High Holy Days.

May you and your loved ones have a new year that is blessed with love, happiness, prosperity and peace!

September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 35

Getting to know the RBJH kitchen: Bonnie Johnson

by OZZIE NOGG In her Original Thai Cookbook, Jennifer Brennen writes, “Salads, fresh vegetable dishes and fruit presentations become works of art, transforming humble harvests into incredible edibles. When assembling a platter of raw vegetables for a party, the Thai will carve them into flowers and leaves and the whole array will then be assembled with the loving care and artistry implicit in formal flower arrangement.”

These words are the perfect way to introduce Pranee (Bonnie) Johnson, a delightful native of Bangkok who turns radishes into roses in the kitchen of the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home.

According to Mike Aparo, RBJH Director of Food & Environmental Services, A radish is a rose when “Bonnie’s special talent is Blumkin Home cook, Bonnie in produce. She sculpts litJohnson, wields her paring tle animals, flowers and knife. other carvings that make the presentations on our catering trays so beautiful.”

Bonnie Johnson married an American soldier stationed in Thailand, moved to the States, and worked for nineteen years at Offutt Air Force Base where she created stunning fruit and vegetable trays for dinners hosted by generals and other top brass. Twelve years ago, while Aparo was working at another nursing home, he asked Bonnie to come work with him. Bonnie jumped at the offer. “After nineteen years at Offutt,” she said, “I wanted to see what the outside looked like.” After Aparo became head of the Blumkin Home kitchen in 2007, Bonnie joined his staff. When speaking of the residents, Bonnie said, “I love every one of them. Inside me is love. That’s all I know. I just feel love.” Her sentiments are genuine. Her smile, infectious.

Other Blumkin Home kitchen staff praise Bonnie as a dedicated, exemplary employee. Cindy Armstrong, the

KOSHER PAD THAI adapted by the New York Times from a recipe submitted

by Stephanie and Jessica of The Kosher Foodies Ingredients: 1 (13.2 oz.) package of rice noodles 1/4 cup peanut oil 5 tablespoons tamarind concentrate 4 tablespoons honey 2 tablespoons rice vinegar 1/4 cup soy sauce 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1 bunch of scallions, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 3 eggs 1/2 head cabbage, thinly sliced 1 package extra firm tofu, drained and sliced 1/2 cup roasted peanuts, chopped handful of cilantro, chopped lime, cut into wedges Directions: Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and drizzle with one tablespoon peanut oil to keep from sticking. Set aside.

Meanwhile, put tamarind, soy sauce, honey, and vinegar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and bring to a simmer. Stir in red pepper flakes and set aside.

Put the rest of the peanut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add scallions and garlic and cook for about a minute. Add eggs and scramble until just done. Add cabbage and cook until it begins to wilt. Add tofu.

When tofu begins to brown, add noodles and sauce to the pan. Toss until everything is evenly coated with sauce.

Serve, sprinkling each dish with peanuts. Garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.

Happy New Year!

Vegan Shabbat dinner Continued from page 33 Doris has offered to share one of Garret’s favorites, which she serves most often, called Cashew Veggie Meal.

But prior to that, let’s explore two basic types of vegetarianism. True vegans ascribe to the most stringent of diets, and consume only food items that are plant based.

A lacto-ovo vegetarian, includes eggs and dairy products, which add a little more variety to their diet. There are variations between these two types, as some vegans are so strict they eschew any animal by-products, even refusing to wear garments or shoes made of animal skins, such as fur, leather and suede. I know one vegan who won’t even eat honey, but that’s a bit of a stretch, since bees are not harmed when honey is gathered from hives. And that, I believe, is basically one of the principles behind veganism, to avoid killing any living creatures, in order to produce food, clothing or other items for human consumption.

According to Doris, while Garret does occasionally eat eggs, he doesn’t touch dairy products. So there is a little more leeway among vegetarians whose motives are simply that they don’t care for meat, or consider a meatless diet to be healthier.

Vegetables definitely have a place in a kosher diet, as they blend well with either meat or dairy meals.

For those who would like to try Doris’ recipe, she says, “You can substitute peanuts or walnuts for the cashews in Cashew Veggie Meal.” She also indicates you can substitute chicken or meat for the cashews, or even include meat along with the nuts if you’re definitely not a vegetarian. “This recipe, along with a salad and dessert, makes a complete and easy meal,” says Doris. So here it is, for the benefit of those who would like to try it.

Home’s most tenured cook, said, “Bonnie leaves after everyone else to make sure things are clean in the kitchen and put away.” According to Aparo, “Bonnie’s work ethic is unlike any I have ever known. All this woman knows is work. She stays busy from the time she gets here until the time she leaves. You almost have to force her to take a break. She cleans up after the cooks and helps anybody and everybody she works with, and that’s why everybody loves Bonnie.”

Cook Jerry Harris added, “She’s the best co-worker ever. All the good feeling in the kitchen is Bonnie’s doing. She should get an award.”

A charming combination of self-effacing and confident, Bonnie admits she doesn’t read English, “But I’m a quick learner. I always worked jobs when I came here from Thailand. I worked hard. Made time for everybody. I’m a good mother. My son is a chef now. I’m proud of myself. No one can take that away from me now.”

In Thailand, fruit and vegetable carving is a traditional and highly cultivated art, and the culture from which Bonnie comes puts a high value on the pleasing presentation and decoration of food. But Bonnie Johnson’s artistry goes beyond turning carrots into carnations or strawberries into tulips. “I see a person in a dress and I can make it with my eyes,” she told me. “No pattern. With my eyes.” She means it.

I believe her.

Serving food attractively is an art that has been practiced for centuries. Thai cookbook author Marie Wilson comments, “The appearance of Thai food is most important and is always commented upon by the Thais as much as taste.”

Bonnie says she has a small appetite and doesn’t eat much.

“But I taste the food before we serve the residents so it’s not too salty.” A small but important example of the love she feels for the people who live at the Blumkin Home. Bonnie’s work environment may also influence her attitude toward her job and her life. “Do it now. Don’t wait for tomorrow. Do it now.”

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Maxine Noodell

by GLORIA SHUKERT JONES Maxine Noodell has a few of her favorite recipes she wants to share. Some of them are her original creations, and others come from cookbooks, to which she adds her own personal touch. However, cooking is not her only interest, as she is also a singer, actress, homemaker and traveler. She and her husband, Jack, have been “just about everywhere,” she states, and those frequent destinations include faraway places as well as those here in the United States. But when she’s at home, she puts her culinary talents to good use, having made dishes for Temple Israel Synagogue’s events, as well as family and friend gatherings at her home.

Maxine is a genuine person who never puts on airs, and the friendships she cultivates are among those who are similarly endowed. While she enjoys a good laugh, she is also one of the first people to extend sympathy to those who are down in their luck, or experiencing sorrow. In other words, she is someone who is simply a good friend.

Here are three of the recipes she would like to share: EASY PEACH STRUDEL 1 1/4 cup flour 1/2 cup sour cream 1/2 cup butter or margarine softened.

1 cup peach preserves 1/2 cup shredded coconut 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts Lightly spoon flour into measuring cups.

Level off. In medium bowl, combine flour, sour cream (she uses lite) and margarine. Mix well, cover and chill for at least an hour.

Heat oven to 450 degrees.

On a well-floured surface, roll half of dough to a 13 x 6 inch rectangle. Spread with 1/2 cup preserves to within one inch of edges. Sprinkle with the coconut and walnuts. Starting with the 13 inch side, roll up jelly roll fashion.

Repeat with the other half. Place seam sides down, three inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Seal ends. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Immediately remove from pan and cool. Sprinkle with powdered

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VEGETARIAN CHOPPED LIVER 1/2 cup brown lentils

1 cup water 1 sauteed onion 1/2 cup of walnuts Cook lentils in one cup water until done and water is absorbed. Be careful not to burn the lentils. Saute the onion in 1 tbsp. of canola oil. Place all ingredients in food processor until blended. Season with garlic powder and Lawry’s seasoning salt to suit your taste.

“I make this for the family for the High Holidays, tripling the recipe and putting it in a fancy mold,” she explains, “and serve it with crackers.”

KASHA VARNISHKES 1 cup kasha (buckwheat groats) 1 egg Mix together and dry out over medium heat until separated. Add 2 cups of boiling water. Bring to a boil and turn the heat down to low for about 10-15 minutes until water is absorbed.

Cook 8 ounces of bow-tie noodles, according to package directions. Set aside.

Saute a small onion and a can of mushrooms together.

Add one envelope of Serv-a-Gravy according to package directions. Mix all the above together and serve.

I don’t know about anyone else, but if Maxine invited me to her home for a visit, I would hope she’d ask me to stay for dinner.

New books for kids

by PENNY SCHWARTZ BOSTON (JTA) -- A new crop of engaging Jewish children’s books that relate to the observance or themes of the Jewish High Holidays:

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sugar and cut in diagonal slices.

This recipe serves approximately 20 people.

Room for the Baby Michelle Edwards, illustrated by Jana Christy Random House, $17.99 Ages 3 and up | A PJ Library selection M i c h e l l e Edwards’ deft touch and sense of humor shine through in this delightful family tale that follows a do-it-yourself-family through the Jewish holiday calendar. It begins at Passover, when Mom announces the family is going to have a baby.

“Where will the baby sleep?” wonders the young boy. The sewing room that will be used for the new baby overflows with his mom’s stuff that she’s collected for many years when neighbors bring her their extra sheets, outgrown kids pajamas, sports clothes, sweaters and more. Who won’t relate?

As the family observes Shabbat, Rosh Hashanah and finally Chanukah, old sheets are torn apart and sewn into tiny baby sleepers; chopsticks and an old sweater sleeve become a flag for Simchat Torah, and so forth through the Jewish holidays. By Chanukah, all the stuff has been repurposed into beautiful and useful items for the new baby or happily shared with neighbors.

This warmly imagined story by the awardwinning author of Chicken Man touches many themes -- anticipating a new baby, cel-

ebrating Jewish holidays, dads who bake challah, living in a multicultural neighborhood and, of course, inventive ways to reuse our “stuff.” Jana Christy’s illustrations glow with colorful collage patterns. Even the family cat gets in on the action.

Speak Up, Tommy!

Jacqueline Dembar Greene, illustrated by Deborah Melmon Kar-Ben, $17.95 hardcover; $7.95 paperback Ages 3-8 While Speak Up, Tommy!, by the award-winning author Jacqueline Dembar Greene, is not about the High Holidays, it is an outstanding new title that is timely as the new school year gets under way.

Set in a classroom, Speak Up, Tommy! touches all the chords about getting along with others and not teasing classmates, new or old. Tommy, a boy from Israel, is teased because his English is not perfect and he hasn’t learned the difference between Israeli and American football. But his perfect Hebrew comes in handy when Officer Sweeney visits the classroom with Samson, a specially trained dog who shares Tommy’s Hebrew language. There are fun HebrewEnglish word bubbles with dog commands such as “sheket,” meaning quiet; “tavi,” for fetch and “kelev tov!” for good dog. In the end, classmates become helpful friends.

Deborah Melmon’s cartoon-like illustrations are lively and action packed.

September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 37

Sign of the times: Menu inspired by ‘simanim’ brings meaning to Rosh Hashanah meal

by JAMIE GELLER (JTA) -- So this is where it all comes together -- all the thought, all the planning, the testing. And the tasting, the tasting and the tasting. (That’s the best part).

A simanim-inspired menu brings added challenges, but also adds a level of meaning to your Rosh Hashanah meal.

Simanim – literally it means signs or indicators – are meant to point the way to improved circumstances.

For the past few years, I have used the opportunity as a Rosh Hashanah conversation starter with my kids during our cooking and prep time together. My guests, my kids, my guests’ kids -- everybody loves identifying which simanim are on the table openly or “hidden” as an ingredient. Our discussion takes on a special yontif energy that only comes with Rosh Hashanah.

In the coming year, may all of your meals be cooked to perfection -- nothing burns, nothing is soggy or falls apart.

May it be a year of culinary delights and taste-bud adventures! And may you and your loved ones eat in good health, happiness, sweetness and peace.

GEFILTE FISH CAKES WITH HORSERADISH SAUCE Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes, plus 30 minutes chill time minimum Ready time: 30 minutes Ingredients: 1 loaf frozen gefilte fish, defrosted (22 ounces) or 1 jar (24 ounces), drained and chopped 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper 1 small red onion, diced 2 celery stalks, diced 1 1/2 cups light mayonnaise, divided 4 tbsp. chopped dill 1/2 tsp. kosher salt 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper 1 egg 1 cup coarsely crushed matzah Canola oil for frying 1 lemon, juiced 4 tbsp. prepared horseradish Preparation: In a large bowl combine gefilte fish, peppers, onions, celery, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, dill, salt, pepper, egg and matzah and stir well to combine. Using slightly wet hands, scoop 1⁄4 cup and form into patties. Place on a sheet pan and refrigerate for 30 minutes before frying.

Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Fry patties in batches for 3 to 4 minutes per side or until golden brown. (Can be kept warm in the oven at 250 degrees).

In a small bowl, combine remaining 1 cup mayonnaise, lemon juice and horseradish; stir. To serve, plate 2 cakes on a

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Servings: 8

Credit: Stuart Schnee HONEY CHICKEN A tasty and economical way to feed a crowd during the holidays, this chicken dish is sweet but never cloying.

Despite its name, this chicken is not too sweet. The olive oil, soy sauce, garlic and pepper temper the honey perfectly.

Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 1 hour Ready time: 5 minutes Ingredients: 1 chicken, about 3 1/2 pounds, cut into 8 pieces 3/4 cup honey 1/4 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup olive oil 1 tbsp. garlic powder 1 tsp. black pepper Preparation: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9- by-13inch pan with nonstick cooking spray. Rinse chicken, pat dry and place in prepared pan. In a small bowl, mix together honey, soy sauce, olive oil, garlic powder and pepper and pour over chicken. Bake, uncovered, at 375 for 1 hour until slightly browned.

Servings: 4

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BRISKET IN WINE SAUCE Nothing compares to the rich flavor of brisket, plus this recipe couldn’t be simpler to prepare; a guaranteed crowdpleaser.

Prep time: 9 minutes Cook time: 3 hours Ready time: 3 hours, 9 minutes Ingredients: 1 (2 1/2-pound) beef brisket, thick-cut 1 tbsp. paprika 1/2 tsp. basil 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. pepper 3 medium onions, sliced 2 cloves garlic, peeled, halved 1 1/2 cups ketchup 1 1/2 cups dry red wine 1 1/2 cups water Preparation: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Rinse brisket. Place in roasting pan. Rub paprika, basil, salt and pepper into meat. Scatter onions and garlic over meat.

In a medium bowl, mix ketchup, wine and water. Pour over brisket. Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil, tenting so that the foil does not touch the meat. Bake, covered, at 325 for 3 hours, or until a digital instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the brisket reads 190 degrees for well done.

Let stand 5-10 minutes before slicing diagonally, against the grain. Serve warm; pass pan juices in a sauce boat.

Servings: 8 SPICY SAUTEED LEEKS AND SPINACH Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 30 minutes Ready time: 50 minutes Ingredients: 6 leeks, white and light green parts only, cut into 1/4-inch rounds, then halved 4 tbsp. olive oil 10 cloves garlic, minced 2 tsp. crushed red pepper 1/2 cup white wine 1 bag baby spinach (20 ounces) Preparation: Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium low heat. Add leaks, cover and cook for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in garlic and red pepper flakes. Add wine and spinach and increase heat to medium. Cover and cook 4 minutes more, tossing occasionally, until spinach is wilted.

Servings: 10 Continued on page 39

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38 | The Jewish Press | September 14, 2012

Eating the world over in Jerusalem

by SYBIL KAPLAN Jerusalem has become a great resource for finding special restaurants in which to dine.

Here is a sampling to try next time you travel to Jerusalem.

Agas ve Tapuach, Pera e elah, Pear and Apple It is hard to decide which is more entertaining--to watch Milan-born chef and restaurant owner Gionatan Ottolenghi toss home-made pasta in the air or sing opera to his clients when he comes out of the kitchen.

Pear and Apple is the only restaurant in Safra Square by the Municipality and the oldest Italian restaurant in Jerusalem. Its natural stone walls and arches, patio and garden make for a charming atmosphere.

There are 12 starters such as bread, focaccia, bruschetta, antipasta and salads; six more salads; three soups; Italian entrees; nine pastas; two fish dishes; six sweet crepes; seven desserts and beverages.

Pear and Apple is open Sunday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday evening one hour after Sabbath ends until 11 p.m. in winter, until last customer in summer. Closed Friday. It is located at Kikar Safra 6; phone 02 623-0280.

Ichikidana Lehava Hermann was born in Calcutta, India, and came to Israel at the age of 17 ½.

She later studied textile technology at the Fashion Institute of Technology, specializing in color.

“Cooking has a lot of color and texture, and my mother was a big foodie. I’m a vegetarian and as a small child, I used to eat with the servants and get Indian vegetarian food.”

In 2006 she decided to open an Indian restaurant in the market, Machaneh

Yehudah.

The name Ichikidana is gibberish; the décor is very eclectic. The table tops are shellaqued pictures from newspapers and magazines in collage style; a cafeteria-like serving station in the back keeps food, which Lehava cooks in the tiny kitchen, hot.

Lehava calls the restaurant a dhaaba, the kind of restaurant in a neighborhood or on the road for truck drivers where the food is like at home and very fresh and no one worries about decorations. There are no animal products of any sort. If there are yogurt or milk products, Chef/owner Gionatan, Pear and Apple Italian restaurant.

Credit: Barry A. Kaplan/Jerusalem they are in an additional dish so pure vegans can get a full meal. Battata kalwa—a dish with sweet potatoes, raisins, cashew nuts, ginger, chili and gram flour (besan) is the most popular dish on the menu. Among dishes served are: rice with cumin; potato with zucchini, carrots, peanuts and coconut; coconut and lemon dish; eggplant with tomatoes; battata; chick peas; yogurt; green chutney with coconut; apple chutney; green chutney with peanuts; cooked tomato chutney; and cooked onion Owner/chef Lehava, Ichikidana Indian restaurant.

Credit: Barry A. Kaplan/Jerusalem chutney.

She also serves banufi (caramel-coconut- yogurt “ice cream”; date, cashew nut, anise banana cake adored by children in and ginger candy; coconut and chocolate Northern India); shrikand in a shot glass, a cake; and demitasse glasses of chai (spice

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milk tea).

Ichikidana is open Sunday through Thursday, 12 noon to 8 p.m. in winter, 12 noon to 10 p.m. in summer; Friday, 12 noon to one hour before Sabbath. It is located at 4 Eshkol Street in the market, Machaneh Yehuda; phone 050 224-6060 or 050 2247070.

La Boca Guy Kimhi’s grandfather came from Spain; Guy learned to cook from his mother, whose parents came from Spanish Morocco.

In 2003, he traveled to Brazil, Chile, Peru, Mexico City, Yucatan, Cuba and Buenos Aires, Argentina, “looking for my kind of food,” he says.

He cooked with chefs and he also went to La Boca, a neighborhood with much color and restaurants and artists and street music.

In 2006, he opened La Boca, as owner and chef featuring Latin food. “Latin food is mainly South American and Central American food and food from Spain. For example, ceviche is from Peru; tortillas, enchiladas and empanadas come from Brazil.”

The restaurant is located up some steps on a main street with windows overlooking the street in a late 1800s building. The décor is simple and elegant. La Boca makes its own chorizo (sausage) with veal chorizo and lamb fat; paella sauce; chimichuri; and other sauces. All meat is imported from Argentina or Chile.

La Boca is open Sunday through Thursday from 11:30 a.m. until the last customer leaves; lunch is served on Fridays until an hour before Sabbath begins and opens Saturday evening one-half hour after Sabbath ends. It is located at 46 Emek Refaim; phone 02 563-5577.

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September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 39

Putting the high back into the High Holidays

by ZALMAN SCHACHTER-SHALOMI and JOEL SEGEL BOULDER, Colo. (JTA) -- For many of us, let’s face it, the upcoming High Holidays will be anything but a high. Oh, we’ll pack every pew in the synagogues, dressed in our holiday best. We’ll be there for hours, rising when told to, sinking thankfully back into our seats, reading responsively.

Many enjoy the communal aspect of it, the tunes they remember from childhood.

Some feel genuine awe at the ceremony and out-of-worldly blast of the ram’s horn.

But if Kol Nidre’s pleas to wipe out any unfulfilled vows and promises teach us anything, it is to mean what we say. Does language like “Our Father, our King, we have sinned before you; our Father, our King, we have no King but You” really speak for us? How do we avoid the High Holidays trap of spending hour after hour reciting prayers we don’t understand, in language we don’t subscribe to, to a God we may not even believe in?

Can we find a way to enter into the experience more fully without putting our minds in the pawn shop and violating our Jewish compulsion for honesty?

One surprisingly simple and freeing solution begins with a distinction. Beliefs are the language of mind. Prayer, on the other hand, begins in the heart -- not the muscle but the metaphor, the realm not of cardiologists but of poets. Real prayer -- davening, as we Jews used to say back in the old country -- is not a rational matter. It’s a romance.

Prayer is the language of heart because real prayer deals with need, with loneliness and sorrow, with thankfulness and joy, with fear and dread. “No God,” the mind insists. But the heart, in its small, uncertain voice, cries “Oh God! Omigod!” In that cry, if we can allow ourselves to hear it, lies the beginnings of prayer.

Now take that distinction a step further. The trek through the liturgy is in fact a journey through four distinct spheres of human experience. The Jewish prayer book, it turns out, is more in sync with modern beliefs than we might think.

Developmental psychologists now speak of multiple intelligences, distinguishing kinesthetic intelligence from musical ability, say, or logical reasoning from emotional aptitude.

Kabbalah prefers to think of four parallel landscapes, each with its own symbolic language and imagery, and each finding expression in the prayer service.

To kabbalists, the reality we know is rooted in assiyah (“doing”), the world of the tangible, the physical. This is the realm of the morning blessings that launch our prayers, the ones that thank God for our creature comforts and physical abilities.

Assiyah, too, is the dimension in which our bodies take action, rising when the ark is open, bowing, swaying back and forth in the silent Amidah, even prostrating ourselves in the High Holidays Musaf service.

The beating heart of prayer is found in the world of yetsirah (“formation”), a section of psalms that follows the morning blessings and opens us to our emotions. The key word here is Hallelujah! and the key expression is song. Yetsirah is the home of what Martin Buber called our “I-thou” relationship with God. It is in yetsirah that we turn to the sacred Other, whatever we understand that to mean. But don’t think about it too much.

Sing! Your heart will understand.

The Barachu that follows takes us into the world of beriyah (“creation”), the realm of mind.

The language here speaks of the heavenly orbs, of light and darkness, of the miracles of the universe. We are rising higher now.

We marvel at creation, meditate upon it and begin to merge with it.

Finally, Hear O Israel and the silent Amidah take us into atzilut (“emanation”), the highest and most abstract of the four worlds. Atzilut is the realm of spirit. Its language thrives on mystery, contradictions and dissolution of boundaries.

Our prayers don’t always “make sense” because making sense is not what we’re here for. Our journeys through life are more complex than that. And so our duty to the Days of Awe, and to ourselves, doesn’t end with procuring our tickets. We need more than just assigned seats and receipts that our synagogue dues are paid up. We want a ticket to transformation, a pass to the possibility that something in us feels genuinely moved.

As our synagogues open their door to us, so may we open our own inner doors to multidimensional experiences. As the ushers show us to our seats, so let us find a seat for prayer in our hearts.

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Joel Segel are the authors of Davening: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Prayer, forthcoming from Jewish Lights.

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Sign of the times Continued from page 37 CARROT APPLE MINI CUPCAKES WITH NON-DAIRY CREAM CHEESE ICING This recipe makes ten mini cupcakes, which makes for the perfect little sweet treat at the end of the meal. But if this is all you are serving for dessert, you may want to double this recipe so each guest can enjoy 2 mini cupcakes.

Prep time: 12 minutes Cook time: 18 minutes Ready time: 30 minutes Ingredients: 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. kosher salt 4 tbsp. margarine 3 tbsp. brown sugar 2 tbsp. granulated sugar 1 egg 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract 3/4 cup grated carrot 3/4 cup grated apple Icing: 1 package non-dairy cream cheese, softened (8-ounce package) 2 tbsp. honey 2 tbsp. confectioner’s sugar Preparation: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a mini cupcake baking sheet with 10 cupcake liners or lightly grease with baking spray.

In a small bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda

West Maple and salt and whisk to combine.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine margarine and sugars and beat until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Add carrot and apple and mix until moistened. Add flour mixture and mix just until combined.

Distribute batter evenly to make 10 mini cupcakes. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes and then remove from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the icing: Whisk together non-dairy cream cheese, honey and sugar until smooth. Frost the top of each cupcake with a heaping tablespoon.

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40 | The Jewish Press | September 14, 2012

New books: Googly-eyed fish, impish magicians, sukkah-eating squirrels

by PENNY SCHWARTZ BOSTON (JTA) -- A giant googly-eyed fish, mischievous magicians and sukkaheating squirrels are among the characters in a new crop of engaging Jewish children’s books that relate to the observance or themes of the Jewish High Holidays.

Here’s a rundown of the new books: Oh No, Jonah!

Tilda Balsley, illustrations by Jago Kar-Ben, $17.95 hardcover; $7.95 paperback; $13.95 eBook Ages 5-10 The story of Jonah read in the synagogue on Yom Kippur is retold by award-winning children’s writer Tilda Balsley in a lively, rhyming beat that will get the kids to listen.

When the prophet Jonah refuses God’s request to persuade the people of Nineveh to change their wicked ways, he runs off to a ship, is tossed overboard and swallowed by a big fish. After Jonah prays for forgiveness, the fish spits him onto dry land and Jonah convinces the Ninevites to repent.

Balsley’s verse, which features the refrain “Oh No, Jonah!,” opens the door for discussion about misbehavior, apologies and forgiveness without being overbearing. Jago’s colorful illustrations -- the fish is a golden giant with a humongous mouth and large googly eyes -- will have young readers wading into the plot. The artist won the National Jewish Book Award for his illustrations in Nachshon Who Was Afraid to Swim.

The Vanishing Gourds, A Sukkot Mystery Susan Axe-Bronk, illustrated by Marta Monelli Kar-Ben, $17.95 hardcover; $7.95 paperback Ages 3-8 A PJ Library selection The Vanishing Gourds is a lighthearted backyard mystery that captures the seasonal spirit of the joyous celebration of Sukkot, reflecting its appreciation of the natural world. Susan Axe-Bronk’s first children’s book is brightly illustrated by Marta Monelli.

With Sukkot’s themes of gratitude, simplicity and appreciation of all things green, it’s no wonder the holiday is gaining popularity.

In Axe-Bronk’s tale, readers meet Sara, a spirited young girl who loves to decorate the family sukkah with colorful and unusually shaped gourds from a local farm. But one

year the gourds hanging from the roof slats mysteriously fall to the ground, scattering their seeds. At night, while Sara and her brother Avi are sleeping in the sukkah, they discover a family of squirrels eating the gourds. Sara dreams that the squirrel family apologizes, explaining that they were hungry. They promise to bring new gourds to Sara next year. In a heartwarming and happy ending, Sara discovers an unexpected gift the following Sukkot. Monelli’s large format illustrations reflect the colors of the season.

The Mitzvah Magician Linda Elovitz Marshall, illustrated by Christiane Engel Kar-Ben, $17.95 hardcover; $7.95 paperback Ages 3-8 Wearing a tall black hat and carrying a wand in his hand, an ordinary young boy transforms himself into a mischief-loving

magician, emptying glasses of milk onto the floor and mistakenly poking his younger sister, Julia. In a time-out for his misbehavior, the young fellow thinks about his mother’s warnings that good magicians do good deeds, mitzvot, and don’t hurt people. With a wave of his magic wand, Gabriel creates new magic words -- Jewish words. “Onewish! Two-wish! Jew-Wish!” he proclaims.

Young kids will pick up the beat of Gabriel’s magic command, as he sneaks off the timeout stool to magically clean up the spilled milk from the kitchen floor, tidy his overturned toys and even set a party table with cookies for the family.

Elovitz provides a lighthearted setting to the Jewish value of doing good, and Christiane Engel’s illustrations are lively and engaging. Figures and scenes are brightly colored and large enough for kids to enjoy reading the story through the expressive artwork.

HOLIDAY CLOSINGS AND EARLY DEADLINE NOTICES The Jewish Press office is closed Monday, Sept. 3 for Labor Day and Monday-Tuesday, Sept. 17 and 18, for Rosh Hashanah, and Wednesday, Sept. 26 for Yom Kippur, and Monday, Oct 1 for Sukkot; the deadline for the Sept. 21 issue is Wednesday, Sept. 11, 9 a.m. and the deadline for the Oct. 5 issue is Tuesday, September 25, 9 a.m. Questions? Call 402.334.6448.

September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 41

The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen

by LEVANA KIRSCHENBAUM, $39.95 HARDCOVER, 420 PP. APRIL 2012

by SYBIL KAPLAN This book has nothing to do with the chain of Whole Foods stores.

Inasmuch as I have lived in Israel the past four years and not having gotten to the New York kosher restaurant scene over the years, I was unfamiliar with the restaurant, Levana, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Apparently, she and her husband and her brothers-in-law “pioneered” upscale kosher dining in their restaurant for 32 years. For more than 30 years, Levana also gave weekly demonstrations and she authored Levana’s Table, In Short Order (a book/DVD based on her demo series) and Levana Cooks Dairy Free.

Now that Levana has closed her restaurant, she focuses on weekly demos in her Upper West Side classroom.

This cookbook explores recipes which contribute to a wholesome lifestyle. Her philosophy is minimal use of processed and packaged foods and incorporation of “all the ingredients that are good for you in your daily food preparation.”

She uses the “bulbous monolithic roots... homely leaves... and powerful antioxidants,” advocating cooking from scratch.

There are many variations for recipes and many of the more than 350 recipes which she developed have her Moroccan origin.

One of the nicest things about the recipes are the personal comments. The other special touch are the paragraphs scattered throughout the book with discussions on topics such as turmeric, sea salt, roasting garlic, orange flower and rose water, roasting peppers and many more.

Chapter 1, the Party, includes recipes for edible gifts to yourself and beyond and includes salad dressings, homemade infused oils, condiments, sauces, marinades, preserves, liqueurs and dessert sauces.

Chapter 2 contains 33 soup recipes; Chapter 3 has 23 salads; Chapter 4 consists of 22 fish recipes; Chapter 5 has 49

poultry and fish recipes; Chapter 6 has 29 vegetable dishes; Chapter 7 has 20 grains and pasta recipes; Chapter 8 comprises 17 breakfast and brunch recipes; Chapter 9 has 12 breads and flat breads; Chapter 10 has 52 desserts.

There are menus at the end and one of the most unique ideas are three indexes: one general, one for gluten free recipes, and one for Passover.

If you know a newly engaged couple, a new bride or anyone else who keeps a kosher kitchen, this will be a wonderful, valuable, user-friendly addition to their cookbook shelf.

For those looking for some special recipes for Rosh Hashanah, try these from the cookbook.

CHICKEN WITH APPLES The modest apple is the star of this rustic and delicious dish. Hard cider gives the dish its originality and is easy to find, but just in case you can’t, use 3 cups natural apple cider.

3 tbsp. olive oil 4 Granny Smith (green) apples, peeled and cut in wedges 2 tbsp. sugar or Sucanat Zest of 2 lemons 3 leeks, sliced 8 serving pieces chicken-16 pieces total: legs, thigh, half breasts, skins on 2 teaspoons turmeric 1 bottle hard cider 2 tbsp. cinnamon Freshly ground pepper to taste 3 tbsp. Calvados, applejack, or slivovitz Heat the oil in a heavy, wide-bottom pot. Add the apples and sauté until golden. Add the sugar and lemon peel, and cook 2 more minutes until caramelized. Remove the mixture and set aside. Place the leeks, chicken, turmeric, cider and cinnamon in the pot, and bring to a boil. Reduce the flame to medium and cook covered for 1 hour. Add the reserved apples, ground pepper and Calvados, and cook a few minutes more until just heated through. Transfer the chicken and apples to a platter and check the sauce.

If it is too thin, reduce on a high flame 2 to 3 minutes until syrupy. Pour over the chicken and serve hot, with rice, puréed vegetables, or noodles.

Makes 8 servings.

Continued on page 42

TRI COLOR FISH TERRINE You will create a sensation with this dish! It will make you look like a chef without too much hard work. You will like the freedom it gives you on party day, as you can make it a day or two ahead of time and keep it chilled. If you get ambitious, layer the mixture in a dozen greased muffin tins and invert them at serving time.

Fish mixture: 2 pounds salmon or tilapia fillets 1/2 cup olive oil 4 eggs 1/3 cup tapioca flour or arrowroot or potato starch 1/2 cup dairy-free milk, low-fat OK, or dry white wine 1 medium onion, quartered Zest of 1 lemon Pinch nutmeg Salt and pepper to taste 1 cup frozen spinach, squeezed thoroughly dry 1/4 cup basil leaves 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, briefly soaked in warm water and squeezed thoroughly dry or use 1/4 cup tomato paste Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 1 1/2 quart rectangle mold and line it with foil, letting the sides overhang. Grind the fish mixture ingredients in a food processor until perfectly smooth. Divide the mixture in three. Process one-third in the food processor with the spinach and the basil. Scrape the bowl of the food processor thoroughly so you won’t have to wash it to mix the red layer. Pack tightly and neatly in the mold. Tightly pack the second (white) third on top of the green layer in the mold. Process the last third with the sundried tomatoes or tomato paste until perfectly smooth. Pack on top of the white layer in the mold gently, so as not to disturb the layers beneath. Fold the overhanging foil over the top of the mold. Bake for 1 hour or until the top is firm.

Serve chilled, sliced.

Makes a dozen servings.

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42 | The Jewish Press | September 14, 2012

Kosher memories

Bert’s eye view BERT LEWIS As I begin, I have to wonder to myself how many words have been written on the topic of keeping kosher, especially in our modern time. I’m sorry not to have any statistics regarding numbers which reflect the percentages of those who do and those who do not.

Having said that, I’ll invite you to follow me back to the time when you were a youngster. Do you remember what the kitchen was like in your parents’ house? Or maybe what it was like at your grandparents’ house?

If you’re like me, you might recall there seemed to be many cupboards and/or other places for the storage of dishes and all the other items needed to cook and serve three meals a day, 24/7.

If you share some of my memories, you’ll also remember certain pieces of equipment that appeared perhaps only once a week, such as the gear used when koshering meat. If you feel ready to say “what do you mean? My meat is kosher when I get it.” Ok. that tells me you aren’t anywhere near my age!

I wouldn’t sign any legal papers saying I know every detail about this stuff, but I do know that the meat came from a strictly kosher butcher shop, and when it got home, my mom koshered it; I mean with the salting and the soaking and the whole nine yards. That was then, this is now. We’ll continue.

Another thing I recall: all the dishes. I always thought our kitchen had nearly as many dishes as the fifth floor at Brandeis. There was a set of everyday dairy dishes, a set of everyday meat dishes, and the same two designations for “company dishes.”

And don’t forget to duplicate all of those for use at Passover.

Plus pots and pans, silverware and whatever else civilized people used when in charge of the family nutrition.

Ok, now we’ve taken care of the basics. You keep kosher?

Then you need all that stuff aforementioned. But let’s talk about the food. I think we ate more fresh foods in our kosher homes than some of us do today. There wasn’t as much processed stuff in a ready-to-eat form as there is today. And most wouldn’t have purchased it if there had been.

Why? Because it was treyf, of course. So, everything was made “from scratch.” You wanted mashed potatoes with your dinner tonight, you didn’t go to a freezer to look for a package that said something like “heat and eat.” No. you went to the storage place where you kept the potatoes and onions and you selected however many you required, then

peeled and cooked them. That’s fresh. Shaking out of a plastic bag and reheating in the oven isn’t.

Of course there were always canned vegetables and fruit, even way back then, but very little of that came into my mom’s kitchen. She canned her own produce, fresh from the garden where it was grown. And to this day, I’ve never, ever tasted canned peaches as good as those my mom “put up” in her glass jars.

Or the wonderful jellies and jams. If it was edible, Mary Wine had to see if there was a way to process her own. I even remember some of the odd things, such as grape juice and something she called “Ginger Beer.” We didn’t buy soft drinks, but we sure enjoyed the fruit drinks Mom made.

So, we can say without being challenged, we did eat in a more healthy fashion when it was homemade. And of course, it was kosher. All of which brings me to the part I love to remember the most: the appearance of certain foods which had a little OU on them... that magic mark meant “Wow, this is kosher. We can take this home and eat it, and it’s ok!” One of the first things like that I recall is, for some reason, Miracle Whip. Suddenly, tuna salad was a “new” food, and boy did it make a great sandwich. Maybe the best part? It was also pareve! What more could you ask?

Another suddenly discovered item was Crisco. A vegetable shortning, also pareve, in which you could fry something, and also, it meant you could bake goodies that weren’t only for dairy meals. Again that little OU. Yes, Crisco and the others which followed could probably take the credit for saving lots of lives, since shmaltz could then be replaced with something healthier.

Do you by any chance recall when somebody told your mom that Heinz was making something called baked beans that were kosher and delicious and ready to warm up and eat? Of course you had to be very careful when shopping, because there were products that looked like them but that contained a forbidden bit of a meat item.

Can you remember when kosher gelatin began to appear?

Lots of moms didn’t believe it because everybody knew it was treyf, until a miracle happened. A Sisterhood luncheon served it for dessert, everybody saw it, and even the rebbetzin ate it! Case closed. There were stories going around that it was actually manufactured at the Goodyear plant where they made rubber tires, but that turned out to be a malicious lie. And in all fairness, I think the product has been tweaked enough to make it just like the forbidden kind. Never mind... a big dollop of that pretend whipped cream that you can have on your dessert after a meat meal also jazzes up the Jewish Jello.

My kosher experiences are all in the past, but they’re among my most cherished memories. Food is such an important part of our lives, not just to nourish us physically, but in other ways too.

On that note, I’d like to wish everyone a peaceful and very healthy New Year.

Helping Little Ears Feel Better

The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen Continued from page 41

HONEY CAKE Honey cake is the traditional cake of the Jewish New Year! I actually succeeded in turning quite a few people on to my honey cake. Mine is moist and spicy and easy to love; I trust it will make you forget all the indignities of past dried-out and brittle honey cakes. I make it several ways, all scrumptious, but this is one of my favorites. The secret ingredient, orange marmalade, was shared by my dear friend Leah. Some people don’t use nuts during the holiday of Rosh Hashanah: No problem skipping them.

1 cup oil 2/3 cup sugar 1 cup dark honey 1 cup orange marmalade, try your best for all-fruit 4 eggs 3/4 cup strong coffee at room temperature 3 tbsp. rum or brandy 3 cups flour: all-purpose, whole wheat pastry, or spelt 2 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda Good pinch salt 1 tsp. each cinnamon, allspice and ginger 1/2 cup sliced almonds (optional) Preheat the oven to 350F. Mix the wet ingredients in a food processor. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl, and add in 3 additions to the egg mixture, using the pulse button, mixing each time only until combined. Pour the batter into a greased tube pan or 10-inch pan, or 11-by-14-inch pan.

If you are using the almonds, sprinkle them evenly over the top.

Bake the cake 1 hour, or a little longer, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Invert onto a rack to cool. Makes a dozen ample servings.

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Omaha restaurant bucket list

by OLIVER B. POLLAK Benson’s Backshelf Books on Maple Street in late 2009 had Jim Delmont’s Midlands Restaurant Reviews (1993). Two dollars for a local book I had never heard of. In midSeptember 2010, “For Sale” hung on the door. Over the years the Omaha WorldHerald has employed several food reviewers including Sarah Casey Newman, Peter Citron, Jim Delmont, Jeff Bahr, John Keenan, Nichole Aksamit, and since her departure early this year, at least seven journalists have tackled this task.

Peter Citron published Peter Citron’s Insider’s Guide to Omaha Restaurants in 1974. It contained 96 Omaha restaurants with Health Department ratings and “Insider’s tips.” Only 21 (22%) of the eateries

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are still in existence. Citron noted the establishments that took Carte Blanche and Diner’s Club, which no longer exist.

Jim Delmont reprinted 76 reviews, most of them independents, appearing since 1986. My wife Karen and I dined at 61. Our sons worked, Noah worked at Zio’s Pizza (then in Baker’s Square), Aaron at Noah’s (in Miracle Hills, now Clancy’s).

In 1993 Omaha had almost 500 restaurants, and 30 chains, accounting for 300 locations. Burger King had 24 sites, Little King 23, Subway 22, Pizza Hut 20, McDonalds 19, Godfather’s 17, Arby’s 15, Taco Bell and Runza 14, KFC 13, Hardee’s 11, and Wendy’s had 10.

Thirty-five (46%) of the seventy-six restaurants no longer exist. Eleven restaurants were on Pacific Street, five closed: Angie’s Steak House, Blue Fox, Garden Café, L&N Seafood, and Pacific Kitchen and Grill.

Steak houses, Italian, Chinese, Mexican, and Indian food accounted for 30 restaurants. No Thai, Vietnamese, or sushi. Caribbean, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Burmese, Moroccan, Nigerian, Somalian and Sudanese were unimagined in the early 1990s.

Fond memories include the short-lived Bistro in the Market in the National Building (past home of the National Printing Company, publisher of the Czech paper Hospodar) where Preston Love occasionally played. Michelin rated Café de Paris hosted out-of-town guests and special “aughty” numbered birthdays and anniversaries. The venerable South Omaha Old Vienna Café closed (now a Hispanic internet office), moved into Claudia’s location at 120th and Center, and reemerged as Bistro 120. Two were bulldozed. Kohl’s and Quick Trip gas station replaced Ross’ Steakhouse and Salvatore’s.

Zio’s Pizza and Greek Islands changed locations. Raphael’s moved from a Leavenworth hole in the wall (now occupied by a tanning salon) to 13th Street and closed.

Breadwinners moved from Countryside to Regency Court and is now Kobe Steak House. Jones Street Brewery, bearing a street as a name, does not assure survival.

Some locations remained stable but changed ownership and names. In the Old Market Chez Chong became Omaha Prime.

Butsy le Doux’s became Twisted Fork. V. Mertz (changed ownership in early 2011).

Angie’s is now Lucky’s. Navarette and Neon Goose, next door to each other, are now

Bones and The Lab. Café de Paris (ironically still in the 2010-11 Dex Yellow Pages), vacant for four years now, hosts Q Consumables. La Strada 72 became Spezia, Noah’s became Clancy’s Pub. L&N Seafood subsequently housed Mozarellas, L&N again, Pacific Kitchen and Grill, California Pizza Kitchen, and is now Ingredient’s second location. The Garden Café in Old Market and One Pacific Place no longer exist, Wheatfields occupies the Pacific location. The Blue Fox became Yo Yo’s, and is now Mics Karaoke Bar. Spanna became Café di Coppia when it left Regency, and now is AC’s Tex Mex. Luigi’s is Hu Hot Mongolian Barbeque, Jonesy’s Dinner Den is Mexi Taco, Joey D’s is Arthurs that moved from Dodge as Methodist expanded. Kyoto Restaurant is Thai Spice.

C h a m p p s Americana in Oakview Mall with great waffle fries and penne pasta, morphed into a miniature golf course, now stands empty.

The Imperial Palace, in Old Mill, a beautiful built for the purpose Chinese restaurant, complete with a koi pond with a red arch bridge, became Nico. The shortlived Pacific Pasta and Pizza, with its trendy wood fired oven, became Ann Taylors, is now occupied by Trader Joe’s.

Several had café in their name: Caffé Rose, Café di Coppia, Bohemian Café opened in 1924 (King Fong’s established in 1921 is Omaha’s oldest eatery), French Café, Garden Café, Hong Kong Café, Johnny’s Café (since 1922), and Old Vienna Café.

Several were prefixed by “La:” La Casa Pizzaria, La Fonda (which became Julio’s), and La Strada 72 (which became Spezias).

Six had “house” in their name: Austin’s Steak House, Cascio’s Steak House, Chelsea House, Empanada House, Gorat’s Steak House, House of Hunan, and Panda House.

Fourteen restaurants had male surnames (Austin, Joey, Luigi, and Scott’s are gone), three had female names (Angie’s, now Lucky’s, and Claudia’s are no longer).

Almost all family-named restaurants survived (Caniglia, Cascio, Gorat, McKenna).

Single name restaurants Aquarium, Navarettes, Spanna closed, Jaipur, Julios, Romeo’s remain, and some Chili’s survive, some do not.

Hotel restaurants, Regency Marriott’s Chardonnay, Maxine’s at the top of the Red Lion (Hilton and DoubleTree), and Chelsea House in the Carlisle Hotel, closed. Rent, payroll, and overheads are ongoing challenges. According to Mercantile Systems, “Starting and running a business is an act of extreme optimism.” Dunn and Bradstreet state restaurants have a 20% chance of surviving two years. An Ohio State University study suggests that 26% close in the first year, 19% in the second year and 14% in the third year. Consistent quality may overcome a marginal location. A friend opined, Omaha diners are getting more sophisticated, the city does not long suffer subpar food.

Delmont’s December 1991 Market Basket review noted parenthetically, “(there is also a non-smoking room).” How times have changed. During September, restaurants and media coverage were in flux. Google’s acquisition of Zagat will challenge social media Urban Spoon and Yelp. The World-Herald hired Sarah Baker Hansen as a food writer.

Senor Matias at 90th closed after 32 years at 90th and Center. Gorat’s opening in 1944, has benefitted from Warren Buffett’s favor. The owners are selling it for $1.3 million. A 1947 menu is available on eBay for around $120.

September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 45

Messages The secret ingredient

by RABBI M. MENDEL KATZMAN Chabad Center Jewish people and food have always been inextricably connected. As the saying goes, the story behind every Jewish holiday is, “They tried to kill us, G-d saved us, let’s eat.” So many Jewish traditions revolve around a celebratory meal.

Yet, of course we aren’t a nation devoted to gluttony.

When the Talmud devotes pages to stories of our ancestors enjoying festive meals, and detailing the various foods involved, surely there are deeper spiritual and moral lessons to be learned.

The talk of good food brings to mind the Chassidic story of Reb Shmuel Munkes (1834-1882)] of Beshenkovitz. Reb Shmuel, a great scholar with a unique sense of humor was sitting with a group of peers, having a L’chaim and sharing words of inspiration. Shmuel went into the kitchen and brought out a large platter of delicious meats. His friends, unaccustomed to the delicacies, licked their lips in anticipation. Yet, instead of placing the food on the table, Reb Shmuel held the plate in the air and began dancing around the room. “Put it down,” they cried. To him, this was a red flag. Reb Shmuel continued to sing and dance with the platter held high, as his friends became more anxious to get hold of the treats. “Enough with your pranks,” they said.

“Just let us enjoy it already!” Finally, just as it seemed he was about to relent, Shmuel stopped his dance and tossed the entire platter. The gathered were beside themselves. It was one thing to play a little prank. Quite another to waste an expensive dish! Suddenly, the butcher came running into the home. “Oy vey! I inadvertently sent the wrong platter to this party. Don’t eat it. It’s Treif!” he exclaimed. “Wow! You are amazing”, all eyes turned to Reb Shmuel. “A prophet, eh?” “It was very simple,” explained Reb Shmuel. “When I saw how you salivated so lustily over the meat, I realized that nothing holy, nothing positive could be gained from it.”

It’s true, Shmuel was no miracle worker. He just understood a simple truth: Food has the ability to bring out the worst in us, and at the same time be a tool to better oneself and better the world.

In Jewish tradition, food is central, but only as a means to an end. Unleavened bread is used at the Passover Seder to bring families together and to experience freedom. Latkes and donuts on Chanukah remind us of the power of good

over evil. Kreplach on Sukkot and Purim symbolize G-d’s hidden plan for our world. The Challah on Shabbat commemorates the manna in the desert, teaching us that G-d is always dependable.

Yes, we enjoy good, traditional foods -- as anyone who spent a Shabbat or holiday meal with Shani’s cooking can attest -- but it is for a greater purpose, a greater goal. The food is not what makes every Jew feel entirely at home at a Shabbat table anywhere in the world. After all, the Moroccan matbucha is nothing like European gefilte fish.

And American potato kugel is nothing like Hungarian goulash. No matter what is on the Shabbat menu, it is the “soul” ingredient that unites and elevates us as a Mishpacha and a people on this special day.

Rosh Hashana is the day on which we mark the birthday of the world. Creation, indeed, began six days earlier. We

mark the sixth day, for it was then that Man was created.

Humans were created last so that the entire world would be ready for us -- not to use and abuse, but to utilize and improve. As in the case of food, all of Creation is fodder for our creativity and enjoyment. We will be on target as long as we partake of our gifts as a means to grow our interpersonal relationships and connection with G-d.

This Rosh Hashana, as we are surrounded by family and friends, let us savor the delicious tastes and aromas we are blessed to enjoy. Let us show our gratitude and appreciation to G-d for graciously providing us with food and all of our needs.

May we all utilize all the tools we are blessed with and have a happy, sweet and tasty New Year.

L’Shana tova tikatevu vteichateimu.

L’chaim!

(Extra)ordinary gifts

by RABBI ARYEH AZRIEL Congregation Temple Israel This summer I spoke with a dear friend in Jerusalem who has been battling a potentially life-threatening disease. When I asked him how he was doing, he told me that in his life at this time, moments of deep anxiety and foreboding alternate with moments of exquisite appreciation of things he has so often taken for granted: a hug and a kiss from his wife, the creative thoughts that pop into his mind when he sits at his desk to write an article, a Jerusalem sunset.

He has experienced all of these many times before, but now he cannot take them as his due. His heightened consciousness, his fervent gratitude for what he has is linked, “to the terror of losing them.” Now, as in every age, our complacency, our taking for granted the so-called ordinary gifts of our lives [unless we are in peril of losing them], is an enemy of ours.

An even greater obstacle to being fully present or spiritually connected is an excessive pre-occupation with the self.

We cannot be fully present in an encounter with a sunset, a person, or God, if we are too wrapped up in ourselves.

Remember the old joke of the artist who was talking about his work with a friend. After a long discussion of why he paints this way and what he is trying to do and what experiences he has had trying to sell his art, the artist finally turns to his friend and says, “Enough talking about me, let’s talk about you. Tell me, what do you think of my art?”

The joke came to mind when I read an entry in Alfred Kazin’s published journals. In this particular entry, Kazin, a writer and literary critic, explains why he, a so-called sophisticated, secular, New York intellectual, prays. He explains, “It is suffocating to be so bound up in one’s self. I pray to get beyond myself, to indicate to this believing unbeliever that there is a territory beyond the bundle tied up so angrily in the night. I pray to be relieved of so much self, I ask to be extended.”

We are more likely to experience meaningful moments in our lives when we burst the bonds of self-absorption and can be fully present to the others in our life.

However, even if we do all the right things, are fully present, transcend our ego-centeredness and don’t take the daily gifts of life for granted, tradition wisely teaches us that we cannot expect to live with this intensity all the time.

Partly it is a matter of human limitations. Even those who devote their entire lives to the service of others, like a Mother Theresa, have found time when such service is more the performance of duty than heart reaching out to heart. And yes, even my friend in Jerusalem will, as his time Continued on page 46

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46 | The Jewish Press | September 14, 2012

Messages Making it meaningful

by NANCY COREN, LAY LEADER Tifereth Israel At this time of the year, we often hear individuals wish one another a “happy new year.” Years ago, I would never have thought twice about those words, but now that I am more experienced, I often prefer to wish those I meet “a meaningful new year.”

Life has many blessings as well as many challenges.

Among the blessings are love, kindness, compassion, the ability to be productive, and a sense of wholeness. At times, however, we face difficulties and challenges. We become ill, suffer the loss of a loved one, or lose a job. As a result our spirits may suffer. We are left to make sense of our experiences, gain meaning from them, and integrate them into our understanding of the world.

What we often learn from such difficulties and challenges is that we are not alone in this world. Judaism has built in mechanisms to bring comfort to the mourner (menachem avelim), aiding us in our period of grief and bringing us to the realization that our connections with our loved ones do not die with the death of the body. It also has mechanisms for visiting the sick (bikkur cholim) and for providing tzedakah to those in need. These behaviors are an integral part of Judaism’s belief system that affirms that actions of justice and righteousness are a way of adding holiness to our lives. They also help give a renewed sense of meaning to our lives.

Ultimately, our response to suffering has been that we know what it feels like to suffer (after all, we were once slaves in Egypt) so we will not cause others to suffer. We will apply our wealth and our culture to serving G-d by acting in ways that will make the world a better place. We recognize that if we mistreat another human being we are in effect Continued on page 47

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Directing ourselves: No GPS necessary

by RABBI JOSH BROWN Congregation Temple Israel When my family left North Carolina to move to Omaha this summer, we spent a lot of time packing but very little time planning the trip. This was not a case of disorganization or absent-mindedness. We simply knew that our GPS would take us precisely from one door to the next without any need for us to plot our course. With the touch of a button, we were on our way. No need to think about whether we were heading East or West.

No need to choose one highway over another. No need to worry if there is a gas station between exits and no guessing what time we will arrive at our destination. The GPS provided us with every piece of information we needed along our journey. In doing so, we simply put gas in the car and drove wherever the arrow on the little screen told us to go. It was easy. It was relaxing. It was, in many ways, mindless.

It can be easy to enter our sanctuaries at this season with no sense of direction. Easy to turn the pages of our prayer books, listen to the music of our services and gaze at the Torah before us without thinking about where we are going or what we are supposed to be doing. But our ten days of reflection and prayer will not get us to our destination

unless we are also willing to do some work. During Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we will sit and stand many times in our sanctuaries. We will do the hard work of reciting the prayers. We will struggle with Isaac and sympathize with Jonah. But if we do not also take the time to set our own destination for the year ahead, we may find, after much hard work, that we have not moved anywhere.

Rabbi Morris Adler wrote that “prayer is a step on which we rise from the self we are to the self we wish to be.”

During Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, our tradition asks us to take many steps. It asks us to step up as a student, both of Torah and of our family. It asks us to step up and be more observant, both of our tradition and of our deeds.

Jewish tradition, any number of times throughout the High Holy Days, asks us to step up and admit those wrongs we have committed this year. But our God and our Torah can only take us so far. They alone will not lead us to our destination. We must have a voice in our journey if we are to move forward. We cannot simply sit back and expect the words of our tradition to do the work for us. We must rise from ourselves as well and decide who we wish to be in the year ahead.

God, as we enter our High Holy Days, let us find the time to prepare for a move. Let us find the energy to plot a course for a destination we have not reached in years past, but one we know is within our grasp. Let us find inspiration in our tradition, but also in ourselves, as we prepare for the great task of journeying forward into 5773; a year in which we will become the people we are preparing to be and a year in which our GPS is not needed.

Rabbi Azriel Continued from page 45 of remission is extended, find occasions when he does take those precious gifts of his life for granted.

Indeed, our tradition teaches there is danger in obsessively seeking to live always at a peak of intensity, seeking the perpetual high, demanding to be turned on all the time, and regarding anything less as intolerable boredom or emptiness.

What, then, does Judaism counsel us at this season of

reflection and renewal? To be grateful for the web of fixed obligations and duties which define our lives; to bring to our daily round and our ordinary experience as much of our full presence, as much conscious appreciation, as much extension of self to the other as we can muster so that we increase the possibility for those moments of grace. And those moments are real!!

May those moments be our gift at this year of 5773!

September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 47

Greetings

Messages

ROSH HASHANAH

A meaningful life

by RABBI MORDECHAI LEVIN Beth El Synagogue It is amazing, everything that can happen in just one year -- the good and the bad. On the upcoming High Holy Days, when we will look back on the year that ended and look forward to the year ahead, we will be particularly aware of the uncertainty of life. What will the future bring? What will we bring to the future?

One of the most prominent prayers in the Ashkenazic liturgy we will say on Rosh Hashanah and on Yom Kippur, the Unetaneh Tokef, gives poetic expression to some of our fears and hopes for the coming year. The text describes God as a shepherd examining each sheep, reviewing each human life and deciding each individual’s fortune for the next year. It lists several ways in which one might die and what may happen to each person, and concludes by suggesting that repentance, prayer, and righteousness may transform the harshness of our destiny.

The well-known prayer reads: “B’rosh ha-shanah yikkateivun, u-v’yom tzom kippur yeihateimun. On Rosh Hashanah it is written, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed! How many will pass on, and how many will be born; who will live and who will die; who will live a long life and who will come to an untimely end; ... who will be at peace and who will be troubled; who will be serene and who will be disturbed; who will be tranquil and who will be tormented; who will be impoverished and who will be enriched; who will be brought low, and who will be raised up.”

The text also reminds us: “Each person’s origin is dust, and each person will return to the earth having spent life seeking

To: Mimi, Michael, Adam, Jeremy and Annie sustenance. Scripture compares human beings to a broken shard, withering grass, a shriveled flower, a passing shadow, a fading cloud, a fleeting breeze, scattered dust, a vanishing dream.”

According to the following legend, this prayer was created

by Rabbi Amnon of Mainz, Germany (11th century): In the Middle Ages, Jews in Europe were frequently forced to convert to Christianity. Commanded by the Catholic bishop to convert to that religion, Rabbi Amnon asked for three days to respond. When he did not show up on the third day, he was brought before the bishop, and there, having declined to convert, he asked to have his tongue cut out for not immediately rejecting the bishop’s order. Instead, the bishop ordered Rabbi Amnon’s hands and legs to be mutilated. On Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi Amnon was carried to the synagogue and there he composed and said this prayer; shortly after that, he died.

What is the Unetaneh Tokef about? It poetically asserts the fleeting nature of our lives. We recite: “Who will live and who will die?” And we look around and notice the absence of those who are gone, some of them at the end of a long life, and some too soon.

We stand aware of our vulnerability and our mortality, and the degree to which many events in life are outside our control. This awareness can be upsetting, but it can also be energizing. It can become our aperture to living the fullest life feasible in the days given to us.

Even though we are not in control of everything, we still have the ability to influence our fortune. We may not have control over when and how we die, but we do have some choices about how we live. It is up to each person to make his or her days meaningful. On this Rosh Hashanah let us appreciate the blessing of life and renew our commitment to fill our days with meaning.

My best wishes for a year of life, health, fulfillment, justice and peace. Shanah Tovah!

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by RABBI YAAKOV WEISS Rose Blumkin Jewish Home I was recently in a class where we were asked, “What issues need to be considered when using food items in a classroom?” The answers we discussed included important considerations such as allergies, cost, taste, mess factor, distraction and most importantly, will the food help the students learn or just serve as a source of diversion from the lesson.

That discussion made me think of many practices found in Judaism relating to food. For example, the Passover Seder combines the act of eating food and the mitzvah to relive the Exodus. It is performed using the “textbook” of the Haggadah with the many food props of the seder (matzah, wine, marror, etc.). The sages even tell us that in order to engage the younger children, one should bring out treats like nuts and berries. Those food items are not intrinsic in the Passover Seder. Rather, they are just incorporated in order to engage and give the children an incentive to stay awake and participate. (I think nowadays we find ourselves with tasty items like chocolate covered matzah and marshmallows, but those maintain the desired purpose that nuts and berries once had for kids.)

Rosh Hashana is another one of those times where food comes and teaches us lessons. Last year my daughter, Naama, learned the song: “Dip the apple in the honey.

Make a blessing loud and clear. Shana Tova u-Metukah have a happy sweet new year.” She was excited to sing it every time we took out that traditional pairing of foods,

and it was no doubt very cute, but I began to wonder: Why is it that apples and honey became popular enough to have its own song, while there are so many other simanim symbolic foods - that are just as important? Perhaps it would be too long of a song for children to memorize if there was a verse for each food, or maybe singing about apples and honey became popular because it is certainly one of the tastiest of the simanim.

While apples and honey are a big hit in my house (thanks to both the song and the taste), I personally enjoy incorporating as many simanim as possible. I love finding creative ways to place them in the meal and the novel experience on Rosh Hashana of involving all of those simanim, but they also have an educational purpose. There’s fish representing our wish to be fruitful; a pomegranate to express our hope to have as many merits as its seeds; a sheep’s head (well, I use gummy bears) symbolizing our desire to jump into the year head-first rather than dragging our feet. They are all representative of things that we find important as we embark on a new year, and the simanim give us an opportunity to reflect on the values that we as a Jewish People have carried with us throughout history. While everyone has their own goals and missions which can be incorporated into our own families’ customs (one of my “punny” teachers from high school used to serve half-a-raisin and celery and say “Please this year may I have a raise in salary”), the simanim provided for us in our tradition allow us to reflect upon the ideals that we as a nation wish to see flourish in the year ahead.

Not every lesson needs to be learned through food.

However, as Jews, educators, parents and community members, our holidays and the customs associated with food give us an opportunity to use the joy of eating to reflect on our personal goals and our people’s values. And what better way to have these discussions than around a table with great tasting food!

Nancy Coren Continued from page 46 mistreating G-d in whose image each of us is created. We focus our actions on our relationships with each other, not just on our own individual desires.

Although I began by stating that an alternative greeting to “have a happy new year” might well be “have a meaningful new year,” in retrospect, the two greetings are really interconnected. By not taking life for granted, by recognizing that we can think beyond our own needs to the needs of

others, and by coming together as a people to strive to share G-d’s blessings with one another, we will ultimately not only find life meaningful, but we will find that it brings us a sense of happiness as well.

So my wish for everyone is that this should be both a meaningful and happy new year for all. May it be filled with trying to do what is good and right in G-d’s eyes and sharing our blessings with one another in order to alleviate hardships in this world.

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The beauty of the moment

by RABBI STEVEN ABRAHAM Beth El Synagogue As a child I remember going to the synagogue on the High Holidays with my parents and quickly departing their company once we arrived. The H i g h Holidays for children, and for that matter teens, can be seen as time to catch up with friends and family. Usually there are youth services, projects for kids, or, as was the custom at my synagogue, the teens would congregate outside and play on the jungle gym or playground equipment and talk about the good ‘ole days. The equipment, mind you, was too small to hold us, yet to sit and play allowed our minds and bodies a chance to relive the innocence that we longed to remember. At some point in our lives we were expected to leave the playground and join the main service. No longer are you the child with the freedom to sit on the floor singing songs and eating apples, nor are you the teenager who can go outside to play on the playground.

For many, this rite of passage is not one of great meaning and religious growth but of boredom and obligation... and yet it does not have to be. Yes, some make it a game in the hearing of the pages being called and counting down to the end; and yes the amount of times we stand up, then sit down only to be told to rise up again could be an Olympic sport. Yet the beauty of the moment, the beauty of the High Holidays is that we come together to pray, a task that daunts even the most seasoned synagogue attendee. How do we create meaning through our prayers on the most holy of days when there is such a palpable difference in how we played as a child to how we pray as an adult? Are we expected one day just to wake up and be able to pray like an adult?

Often people expect to have this great aweinspiring moment every time they pray. They feel as if they are doing something wrong if they don’t “feel” it. But just as an athlete needs training in order to succeed, we too need spiritual training of sorts. An analogy was once made that the act of praying is a lot like hitting a baseball. In baseball, an all-star gets a hit three out of every 10 at bats; mean-

ing that seven out of every 10 they failed to get on base. Not every time we pray do we feel a deep-rooted connection to God, our community or ourselves, yet the one time it does happen it will bring you back hungry for more. I wish everything in life worked like that, but we are blessed that our prayer experiences do work in such a manner.

There is a story about a young boy who attended services on Rosh Hashanah; he sat in the back of the synagogue reading the Mahzor from cover to cover. The rabbi of this synagogue would occasionally wander around the synagogue wishing his congregants a sweet new year, “L’Shanah Tovah Tikatevu,” and introducing himself to those he did not already know. When the rabbi reached the young man in the back of the sanctuary, he noticed that the boy was struggling with the tefillot, sounding out each letter of each word in order to daven the entire service. The rabbi introduced himself to the boy, wished him a happy new year and returned to the bima. After services, that rabbi noticed that while the sanctuary was emptying the boy was still praying. The rabbi walked up to the boy, whom he could now see was crying, and asked him what was wrong. The boy responded by conveying how badly he wanted to talk to God, how he longed to be able to daven the High Holiday liturgy with the congregation and ask God for this to be a sweet new year. The rabbi took the boy by the hand and pointed at a Hebrew letter in mahzor, the boy responded saying “bet.” The rabbi moved his finger a bit to the left and the boy said “reish”. The rabbi went on to explain to the boy that God can hear him praying and can take his letters together and turn them into prayers. We, like the boy, do not have to be perfect in our prayers; but we do have to try.

The thought of walking into a synagogue with the goal of praising God and asking for this to be a good year is a pretty tall order.

Perhaps the goal for ourselves this High Holiday season is to not see the holidays as the Super Bowl, but as our spiritual spring training. A time in which we come back to synagogue to start anew, a time where we concentrate on the basics and not on being perfect, a time when we give ourselves a break and realize that even when we cannot always find the words to express our feelings to God, that God can find the words to complete our prayers!

May we all enjoy a sweet and healthy New Year.

Shana Tova Umetukah.

The merits of our ancestors

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by RABBI CRAIG LEWIS Congregation B’nai Jeshurun One of the great traditions of Jewish eating is that no one makes their own food.

This does not mean that we are eating out.

What it means is that as we cook and prepare our large festive meals, none of us is cooking with our own recipes. With few exceptions, the name of every food item is preceded by a relative’s title. Whether it is Bubbe’s sweet kugel, or Aunt Linda’s brisket, or Uncle Ben’s raisin challah, or fill-in-the-blank’s top-secret chicken soup, every meal fills our plates with a culinary

family reunion. Every family has at least one. In my own family, we cannot encounter even a Jello mold without thinking of my Aunt Joanie. As you read this, I ask you to think about yours.

Remember the smell as you entered the house on yuntuv. Think about the anticipation as you looked forward to eating the annual treat. Remember the moment of enjoyment as at last you tasted it. Think of the satisfaction you felt, knowing at once your hunger, your culinary senses, and your yearning to connect with past generations, are all satisfied in one bite. It is a splendid moment which allows not just the celebration, but the fundamental meanings of the High Holidays to transcend beyond the pages of the machzor and to travel with us outside the synagogue walls. One of the most important themes that remains with us at our festival tables is zechut avot-- the merits of our ancestors.

During Days of Awe, we think about the Continued on page 49

September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 49

Messages The gift of time

by RABBI JONATHAN GROSS Beth Israel Synagogue In his new book, Change and Renewal: The Essence of the Jewish Holidays Festivals, and Days of Remembrance, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz points out that the Hebrew phrase shana hadasha - new year - is an oxymoron. The Hebrew word shana - year - has its root in the word that means to repeat something. When we were commanded to “teach our children well” in the first paragraph of the Shema, the word for teach is vishinantam - which implies repeating it over and over again.

On the other hand, the word Hadash means something new, something appearing for the first time, something emerging from a cycle of repetition.

In truth, each year is in many ways a repetition of the one that came before it. Every year we once again experience fall, winter, summer, and spring. Our birthdays and anniversaries will reliably fall out on the same days. The holidays will all come and go, and before we know it we approach this time of year again and start the cycle anew.

So if every year is a repetition of the last year, then how can a year be “new?”

Time is our most valuable commodity. When a commodity is fungible it means that each individual unit is capable of mutual substitution. If I lend someone a dollar I do not expect the borrower to pay me back the same dollar bill that I lent them. Any dollar bill is acceptable.

Land, by contrast, is not fungible. A piece of land in Midtown Manhattan is very different than a piece of land in Nebraska, which is different from a piece of land in Los Angeles, which is different than a piece of land in Jerusalem.

Land is valued based on many factors.

Although every unit of time taken independently is in theory the same, like land, time is not fungible. Time in our youth is different than time in our old age. Time spent with friends and family is different than time spent alone. There is time that we treasure our entire lives, and there is time that we wish that we had invested differently.

Every unit of time that we are given is a gift, and it is in our own best interest to use our time efficiently and responsibly in order to yield its maximum potential.

One of my favorite quotations is from Rudyard Kipling who wrote, “fill every unforgiving minute with sixty seconds of distance run.”

Continued on page 50.

Rabbi Lewis Continued from page 48 deeds of our ancestors and the great things they did and the sacrifices they made in order to establish a covenant with God and to pass the Jewish tradition to us today.

During the season of atonement, we are meant to be humbled and to know that we ourselves may not truly merit forgiveness. We are nevertheless obligated to do our best; but just in case, we are also meant to recall all those who came before us. And if not for our own merits, but for the merits of our ancestors, might we be inscribed for blessing in the Book of Life. This is why we read the problematic passage of the Akedah, the binding of Isaac. It is to remind us, and to remind God, that our ancestors were willing to put everything on the line. Thankful that they did not always have to, and more thankful that we do not have to make the same choices, we ask for forgiveness because we

are good, but our ancestors were even better. It is an idea which fills us with the requisite humility to accomplish what we need to during the High Holidays. And as comes so natural to Jewish life, we learn the lesson through using multiple senses.

When we sit around the table to enjoy Nonna’s honey cake, or Zade’s kasha varnishkas, or Mom’s infamous famous matzo balls, we have the opportunity to remember those who came before us. We can acknowledge that their recipe is better than anything we might create ourselves. In other words, we confess our chicken soup is good, but we come from better stock. So as we gather with family and friends to enjoy our Rosh Hashanah meals, let us savor the deeds of the past as we look forward to where they might take us in the future.

Wishing you all a Shanah Tovah.

L’Shanah Tovah

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Apples and Honey

Setting the tone for the New Year

by RABBI YITZCHAK MIZRAHI Beth Israel Synagogue Rosh Hashanah is full of symbolism. The Rosh Hashanah custom most popular and widely circulated is that of eating apples dipped in honey, symbolizing the commencement of a sweet new year. Other symbolic foods that people eat vary by family tradition, and include dates, pomegranates, leeks, spinach, fish, a sheep’s head, black-eyed-peas and carrots (tzimmes) to name a few. Not all of these foods are sweet, and indeed, sweetness is not the only thing we bring to the table on Rosh Hashanah. Each food symbolizes something different.

For example, we pray that we be full with Mitzvoth as the pomegranate is full with seeds. Other foods have names that resemble words with different meanings – such as dates and beets – sounding similar to words that mean “to finish off ” and “to remove.” These foods are eaten with an accompanying prayer asking that we prevail over our enemies.

The Rosh Hashanah meals are joyous, incorporating these foods with light-hearted humor. A recent addition to this smorgasbord of hors-d’oeuvres is a practice attributed to the giant of last generation, Rabbi Shlomo Heineman. He advised that a leaf of lettuce be taken along with half a raisin and a piece of celery and eaten together, while reciting a prayer “let us (lettuce) have a raise in (half a raisin) salary (celery).” While this sounds like a joke, Rabbi Heineman advised this in all seriousness as another symbolism with which to usher in the New Year.

Indeed, symbolism has a prominent place in Jewish tradition, and especially on Rosh Hashanah. The practice of blowing the shofar is also a practice of symbolism, although it is a requirement of the day and not merely a custom. A principle theme of Rosh Hashanah is that we coronate God as our King. A king’s coronation is accompanied by music and trumpets – or the shofar.

Being that Rosh Hashanah is the very beginning of the year, the tone set on Rosh Hashanah will be influential in shaping the course of the entire year. It is so important to start off on an optimistic note, as our moods and attitudes are definitive in determining how our lives progress. It is basic psychology that belief in success is a self-fulfilling prophecy and that works both ways. May the Lord help us and grant us a truly sweet and successful year to come.

Rabbi Gross Continued from page 49 Every year is in fact the same. It is just a parcel of time. It is 365 days. It is 8760 hours, or 525,600 minutes. Our challenge is to decide how we will use those days, hours and minutes. Our decisions will define our year and determine

how this year will be different from all other years.

Rosh Hashanah is a reminder and a wake up for each of us to embrace the precious gift of time, and to fill this year with days, hours, and moments that will make this year one that we will always treasure.

5772: In review Right: Captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit is returned to Israel by Hamas in a prisoner swap, October 2011.

Far right: Tents are removed from Rothschild Boulevard in central Tel Aviv after the municipality said that ‘enough is enough’, October 2011.

Credit Edgar Asher

Wishing the Jewish Community a Happy and Healthy New Year!

by SYBIL KAPLAN One of the most well-known customs of Rosh Hashanah is the dipping of apple pieces in honey but what is its origin?

In the time of King David, we know he had a “cake made in a pan and a sweet cake” (II Samuel 6: 15, 19) given to everyone. Hosea 3: 1 identifies the “sweet cake” as a raisin cake.

Honey may have also been used in the cake, but the honey of ancient Eretz Yisrael was made from dates or grapes or figs or raisins because there were no domestic bees in the land. At that time only the Syrian bees were there, and to extract honey from their combs it had to be smoked. Still, honey was of importance in the Biblical times as there was no sugar at that time.

During the Roman period, Italian bees were introduced to the Middle East and bee honey was more common.

The Torah also describes Israel as eretz zvat chalav u’dvash, the land flowing with milk and honey, although the honey was more than likely date honey, a custom retained by many Sephardic Jews to this day.

Today, Israel has roughly 500 beekeepers who have some 90,000 beehives which produce more than 3,500 tons of honey annually. Kibbutz Yad Mordechai is the largest producer of honey -- 10,000 bottles a day.

Among Ashkenazic Jews, challah is dipped in honey instead of having salt sprinkled on it for the blessing; then the blessing is given over the apple, “May it be Your will to renew for us a good and sweet year,” which is dipped in honey.

Dipping the apple in honey on Rosh Hashanah is said to symbolize the desire for a sweet new year. Why an apple? In B’reishit, the book of Genesis, Israel compares Continued on page 51

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September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 51

A Rosh Hashanah Symbol

by SYBIL KAPLAN Pomegranates are referred to in the Bible in many various ways. In the sensual poetry of Song of Songs, we read: “I went down into the garden of nuts... to see whether the vine budded, and the pomegranates were in flower” (Song of Songs 6:11). In another passage, the poet writes: “I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate” (Song of Songs 8:2). Song of Songs has four additional references to pomegranates, and they are also mentioned in the books of Joel, Haggai and I Kings.

COUSCOUS, PEANUT AND POMEGRANATE SALAD 1 cup medium-grain instant couscous 1 chicken bouillon cube dissolved in 1 cup boiling water ¼ cup currants 2 cups fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, coarsely chopped 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped ½ cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced ½ jalapeno chile, seeded and diced 1/3 cup toasted peanuts or almonds, coarsely chopped ½ cup pomegranate seeds ½ teaspoon salt ½ cup olive oil Juice of ½ lemon 1. Put the couscous in a shallow bowl and add the hot bouillon.

2. Let stand for 5 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed, then fluff up the couscous with a fork.

3. Cover the currants with warm water and let soak.

4. In a serving bowl, combine couscous, parsley, cilantro, cucumber, chile, nuts, pomegranate seeds and salt. Drain currants and add. Mix well.

5. Whisk together olive oil and lemon juice in a small bowl before serving. Pour over the salad and serve at room temperature.

Serves 4.

For many Jews, pomegranates are traditional for Rosh Hashanah. Some believe the dull and leathery-skinned, crimson fruit may have really been the tapuach, apple, of the Garden of Eden. Originating in Persia, according to Matthew Goodman (The Food Maven in The Forward), the pomegranate is one of the

world’s oldest cultivated fruits, having been domesticated around 4000 B.C.E. The Egyptians imported pomegranates from the Holy Land in 1150 B.C.E., and natural pomegranate juice or juice made into spiced wine was a favorite of Hebrews living in Egypt.

Pomegranate wood could also be carved into skewers on which to roast the lamb for Passover.

The word pomegranate means “grained apple.” In Hebrew, it is called rimon (also the word for a hand grenade!). In fact, the English words, hand grenade, are said to come from this and from the town of Granada in Spain. The stone, garnet, comes from the name and color of the pomegranate. The juice can also be made into the concentrated syrup, grenadine.

The Hebrews yearned for the pomegranates they left behind in Egypt while wandering in the desert -- ”And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates” (Numbers 20:5). Then when the spies reported their findings in Canaan back to Moses, it is written: “And they came unto the valley Eshkol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it upon a pole between two; they took also of the pomegranates, and of the figs” (Numbers 13:23).

“For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land... a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates” (Deuteronomy 8:7-8). Thus pomegranate was one of the seven species of Eretz Yisrael.

We know pomegranate images were woven into the hems of the robes of the priests -- “And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round about” (Exodus 28:33).

Pomegranates were also used on the faces of the shekel in the second century B.C.E. King Solomon had an orchard of pomegranates, and pomegranates of brass were part of the pillars of his great Temple in Jerusalem.

Throughout the bible, as seen from the quotations above, the pomegranates are referred to and became symbolic of fertility.

The tradition of kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) recounted that there were 613 seeds in each pomegranate, equaling the number of mitzvot commanded by God. (Count them and see!)

On the second night of Rosh Hashanah, when it is customary to eat a “new” fruit that has not been eaten during the year, many Sephardic Jews choose pomegranates. They recite the prayer, “ken yehi ratzon -- may it be thy will, O Creator, that our year be rich and replete with blessings as the pomegranate rich and replete with seeds.”

Continued on page 52

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Apples and Honey Continued from page 50 the fragrance of his son, Jacob, to sadeh shel tappuchim, a field of apple trees.

Scholars tell us that mystical powers were ascribed to the apple, and people believed it provided good health and personal well being.

Some attribute the using of an apple to the translation of the story of Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit which caused the expulsion from paradise. A few years ago, an article revealed that the average Israeli eats 125 apples and 750 grams of honey a year, mostly around the High Holy Days. Israel is very self sufficient with regard to apples with around 9,900 acres cultivated yearly, grown in the North, the Galilee hills and the Golan Heights. The most popular types of apples grown are Golden Delicious, Starking, Granny Smith, Jonathan, Gala and Pink Lady.

The word honey or dvash in Hebrew has the same numerical value as the words Av Harachamim, Father of Mercy. We hope that G-d will be merciful on Rosh Hashanah as He judges us for our year’s deeds.

Moroccans dip apples in honey and serve cooked quince, which is an apple-like fruit, symbolizing a sweet future. Other Moroccans dip dates in sesame and anise seeds and powdered sugar in addition to dipping apples in honey.

Among some Jews from Egypt, a sweet jelly made of gourds or coconut is used to ensure a sweet year and apples are dipped in sugar water instead of in honey.

Honey is also used by Jews around the world not only for dipping apples but in desserts. Some maintain in the phrase “go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet,” sweet refers to apples and honey.

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May your home be blessed with Health, Love, and Joy this season and throughout the whole year.

The Rosh Hashana Seder and peace for all humankind.”

The next food is the pomegranate, eaten, like sesame, because of its numerous seeds, which we want to symbolically replicate with good deeds in the year to come. Our third “fruit of the tree” is the traditional apple dipped in honey.

Now come three “fruits of the earth.” Like “tamar,” the Hebrew name of each of these vegetables is similar to a verb having to do with destruction. Kra (pumpkin or gourd): to rip up (which we wish for any evil decree concerning our lives in the coming year); kartey (leek): to cut off (which we wish to happen to our enemies); and silka (beets): to banish (for all who wish us evil). Again, the English here is more upbeat and playful: 1. For kra: May the coming year grow as a gourd in fullness of blessing. In the year to come, if enemies gird at us, mayest thou guard us as we eat of this gourd.

2. For kartey: Like as we eat this leek, may our luck never lack in the year to come.

[Traditionally, I make leek soup using a recipe from The Settlement Cookbook, and we skip over leeks until we are ready to begin our meal.]

3. For silka: As we bite this beet, may those who in the past have beaten us or sought our harm beat to cover in the coming year.

We now arrive at the last part of the Seder: “Sheep or Fish Head” (so that we are at the head of things and not at the tail). Ever since the start of our Seder, I have occasionally bleated a pitiful “Baaaa” followed immediately by a stage-whispered “Quiet,” and now, hopefully, my first-time Seder guests will be feeling pretty apprehensive. But then I announce, with some sadness in my voice, that I was unable to locate a willing enough sheep this year and we will have to settle for a fish head. For kids, this can turn into a satisfyingly gross enough affair, especially if one of them tackles the fish’s eyeball.

There you have it: the Rosh Hashana Seder. This year, why not go beyond the apples and honey and partake of some of the evening’s other symbolic foods?

Shana Tova.

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Like many Jews, I grew up with the Rosh Hashana custom of dipping apples in honey for a sweet New Year. Shortly after I was married and moved to Atlanta, a Sephardic rabbi named Eliyahu Shloush introduced us to the entire Seder, of which dipping apples in honey is but one element.

It turns out that there are quite a number of symbolic foods for Rosh Hashana. They are chosen either because they symbolize our wishes for many good deeds (mitzvot) in the year ahead, or because we can express our hopes in word-plays using the Hebrew name of the food. I once had a mahzor that contained the Rosh Hashana Seder (I believe that it was published by the Union of Sephardic Congregations and edited by Rabbi David De Sola Pool). The mahzor has disappeared but because its Seder uses English word-plays rather than a literal translation of the Hebrew, we have been xeroxing the same 3 pages for the last 25 years. We enjoy introducing guests to the Rosh Hashana Seder. And everyone appreciates the fact that this Seder contains no narrative and is mainly about eating.

Like all festive meals, the Rosh Hashana Seder begins with kiddush over wine followed by hamotzi over bread. During the Fall holiday period I make round hallot (symbolic of the turning year) with raisins, coated with egg and sesame seeds. We eat the first of these hallot on Rosh Hashana eve and the last almost 4 weeks later on Shabbat Breisheet, when the first few chapters of Genesis are read.

In our Rosh Hashana Seder, the first special food to be eaten is the date, which in Hebrew is tamar, a word reminiscent of a Hebrew verb that means “to cease to exist” -- which we want to happen to our enemies.

The English playfully reads: “As we eat this date, may we date the New Year that is beginning as one of happiness and blessing

Pomegranates

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Continued from page 51 In modern days, a study at the Technion Institute of Technology in Haifa last year showed the power of the fruit. The cholesterol oxidation process, which creates lesions that narrow arteries and result in heart disease, was slowed by as much as forty percent when health subjects drank two to three ounces of pomegranate juice a day for two weeks. The juice reduced the retention of LDL, the “bad” cholesterol that aggregates and forms lesions. When subjects stopped drinking the juice, the beneficial effects lasted about a month.

Other studies showed that pomegranates fight inflammation and cancer and slow cellular aging. Pomegranates are a good

source of potassium, low in calories and low in sodium.

When choosing a pomegranate, look for one that is large, brightly colored and has a shiny skin. Store a pomegranate in a plastic bag in the refrigerator and it can keep up to ten weeks. To open a pomegranate, score the outside skin into four pieces, then break the fruit apart with your hands following the divisions of the membranes that separate the sections. Pull off membranes then scrape the seeds into your mouth or lift them out with a spoon.

In 2004, Ann Kleinberg, who was living in Israel at the time, and was a food columnist, wrote the cookbook, Pomegranates, with 64 kosher and non-kosher recipes.

JEWELED RICE WITH PISTACHIOS, APRICOTS AND POMEGRANATES 2 cups basmati or long-grain rice, rinsed several times and cooked* 1/4 cup dried cranberries ½ cup chopped dried apricots ½ cup toasted pistachio pieces ½ cup toasted almond slivers ¼ cup pomegranate seeds 1. Cover the dried cranberries with warm water and soak for 10 minutes or until they plump up. Drain the cranberries.

2. Combine the cranberries, apricots, pistachios, and almonds in a large bowl.

Add the warm rice and mix well. Spoon

the mixture onto a serving platter, mounding it in the center like a pyramid.

Sprinkle the pomegranate seeds on top and serve. *Combine 2 cups rice, 5 cups chicken stock, and 2 Tablespoons olive oil in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Decrease the heat to low, cover and cook. After 20 minutes, uncover and check the rice. If the water is not absorbed, re-cover and cook until rice is ready. If no water remains and the rice is hard, add 1/3 cup boiling water. When rice is tender, remove from the heat.

Serves 8-10.

September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 53

Life cycles Births Audrey Marian daughter of Jennifer and Jon Benowitz Jerome “Jerry” Loren son of Susie Bos and Jacob Bleicher Solomon Herbert son of Tippi and Steve Denenberg Stockton David son of Tamara and Jared Draeger Gabriella Rae daughter of Laura and James Epstein Molly Danielle daughter of Laurie and Jason Epstein Ezra Joseph son of Jessica and Jamie Feinstein Jordan Friend son of Robyn and Scott Friend Benjamin Charles son of Rachel and Edward A. Hinkle Jordan Maxwell son of Susie and Matt Goldberg Emily Marie daughter of Meghan and Eric Goodman Colt David son of Lois and Blake Goodner Zoey Shayna daughter of Miriam and Rabbi Jonathan Gross Isaiah Jacob Peterson Gutman son of Sarah Peterson Gutman and David Gutman Maya Ruth daughter of Amy and Andy Issacson

Yehudah Mendel son of Shanny and Rabbi Yosef Katzman Anna Pitman Kogan daughter of Lina Kogan and Roman Pitman Mia Brynn daughter of Megan and Michael Kricsfeld Alana Rachel daughter of Elizabeth and David Kulakofsky Harper Jillian daughter of Andrea and Brian Lewis Nechemya son of Michelle and David London Hadassah daughter of Tziporah and Max Marcovitz Jacob David son of Beth and James Meyers Moshe son of Talia and Rabbi Yitzchak Mizrahi Anna Katelyn and Jacob Benjamin twins of Laura and Joshua Needelman Elizabeth “Lizzy” Anne daughter of Kelly and Jeff Nogg Ahuva Belle daughter of Jean and Phillip Paley Jaydin Rae daughter of Mari Malcom and Eric Parker Josephine Arianna daughter of Inessa and Vadim Pesetsky Cecilia daughter of Katy and Joe Platt

Evan Harry son of Marti and George Poulos Samantha Marie daughter of Emily and Nick Ray Margot Leah daughter of Elisa Strauss Ricks and Marc Ricks Yehoshua Lev son of Jessica and Adam Rich Chloe Isabel daughter of Teresa Kramer-Ruback and Andrew Ruback Nathan Allen son of Marcy and Kevin Saylan Vivienne June daughter of Megan Stetson and Tom Segal Ella Miriam daughter of Sarah and Yosef Seigel Issac Aaron son of Ali Sherman Akiva Shyken son of Rachel and Joey Shyken Cooper Benjamin son of Paige and Jeff Shyken Natalie Rose (Rivka) daughter of Stephanie and Mike Sigmond Caden David son of Jessica and Cliff Smolinsky Savannah Pearl daughter of Jill and Todd Strite

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Life cycles

B’nai Mitzvahs BETH EL SYNAGOGUE

Marriages Laynie Ginsburg and Leor Barazani Crystal Modde and Aryeh Epstein Sara Cowan and Brian Fahey Allison Lepp and Adam Freeman Breanne McHargue and Patrick Gilchrist Leah Raful and Seth Goldberg Sara Jacobson and Bart Haney Judy Rubin and Moshe Haven Dr. Jesica Christensen and Gregory Herrick Stephanie Miller and Jason Kohll Stephanie Patricia Rose Millward and Brian Kent Kronberg Sarah Alison Frank and Steve Lindley

Michelle Taylon and Bryan Lowery Gal Tsabari and Josh Moss Rachel Jacobson and Steven Osberg Laynie Sterling and Lance Pittman Linda Siref-Simons and Steve Redler Sandy Palmer and Julie Rochman Kathryn Dougherty and Sam Rosinsky Brittany Dawn Epstein and Michael Brandon Schackman Allyson Freeman and Geoffrey Silverstein Margaret Gurewitz and Zachary Smith Ariel Jane Shukert and Jeffrey Adam Wienir

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

In memorium Morris Aizenberg, Ruth A. Babendure, Donna Marie Barna, Lauren L. Becker, Jack Belmont, Stanley Bernard, M.D., Louis Bernstein, Alan Seth Blank, Florence Gilinsky Blumenthal, Gary Brewer, Lawrence Robert Brodkey, Sandra Sue “Issenberg” Bromley, Thomas Burke, Nissim Cassab, Mauritz Ceder, Lottie “Nana” Colick, Betty (Bordy) Cutler, Joie Devivre, George Eisenberg, Jack F. Epstein, Jack George Epstein, Patty Joyce Ferenstein, Eddie Field, Juanita R. Fineman, Orville David Fried, Phyllis Sinton Fried, Phyllis Joy Kern Friedel, Milton Freifeld, Lloyd David (Buck) Friedman, Catherine “Katie” Gabrielson, Marilyn Ginsberg, Petr Ginzburg, Dr. Paul Gittlin, Cecily (Gross) Golbitz, Julius Goldberg, Leonard Goldstein, Gloria Goodman, Ruth Garber Goodman, Ronald Gordon, Sarah “Sally” Gordon, Shirley Grant, Jack M. Green, Stanley Gross, Renee Hack, Rabbi Wolfgang Hamburger, Norman Harris, Gloria Hersh, Ida Herzoff, Manuel Himelstein, David Hoffman, Richard “Dick” Jensen, Stan C. Kaiman, Lucille Katelman, David Katz, Richard A. Katzman, Rita Kavares, Bernice Kirshon, Ruth Kraft, Deborah Susan (Baker) Krasne, Lloyd Krasne, Florence Goldstein Kricsfeld, Shirley

Jacob Spivack son of Marcie and Brent Spivack Aliyah Jabenis daughter of Dacia Jabenis and Jon Jabenis Jason Gallagher son of Elizabeth and Jack Gallagher Josephine Slovut daughter of Beth and Mitchell Slovut Eliana Schuller daughter of Yaffa and Dr. Dan Schuller Emma Hochfelder daughter of Joanna Hochfelder

Kulakofsky, Abbey Kuller, Thomas Ross Kully, Joan Larson, Martha Leber, Henry Lerner, Silvia Lieberman, Norman E. Lincoln, Eugene Linde, Sam Lipkin, Charlotte Luefschuetz, Ben Magzamin, Shirley Malkin, Jean Dutky Marshall, Roz Mauer, Sara Cooper Meirovitz, Jarrold Merker, Sarah “Chick” Meyer, Rosalie Miller, David Nathan, Paul Nathan, Edward Joseph Peartree, Margaret Florence Perry, Joyce Person Pocras, Jodi Polikov, Aaron Rabinovitz, Bennett L. Raduziner, Ruth Eileen Ellis Rawson, David (Moshe Yosef) Reichenberg, Harvey Roffman, Shirley Rosenberg, Richard R. Rosinsky, Edith Ross, Nene Ross, David L. Ruback, Patti Sacks, Charles Schneider, Maria Domiguez Secola, Don Shafer, Boris Shapiro, Gerry Shapiro, Rabbi Gilbert Lewis Shoham, Edward Shrago, Sallie Kay Markovitz Siegel, Howard Silber, Esther Simon, Charles “Chuck” Slutzky, Albert Sorkin, Richard I. Stern, Alan Sterling, Harlan “Bud” Studna, Beverly June Tederman, Lorraine Teller, Flora L. Telpner, Jerald L. Venger, Arthur Walker, Marjorie M. Weiss, Ira Wiesner, William H. “Bill” Wolfson, Doreen Wolpa, Leonard Wolpa, Rosalyn G. Zeffren and Rozalya Zinkov.

Josh Polack son of Susan and James Polack David Atri son of Adina Schuller and Eduardo Atri Joshua Kurtzman son of Jordana Kurtzman

CONGREGATION B’NAI JESHURUN/SOUTH STREET TEMPLE Melissa Bornstein daughter of Christie Emler and Brian Bornstein Karsyn Shkolnick daughter of Tami Shkolnick and Marc Shkolnick Josh Gordon son of Tracy and Randy Gordon

TEMPLE ISRAEL Spencer David son of Brenda and Bart Arnold Alexander Mark and Zachary Edward sons of Robyn Belgrade and James Belgrade Nate Robert son of Tami Field and Larry Gendler Max Franklin son of Cindy and Bruce Goldberg Geordi Gonzales daughter of Dana and Edward Gonzales

Hannah Lindsey daughter of Jennifer and Scott Goodman Emily Hannah daughter of Michelle and Stuart Kazor Mikayla Anne daughter of Sharon Comisar-Langdon and Randy Langdon William Spencer son of Kathy and John McGauvran Jacob Aaron son of Jennifer and Scott Meyerson Aaron Paul son of Kim and Jay Noddle Lindsay Rebecca daughter of Ann and Don Osborne Josie Kathryn daughter of Ellen and Jeff Platt Isabella Rose daughter of Gretchen and David Radler Asher Samuel Carmel son of Julie and Thor Rosenquist Sonia Lee daughter of Anne York and Jeff Schrager Luke Robert son of Anne York and Jeff Schrager Phillip Benjamin son of Laura and Richard Schrager Ian Montgomery and Isaiah Miles sons of Jeff Schrier Cecelia Judith daughter of Wendy and John Vann Jacob Michael son of Tereza Wigodsky and Andrew Wigodsky

TIFERETH ISRAEL Tziporah, Illyana and Dahlia Hamicksburg daughters of Nanci and James Hamicksburg Jonah Payne son of Dr. Jodie Stein and Dr. Jeffrey Payne Jack Halperin son of Katie and Lou Halperin Bennett Widman son of Julie and Dr. Larry Widman

September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 55

Boards Jewish Federation of Omaha JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA

JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER

Jody Malashock, JFO Board President; Mike Siegel, JCC Board President; Howard Epstein, JSS Board President; Bonnie Bloch, CJL Board President; Andy Ruback, Jewish Press Board President; Patrick Jensen, CRC Board President; Jay Noddle, Foundation Board President; Stacey Rockman, Budget & Financial Review Chair; Toba Cohen-Dunning; Brett Atlas; Bruce Friedlander; Bob Lepp, Past President (ex-officio) nonvoting; Michael Silverman, Chief Executive Officer; Jordana Glazer, Chief Financial Officer; Julee Katzman, Associate Director; Aaron Rosenfeld, Executive Director JCC; Alan Potash, Executive Director ADL/CRC; Annette van de KampWright, Editor The Jewish Press; Beth Cohen, Executive Director CJL; Karen Gustafson, Executive Director JFS; Marty Ricks, Executive Director Foundation; Michael Schop, Assistant Administrator Rose Blumkin Jewish Home.

Michael Siegel, President; Jason Epstein, Vice President; Steve Levinger, Vice President; Mark Martin, Treasurer (B and G and Budget); John Glazer, Past President; Stacey Atlas, Eyce Azriel, Dan Epstein, Jay Gordman, Rabbi Jonathan Gross, Mark Kelln, Scott Meyerson, Jamie Meyerson, Shayna Ray, Tom Rice, Ari Riekes, Scott Simon and Dana Wear.

ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE/ COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL Executive Board: Patrick Jensen, President; Richard Evnen, Past-President; David Gilinsky, Carol Bloch, Laura Crosby, Jeff Gordman, Michael Levine, Aaron Weiner; Board Members: Michael Alley, Ellie Batt, Bob Bleicher, Shirley Cemaj, Mel Clancy, Katherine Finnegan, Ted Friedland, Herb Friedman, Bruce Goldberg, Danielle Gordman, Rich Juro, Jeff Kirshenbaum, John Levy, Dan Marburg, Gary Nachman, Bob Nefsky, Brian Nogg, Alan Parsow, David Phillips, Jonathan Rockman, Susan Rothholz, Jan Schneiderman, Tom Vann, Donna Walsh, Nancy Wolf; Advisory Committee: Bucky Greenberg and Sylvia Wagner.

THE CENTER FOR JEWISH LIFE Bonnie Bloch, President; Matt Ray, Treasurer; Julie Phillips, Secretary; Stacie Brodkey, Karla Cohen, Becca RuetschFinkelstein, Dusty Friedman, Ron Giller, Debbie Roitstein, Matt Shapiro, Rachel Shyken and Dorothy Spizman.

JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA FOUNDATION Board of Directors: Jay Noddle, President; Steven Bloch, Paul Epstein, Michael M. Erman, Ted Friedland, Donald Goldstein, Joseph Kirshenbaum, Allan Murow, Murray H. Newman, Carl Riekes, Andrew Robinson, Larry E. Roffman, Harley D. Schrager, Ted M. Seldin, Frederick J. Simon, Suzanne Richards Singer and Norman Veitzer; Ex-Officio: Jody Malashock and Stacey Rockman.

Ari Riekes, President; Gary Javitch, Past President; Michael Abramson, Alvin Abramson, Steve Riekes, Howard Shandell, and Marty Ricks.

FRIEDEL JEWISH ACADEMY Harry Berman, Executive Chair; Bonnie Bloch, Secretary; Jerry Gordman, Interim Treasurer; Debbie Denenberg, Executive Public Relations; Yaffa Podbilewicz-Schuller, Executive Recruitment; Sharon Comisar Langdon; Donald Gerber, Friends of Friedel Vice-Chair; Lloyd Roitstein, Past Chair; Board Members: Mike Abramson, Joel Alperson, Saundra Clarke, By-Laws Committe and Technology Committee; Karen Cohen, Wellness Chair; Pam Cohn, Principal; Tippi Denenberg, Cookie Katskee, Cirriculum Committee; Alan Kohll, Debbie Kricsfeld, PTO; Bruce Potash, Judy Rosenfeld, Becca Ruetsch Finkelstein, Helene Shrago, Gary Shyken, Susie Shyken, Sunshine Chair; Julie Stein, PTO; Harry Weiner, By-laws Revision Committee; Susan Witkowski; and Jeremy Wright. Rabbi Aryeh Azriel, Rabbi Jonathan Gross, Rabbi Mordechai Levin, Ex-officia, Clergy.

LOVE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Jim Wax, President; Ricki Skog, Membership Vice President; Beth Friedman and Denise Ipock, Co-Recording Secretaries; Esther Wax, Treasurer; Michael Shrago, Historian; Judy Brookstein, Past President/Advisor; Directors: Harry Alloy, Audrey Epstein, Dora Goldstrom, Howard Kaplan, Mark Kazor, Renee Kazor, Mark Lippett, Wendy Manvitz, Jim Polack, Tootie Simon, Shelly Stern, Sheila Tomps; Marjorie Lincoln and Gloria Friedman, Honorary members; Lois Wine, Staff Liaison.

MAINSTREETERS Dick Rochman, Executive Chair; Harry Alloy and Susan Rothholz, Advisors; Linda Abrams-Tederman and Shelley

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JEWISH PRESS Andrew Ruback, President; Sandy Friedman, Treasurer; Eric Dunning, Secretary; Bobbi Leibowitz, Immediate PastChairman; Committee Members: Phyllis Brown, Daniel Christensen, Mel Epstein, Scott Farkas, Noah Priluck, Paul Rabinovitz, Caryn Scheer, Mark Senal and Nancy Wolf.

JEWISH SOCIAL SERVICES Howard Epstein, President; Paul Epstein, Treasurer; Cliff Levitan, Secretary; James A. Farber, Past President ExOfficio; Larry Roffman, Honorary Director For Life ExOfficio; Jim Wax, L.O.V.E. President Ex-Officio; Joanie Bernstein, Carol Bloch, Justin Cooper, Ted Friedland; Alex Grossman; Richard Jacobson; Debbi Josephson; Jeff Kirshenbaum; Susan Lehr; Lisa Lewis; Janie Murow; Nancy Noddle; Steve Nogg; Dorothy Spizman; and Sally Zipursky.

Jewish Organizations B’NAI B’RITH HENRY MONKSY LODGE

Happy New Year!

Stern, Luncheon Co-Chairs; Tootie Simon, Menu Chair; Dottie Rosenblum, Recording Secretary; Jim Wax, Communications; Rose Pitlor, Social Programming CoChair; Rocky Stern, Education.

The Belgrade Family Help us celebrate

Norfolk’s Inaugural Oktoberfest Norfolk’s beginning lies in Germany. German families settled Norfolk in the 1860s, finding new life and freedom in America.

Today we welcome all Nebraskans to join us in celebrating our German immigrant heritage and the many fruits of the fall harvest.

Join us for German Music, Food, and Fun for the Entire Family Friday, September 21 5:30 pm – Traditional Tapping of the Keg Ceremony 8 pm – Street Dance and Saturday, September 22 2 pm – Traditional Tapping of the Keg Ceremony 3 pm – Inflatable Midway for Kids 8 pm – Street Dance All Oktoberfest Events at 7th and Norfolk Avenue (Downtown Norfolk)

For more information, visit www.norfolkoktoberfest.com or call 402-371-4862

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN OMAHA SECTION Jan Fischer, President; Sonia Tipp and Holly Weill, VicePresidents of Community Service; Rachel Dysico and Melinda Graham, Vice-Presidents of Fundraising; Cari Green and Patty Nogg, Vice-Presidents of Membership; Cathy Christensen and Lisa Lewis, Vice-Presidents of Public Affairs/ Education; Sharon Houchin and Alice Klein, VicePresidents of Communication; Eileen Remer, Treasurer; Lise Sasson, Recording Secretary; Lori Kooper-Schwarz, Corresponding Secretary; Kelly Kirk, Financial Secretary; Julie Martin and Dottie Rosenblum, Parliamentarians; Michelle Epstein, Angela Friedman, and Vicki Perlmeter, Directors; Beth Friedman and Wendy Raffel, Past Presidents; Jan Schneiderman, Honorary National President; Lois Friedman, Honorary Vice President; Iris Ricks, Finance Chair; Nikki Kirshenbaum and Tina Meyers, Nominating Committee Chairs; Kate Kirshenbaum, Awards; Debbie Friedman, Planning and Evaluation Chair.

NJHS BOARD OF DIRECTORS Sue F. Millward, President; Beth Staenberg, Vice President; Rocky Stern, Secretary; Dan Dandy, Treasurer; Debbi Josephson, Past President; Board Members: Beverly Fellman, Jan Fischer, Norma Fried, Michael Gendler, Lorrie Katelman, Nan Katz, Angela Krieger, Rocky Lewis, Vicki Perlmeter, Dick Rochman, Larry Roffman, George Shafer and Phyllis Wasserman; Louise Abrahamson, Bob Belgrade, Joanie Bernstein, Midge Bowers, Helen Epstein, Ira Nathan, Helen Rifkin, Ex Officio; Doug Hartman, Advisor-Exhibits and Archives; Max Neiden, Honorary Member; Renee Ratner Corcoran, Executive Director.

EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE AND HOLIDAY CLOSINGS The Jewish Press office is closed Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 17 and 18, for Rosh Hashanah, Wednesday, Sept. 26 for Yom Kippur, and Monday, Oct. 1 for Sukkot; the deadline for the Oct. 5 issue is Tuesday, Sept. 25, 9 a.m. Questions?

Call 402.334.6448.

Also on Saturday, enjoy: Lion’s Club Parade at 10 am Riverpoint Arts Festival at 11 am

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Synagogues B’NAI ISRAEL Board Members: Allen Kurland, President; Mark Eveloff, Vice President; Ruth Edelman, Secretary; Harold Edelman, Treasurer; Members: Sandra Kurland, the late Flora Telpner, and Barry Kricsfeld.

President; Mark Intermill, Treasurer; Nancy Intermill, Secretary; Trustees: Kevin Balter, Stacy Blater, Tracy Gordon, Fishel Liberman, John Mosow, Dave Rosenbaum, Mark Schwartz, Lori Schwartz.

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Board Members: Lloyd Roitstein, President; Jon Jabenis, Vice-President-Legal; Janie Murow and Wayne Schwarz, VicePresidents; Michael Schop, Secretary; Jay Gordman, Treasurer; Beverly Fellman, PastPresident; David Finkelstein, Men’s Club; Heather Kelln, Sisterhood President; Joel Rich, BESTT; Bruce Kutler, Cemetery; Ben Shapiro, Technology; Beth Friedman, Membership; Roni Reiter-Palmon, Personnel Practices; Glen Fineman, Religious Life Chairman; Ari Riekes, Strategic Plan/ Education; Scott Simon, Strategic Plan Chair; Aaron Zipursky, USY President; Caryn Scheer, YAC; Howard Shandell, Kitchen; Jeremy Friedman, Andy Greenberg, M’Lee Hasslinger, Sheldon Lerner, Lisa Lieb, Aveva Shukert, Jim Zipursky, Larry DeBruin, Executive Director; Margie Gutnik, Program Director; Eadie Tsabari, Director of Congregational Learning; Steve Meyer, Youth Advisor; Rabbi Mordechai Levin, Rabbi Steven Abraham and Hazzan Michael Krausman.

Sisterhood: Heather Kelln, President; Sara Kohen and Becca Goldstein, Secretary; Debbi Roitstein, Treasurer; Shira Abraham, Educational/Religious; Melissa Schop, Membership; Marcie Spivack, Past President.

Men’s Club: David Finkelstein, President; Glen Fineman, Midwest Rep to the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs; Scott Simon, Membership Vice-President; Steve Levy, Religious Vice-President; Ari Kohen, Social Vice-President; Jonathan Rich, Fundraising Vice-President; Andy Raffel, Secretary; Jeremy Friedman, Treasurer; Board members: Bruce Kutler, Kevin Saltzman, Les Kay. USY Board: Aaron Zipursky, President; Ethan Potash, Executive Vice-president/ Israeli Programming; Alyssa Cohen, Membership/Kadima; Naomi Zipursky, Religion/ Education; Sam Lieb, Social Action/Tikun Olam; Julia Edelstein, Communications; Eva Phillips and Samantha Wiener, Historians; Tal Margalit and Elissa Wiener, Purim Carnival.

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE Board Members: Paul Shyken, President; Josh Gurock, Treasurer; Aviva Segall, Secretary; Mort Glass, Membership Vice President; David Kohll, Administrative Vice President; Joel Alperson, Jake Besser, Jack Kozlen, Debbie Kricsfeld, Eyal Margalit, Zoe Riekes, Dani Shrago, Michael Shrago, Rachel Shyken and Susie Shyken.

CONGREGATION B’NAI JESHURUN/ SOUTH STREET TEMPLE Board Members: Marc Shkolnick, President; Eleanor Shirley Kirkland, Vice-

5772: In review Right: Social justice rallies become an almost weekly event, May 2012.

Credit Edgar Asher

Board of Trustees: Sally Kaplan, President; Jon Meyers and John Waldbaum, Presidential Appointees; Mike Halsted, President Elect; Paul Rabinovitz and Rosie Zweiback, Vice Presidents; Katherine Finnegan, Secretary; Alan Fredricks, Treasurer; Jeff Schweid, Assistant Treasurer; John Lehr, Past President; Board Members: Stacie Brodkey, Sharon Comisar-Langdon, Justin Cooper, Marlen Frost, Dan Gilbert, Scott Goodman, Andie Gordman, Danielle Gordman, Gary Kaplan, Dan Marburg, Paul Miller, Jeff Nogg, Hannah Perry, Cat Rawlings, Matt Ray, Rob Reiss, Jane Rips, Susan Rothholz, Louri Sullivan, Mimi Silverman and Jeremy Wright.

Omaha Temple Youth Group: Hannah Perry, President; Hannah Budwig, Programming Vice President; Hannah Radler, Social Action Vice President; Justin Norton, Religious/Cultural Vice President; Abby Hack and Ariel Kohll, Membership Vice Presidents; Jacob Arnold, Communications and Visual Vice President; Sophie Budwig, Freshman Representative; Maddie Jensen, SPSC; Zane Fletcher and Morissa Miller, Chairs Fall Conclave.

Women of Reform Judaism-Omaha: Mimi Silverman, President; Stacie Brodkey, President-Elect; Susie Norton, Past President; Sherrie Saag, Vice President of Membership; Mendy Halsted, Vice President of Development; Deb Marburg, Vice President of Religious Action; Joi Brown, Dana Gonzales and Debbi Josephson, Vice Presidents of Programmings; Iris Ricks, Vice President of Finance/ Treasurer; Kim Noddle, Vice President of Public Relations; Carrie Fingold and Jamie Nogg, Vice Presidents of Young Family Programs; Kate Kirshenbaum and Nikki Kirshenbaum, Vice Presidents of Religious Living; Jennifer Goodman, Jennifer Miller and Andee Scioli, Directors; Marlen Frost, WRJ Regional Officer.

TIFERETH ISRAEL Board Members: Brenda F. Ingraham, President; Jennifer Rosenblatt, Vice President; Daniel Friedman, Secretary; Howard Feldman, Treasurer; Lou Halperin, Immediate Past President; Aaron Bowers, Seth Harris and Marlon Weiss, Trustees; Nancy Coren, Lay Leader; Nava Halpern, Administrator; Everett Evnen and David Brockman, Fair Dues Chairs; Jeffrey Payne, Membership; Ken Bloom, Ritual; Robert Evnen, Legal; Harlan Preisman, Community Relations; Lucy Bowers, Adult Education; Dennis Kornbluh, Technology; Marcia Kushner, Bikkur Cholim; Cindi Weiss and Joyce Davidson, Social; Nanci Hamicksburg, Kitchen; and Karen Harris, Lincoln Jewish Community School Representative.

September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 57

5772: In review Right: The Republican candidate for the November US Presidential election, Mitt Romney, visits Israel as part of a three nation tour. He is seen at the Western Wall, July 2012.

Far right: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu went to the White House for talks with President Barack Obama. The talks were held in a friendly atmosphere, June 2012.

Credit Edgar Asher

Why kosher cooking is good for the soul

by HELEN NASH NEW YORK (JTA) -- Cooking has been a passion for me, and passing on my knowledge and experience to a new kosher audience is one of my greatest joys. When my two earlier books were published -- Kosher Cuisine and Helen Nash’s Kosher Kitchen -- that joy was mingled with regret at having to exclude so many more appetizing dishes and ideas about cuisine, nutrition, and a healthful approach to everyday meals. At the time, though, I couldn’t imagine going back to the arduous process of developing, refining, testing,and retesting new recipes.

But then a personal tragedy gave me a compelling desire to start working on another book.

My husband of five decades -- a brilliant, visionary, and passionate man with great generosity of spirit -- suffered a massive stroke, and for many years he was ill and homebound. Jack loved good food, and one of the ways I tried both to give him pleasure and keep him relatively healthy was to cook for him. As everything about our life changed, cooking creatively also became a way for me to maintain a positive attitude. And in trying to keep Jack’s spirits up, I raised my own.

I discovered that even when Jack was ill, he was receptive to new tastes. So I began experimenting with novel kosher ingredients that were just coming to the market. Wasabi powder, miso, panko (Japanese breadcrumbs), balsamic and rice vinegars, and a variety of oils -- truffle and sesame -hadn’t been available to kosher cooks when I wrote my first two books, so Jack and I became acquainted with them together. In coming up with new dishes, their nutritional value was, of course, a decisive factor. But so was their appeal to the palate and to the eye.

Until the very end, Jack looked forward to the meals I made for him, so I counted my experiments a success. Yet as his illness progressed, comfort foods -- meatloaf, soups, frittatas, risottos, vegetable burgers, tuna burgers, turkey scaloppini, and most chicken dishes -- were more to his liking than some of my more modern innovations.

Whether you and your loved ones opt for the familiar or the exotic, eating well on a daily basis requires good planning, portion control, and nutrition. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to select ingredients of the highest quality and, whenever possible, seasonal products.

Indeed, if I have one rule for both cooking and eating, it is that what is best and freshest at the market -- fish, vegetables, fruit, and meat -- should dictate the menu. The better your ingredients, the better your results.

But in the end, keeping kosher is more, to me, than just a sensible way to live and to eat healthfully. The ancient Jewish dietary laws help to organize my life around family, Friday nights, and holidays. They remind me of the importance of community and anchor me to the other rituals of our religion. Their observance inspires me to study our texts more deeply -- a search for meaning that, in turn, heightens my respect for human nature. The Torah says it all in its reverence for life. And one way we can bring that reverence into our lives and our homes is with a well-planned, homecooked, nutritious kosher meal.

Excerpt from New Kosher Cuisine ©2012 by Helen Nash. Published by The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers Inc., New York, NY. www.overlookpress.com.

Used by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.

58 | The Jewish Press | September 14, 2012

Synagogues B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE 618 Mynster Street | Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 | 402.322.4705 email: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com For information on our historic synagogue – dates and times for Friday night services, please call 712.323.8885.

ROSH HASHANAH SUNDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m., Kitty Williams speaks about “Survivior’s Story” Apples, honey and sweets to follow.

MONDAY: Services, 10:30 a.m., Dr. Marvin Bittner addresses “Meditation on Zombies, Fences and Unataneh Tokef ” All services led by Jeffrey Taxman.

Wednesday, Sept. 26, 5:30 p.m., Yom Kippur concluding service and Break-the-fast potluck. Please call 712.323.8885 to RSVP and let us know what dish you’d like to bring.

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism 14506 California | Omaha, NE 68154-1980 | 402.492.8550 www.bethel-omaha.org Services conducted by Rabbi Mordechai Levin, Rabbi Steven Abraham and Hazzan Michael Krausman.

Sitter Service is available during Friday night and Saturday morning services, on a drop-in basis, no charge.

FRIDAY: BESTT Shabbaton, 4:30 p.m.; Kabbalat Shabbat service, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Services, 9:30 a.m.; Junior Congregation (2-7), 10 a.m.; Kiddush given by Beth El; Evening Service, 7:25 p.m.

WEEKDAY SERVICES: Sundays, 9 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.; weekdays, 7 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.

SUNDAY: Torah Study Group, 10 a.m.

ROSH HASHANAH SUNDAY: Ma’ariv, 6 p.m.

MONDAY: Morning Service, 9 a.m.; Family Service, 10:30 a.m.; Tot Service, 11:30 a.m.; Tashlich, 4:45 p.m. at Boys Town Lake; Mincha-Ma’ariv, 6 p.m.

TUESDAY: Morning Service, 9 a.m.; Family Service, 10:30 a.m.; Tot Service/Yom Tov Story Time, 11:30 a.m.

WEDNESDAY: BESTT Classes, 4:15 p.m.; Hebrew High School, 6:45 p.m.

Join Men’s Club for Sukkah Building on Sundays, Sept. 23 and Sept. 30, at 8 a.m., as members construct the synagogue’s sukkah. Everyone welcome; bagels and beverages will be served. For more information, contact Mark Kelln, at markkelln@yahoo.com.

BESTT Classes, Sunday, Sept. 23, 9:45 a.m.

Torah Tots, Sunday, Sept. 23, 10:30 a.m. New, fun-filled class for preschoolers and their parents, led by Naomi Gaca.

All Beth El classes and programs are open to everyone in the Jewish community.

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America 12604 Pacific Street | Omaha, NE. 68154 | 402.556.6288 www.BethIsrael@OrthodoxOmaha.org Office Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Fri., 8:30 a.m-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Jonathan Gross and Rabbi Yitzchak Mizrahi.

FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 7:17 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; free babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Children’s Classes, 9:45 a.m. with Torah Parade; Kiddush is sponsored by Deborah Platt in honor of her birthday, the birthday of Sarah Cherry, and in celebration of Patricia Newman, Rabbi Jonathan and Miriam Gross, and Michael and Sarah Cherry moving into their new homes; The Laws of Shabbat, 5 p.m.; Advanced Parshah Study for Kids (ages 10 and up), 6 p.m.; Rabbi Gross’s Twitter Topic Class, 6 p.m.; Mincha, 7 p.m. followed by Seuda Shlishit; Havdalah, 8:15 p.m.

SUNDAY: Gemara class, 8-8:30 a.m., learning tractate Kiddushin; Selichot, 8:40 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.

ROSH HASHANAH SUNDAY: Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:14 p.m.

MONDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Torah Reading, 9:30 a.m.; Sermon, 10 a.m., followed by Shofar blowing; Mincha, 7:15 p.m.

TUESDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Torah Reading, 9:30 a.m.;

MEMORIAL SERVICES Sunday, September 23 Oak Hills/Bikhor Cholim, Council Bluffs, 10 a.m.

Beth El Cemetery, 84th and ‘L’ Sts., 11:45 a.m.

Temple Israel Cemetery, 6412 No. 42 St., 1 p.m.

Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln, 3 p.m.

Candlelighting Friday, September 14, 7:17 p.m.

Sunday, September 16, 7:14 p.m. | Monday, September 17, no earlier than 8:11 p.m.

Sermon, 10 a.m., followed by Shofar blowing; Mincha, 7:15 p.m.; Havdalah, 8:10 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Fast of Gedaliah begins, 5:47 a.m.; Rabbi Weiss’s Weekly Class, 7:45 p.m.; Fast ends, 8 p.m.

THURSDAY: Women of the Torah class, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Gross; Weekly Med Center Class, 1 p.m.

MONDAY: Morning Service, 9 a.m., led by Andrew Greenberg.

TUESDAY: Morning service, 9 a.m., led by David Herzog.

Services will be held in the Chapel. Members of the community are invited to attend Services at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home.

CHABAD HOUSE

TEMPLE ISRAEL

An Affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch 1866 South 120 Street | Omaha, NE 68144-1646 | 402.330.1800 www.OChabad.com | email: chabad@aol.com Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman.

FRIDAY: Service, 7 a.m.

SATURDAY: Minyan, 9:30 a.m.; Kiddush luncheon follows the service.

SUNDAY: Service, 8:30 a.m.; Hatarat Nedarim, 9:30 a.m.

WEEKDAYS: Services, 7 a.m.

ROSH HASHANAH SUNDAY: Evening Services, 6:45 p.m. Rosh Hashanah Family Dinner to follow services.

MONDAY: Morning Services, 9 a.m.; Shofar Sounding, 11 a.m.; Tashlich Service, 4 p.m.; Evening Services, 7:30 p.m.

TUESDAY: Morning Services, 9 a.m.; Shofar Sounding, 11 a.m.; Evening Services, 7:15 p.m.

WEDNESDAY-Fast of Gedalyah: Service, 7 a.m.; Evening Services, 7 p.m.; Fast ends, 7:54 p.m.

THURSDAY: Unity Torah Celebration, 4:30 p.m. at the JCC followed by a dinner buffet at Chabad. Reserve today at www.omahatorah.com or contact torah@ochabad.com.

All programs are open to the entire community.

Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 7023 Cass Street | Omaha, NE 68132-2651 | 402.556.6536 www.templeisrael-ne.org Sitter Service is available Wednesday evenings during Family School hours so that parents can take advantage of adult education opportunities, Friday evenings except when there is a Tot Shabbat, Saturday mornings when there is a Bar or Bat mitzvah, and Sunday mornings when there is Religious School. Advance reservations and a $5 donation are appreciated. Young children, including infants, are welcome.

FRIDAY: Shabbat Comes to You at Remington Heights, 4 p.m. led by Rabbi Azriel; Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. led by Rabbi Brown and Cantor Shermet.

SATURDAY: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m.; Morning Service, 10:30 a.m.

SUNDAY: OTYG Yom Kippur Rehearsal, noon.

ROSH HASHANAH SUNDAY: Sitter Service, 7 p.m.; Evening Service, 7:30 p.m.

MONDAY: Tot Service, 9 a.m. (pre-school age and younger) led by Rabbi Brown; Children’s service, 9 a.m.; Morning service, 10:15 a.m.; Family Apple Picking, 2 p.m. at Arbor Day Farm, 2611 Arbor Ave, Nebraska City, NE. Admission is $6.50 for adults and $4.50 for ages 3-12. That get you into the orchards, greenhouse and trails. The Discovery Ride is an extra $4 per adult and $3 per child.

TUESDAY: Executive Meeting, 6 p.m.; Kol Rina Rehearsal and quartet, 6:30 p.m.; Board of Trustees Meeting, 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Grades 3-6, 4-6 p.m.; School Dinner, 6 p.m.; Family School, 6-8 p.m.; Grades 7&8, 6-8 p.m.; Temple Teen Night, 6 p.m.; What’s Up: Israeli Media, 6:30 p.m. with Rabbi Azriel.

Tashlich, Saturday, Sept. 22, following Shabbat at Elmwood Park.

CONGREGATION B’NAI JESHURUN South Street Temple | Union for Reform Judaism 2061 South 20th Street | Lincoln, NE 68502-2797 | 402.435.8004 www.southstreettemple.org Services conducted by Rabbi Craig Lewis.

FRIDAY: Shabbat Evening Service, 7:45 p.m. with oneg following.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10:30 a.m. on Parashat Nitzavim; Game Night/ Potluck, 6 p.m. All ages welcome.

SUNDAY: There will be no LJCS Class this week.

ROSH HASHANAH SUNDAY: Evening Service, 8 p.m. with oneg following hosted by the Board of Trustees.

MONDAY: Family Service, 9 a.m. (Parents, please accompany your children); Morning Service, 10 a.m.; Tashlich service, 3 p.m. at Wilderness Park.

THURSDAY: Choir Rehearsal, 7:30-9 p.m.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE SAC Memorial Chapel 301 Lincoln Highway | Offutt AFB, NE 68113 | 402.294.6244 FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m.

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME 323 South 132 Street | Omaha, NE 68154 SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m. led by Jim Polack.

ROSH HASHANAH SUNDAY: Erev Evening Service, 7 p.m., led by Andrew Greenberg.

TIFERETH ISRAEL Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Boulevard | Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 | 402.423.8569 www.tiferethisraellincoln.org Services conducted by lay leader Nancy Coren. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

FRIDAY: Services, 6:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: Study Session on Eicha, 9:30 a.m.; Morning service, 10 a.m. followed by Kiddush lunch.

SUNDAY: There will be no LJCS Class this week.

ROSH HASHANAH SUNDAY: Services, 8 p.m.

MONDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Youth Service, 11 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 7:15 p.m.

TUESDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Youth Service, 11 a.m.; Tashlich & Mincha, 5 p.m. at Holmes Lake.

Welcoming the New Year

by EDGAR ASHER Appeal – Keren Hayesod.

Some twenty three young immigrants who are living in Each of the former IDF soldiers served in combat units Israel without their and each will receive families were hosted the equivalent of today by the Jewish $1,200. In addition to Agency in a special the grants, the soldiers gathering to honor the participated in a upcoming Jewish New course which prepares Year. All the immithem for civilian life; grants today had comreceive individualized pleted their service in financial, employment and educational the IDF and were being awarded grants advice; and social supto help them to return port from Rotary volto civilian life. The unteers. grants were made The young immiunder a Jewish Agency grants came from the US, UK, France, program known as Four young immigrants who have recently completed their IDF service Russia, Ukraine, 'Wings'. The funding toast the upcoming Jewish New Year with traditional apple dipped in Moldova, Mexico, for the program comes honey.

Credit: ASHERNET Brazil, France, from the Jewish Agency, the Merage Foundation and the United Israel Australia El Salvador and Kenya.

September 14, 2012 | The Jewish Press | 59

Nebraska

5772: In review Right: In June newly elected Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz of Kadima went to Washington for bilateral talks. President Barack Obama came into the room during the meeting to see how things were progressing. Shortly after Mofaz returned to Israel and resigned from the government coalition over the draft law. June 2012. Credit Edgar Asher

STATEWIDE CLASSIFIEDS PREGNANT? CONSIDERING Adoption? Call us first. Living expenses, housing, medical, continued support afterward. Choose adoptive family of your choice. Call 24/7. Adopt Connect, 1-866-743-9212.

APPLE HARVEST Special Offer! Overnight stay at Lied Lodge in Nebraska City for $119.

Includes breakfast for two. September special. Call 800-546-5433 to make your reservation.

Advertising index Advertiser Page A Permanent Solution .................................................... 7 Abrahams, Kaslow & Cassman LLP ............................ 21 All Makes Office Equipment Co. ................................... 16 Allens ........................................................................... 19 Alotta Brownies ............................................................ 27 American Friends of Magen David Adom ..................... 36 American National Bank .............................................. 21 American Payment Systems ........................................ 50 Anti-Defamation League .............................................. 60 Arnold Weitz & Co. ....................................................... 36 Associated Counseling Professionals ........................... 14 B’nai B’rith Henry Monsky Lodge ................................ 60 B’nai B’rith Youth Organization .................................... 24 B’nai Israel Synagogue ................................................ 60 B’nai Jeshurun Synagogue .......................................... 16 Badger Body & Isuzu Truck .......................................... 21 Bag ’N Save ................................................................. 49 Bagel Bin ..................................................................... 47 Belgrade Family ........................................................... 55 Bergman Incentives ..................................................... 26 Bergman Jewelry ......................................................... 26 Bernina Sewing Center ................................................ 32 Beth El BILU USY ......................................................... 24 Beth El Synagogue ...................................................... 60 Beth Israel NCSY ......................................................... 24 Beth Israel Sisterhood .................................................. 60 Beth Israel Synagogue ................................................. 60 Boys Town ................................................................... 18 Boys Town Ear, Nose & Throat Institute ........................ 42 Broadmoor .................................................................. 15 Broadmoor Market ...................................................... 53 Brownell Talbot ............................................................ 31 Canfield’s Sporting Goods ........................................... 28 CB Richard Ellis/MEGA ............................................... 37 CBSHOME-Toni Rosen ................................................ 47 The Center for Jewish Life ............................................ 60 Chabad ....................................................................... 60 Charleston’s ................................................................. 11 Christel’s ..................................................................... 28 Colliers International .................................................... 38 Countryside Village ...................................................... 53 Creative Hair Design .................................................... 35 Creighton University ..................................................... 34 Dental Sleep Solutions/Horizon Dental ....................... 49 Dogtopia ...................................................................... 23 Eagle Nursery ................................................................ 5 Enterprise Bank ........................................................... 38 Envision Success Inc. .................................................. 48 Faces Spa ................................................................... 53 Finance 1 LLC. ............................................................ 20 Florence Mill Farmers Market ............................................ 12 Frankel, Zacharia ................................................................. 7 Fraser Stryker Law Firm ............................................... 35 Friedel Jewish Academy ............................................... 39 Gallagher/Grace Mayer Insurance ............................... 57 Garbo’s Salon and Spa .................................................. 5 Gordmans ................................................................... 46

ATTENTION ADVERTISERS! For $210/25 word classified you can advertise in over 170 Nebraska newspapers. For more information contact the Jewish Press at 402-334-6449 or call 1-800-369-2850.

Advertiser Page Greek Islands ............................................................... 11 Hiller Electric ............................................................... 26 Hockenbergs ............................................................... 15 I-Go Van & Storage ......................................................... 9 Ideal Pure Water & Coffee ............................................ 56 Immanuel Communities-Pacific Springs Village ........... 33 Industrial Packaging Corporation ................................. 32 Innovative Prosthetics & Orthotics .................................. 4 Institute for Holocaust Education ................................. 60 Interim Homestyle Services ......................................... 20 Isagenics ..................................................................... 45 It’s the Beat ................................................................. 26 Javitch Family ................................................................ 5 Jewish Community Center .......................................... 41 Jewish Family Service .................................................. 49 Jewish Federation of Lincoln ........................................ 38 Jewish Federation of Omaha ....................................... 25 Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation .................... 25 Jewish Press ............................................................ 2, 24 Jewish Social Services ................................................. 13 Jewish War Veterans .................................................... 60 Johanns, Senator Mike ................................................ 15 John A Gentleman Mortuaries ..................................... 22 Julio’s .......................................................................... 47 Kohll’s Pharmacy & Homecare .................................... 56 League Offering Volunteers for the Elderly ................... 60 Lerner Company ......................................................... 48 Lion’s Automotive Upholstery ......................................... 3 Louie M’s Burger Lust .................................................. 11 Lynn Roberts International ........................................... 31 Malashock Jewelry ...................................................... 23 Malbar Vision Centers ................................................. 39 Marathon Real Estate .................................................. 44 Marathon Ventures ........................................................ 3 Mark Sanford Group .................................................... 55 Marks Clare & Richards ............................................... 23 Max I. Walker ............................................................... 44 McGill, Gotsdiner, Workman & Lepp, PC, LLO. .............. 4 McGrath North ............................................................ 14 Meehan Drywall ........................................................... 19 Micklin Lumber ........................................................... 42 Mid Con Systems Inc. ................................................. 42 Mid-City Jewelry & Loan ............................................... 31 Midwest Ear, Nose, & Throat, P.C. ............................... 44 Mutual of America ....................................................... 56 N. Pitlor & Son, Inc. ..................................................... 52 Nan C .......................................................................... 51 Nanny Pro Plus ............................................................ 50 Natan & Hannah Schwalb Center for Israel & Jewish Studies ................................................................... 60 National Council of Jewish Women .............................. 60 Nebraska Democratic Party ......................................... 44 Nebraska Furniture Mart ................................................ 9 Nebraska Jewish Historical Society .............................. 60 Nebraska Press Statewide Classifieds .......................... 63 Nebraska Spine Center, LLP. ....................................... 12 Newman’s Pasta Cafe ................................................. 27

Advertiser Page No Frills ....................................................................... 49 Nobbies ......................................................................... 3 Noddle Companies ...................................................... 51 Oak Hills/Bikhor Cholim Cemetery ............................. 30 Omaha Compound Company ..................................... 20 Omaha Steaks ............................................................... 8 Omaha Temple Youth Group ........................................ 24 Parsow’s ...................................................................... 36 Pasta Amore ................................................................ 43 PeggyBank .................................................................... 8 Peterson Brothers Realty Co. ....................................... 23 Petrow’s Restaurant ..................................................... 27 Pets-R-Us ..................................................................... 43 Pharmacy Express ....................................................... 17 The Post & Nickel ........................................................ 43 Premier Gymnastics .................................................... 45 Pulverente Monument Co. ........................................... 37 Remer Family .............................................................. 30 Remington Heights ........................................................ 6 Republic National Distributing Company ..................... 33 Ricks Family ................................................................ 35 Rockbrook Floors ......................................................... 48 Rockbrook Village ........................................................ 43 Rotella’s Italian Bakery ................................................. 12 Russell’s ...................................................................... 53 St. Joseph Villa ............................................................ 57 Sanctuary Day Spa ...................................................... 22 Schwalb Realty ........................................................... 39 Security Equipment, Inc. ............................................. 28 Security National Bank ................................................ 43 Seldin Company ............................................................ 4 Silverman Family ......................................................... 47 Sir Speedy ..................................................................... 3 Siref Family .................................................................. 42 Sol’s Jewelry & Loan ................................................... 12 Sonny Gerber Auto Sales ............................................... 7 Star Deli ....................................................................... 32 Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP ...................................... 17 Suburban Newspapers Inc. ........................................... 7 Swartzbaugh Farber ..................................................... 17 Temple Israel ............................................................... 60 Terry, Congressman Lee .............................................. 22 Tifereth Israel Synagogue ............................................. 16 Unity Torah .................................................................. 54 Valentino’s ................................................................... 47 Valpak ......................................................................... 29 van de Kamp-Wright Family ......................................... 56 Vann Realty ................................................................. 55 Village Pointe ............................................................... 40 Village Pointe Pediatrics ............................................... 10 Vivid Salon and Spa .................................................... 32 Wiesman Development ................................................. 3 The Winery .................................................................. 47 Wolf Bros. Western Store .............................................. 37 Wolfson Used Cars ...................................................... 19 Wright Printing-Joel Rich .............................................. 23 Zio’s Pizzeria ................................................................ 11

BANKRUPTCY: FREE initial consultation. Fast relief from creditors. Low rates. Statewide filing. No office appointment necessary. Call Steffens Law Office, 308-872-8327. steffensbankruptcylaw.com. We are a debt relief agency, which helps people file bankruptcy under the bankruptcy code.

METALS TO cash-cleaning up farms and ranches, tearing down grain bins, pivots and taking cars, tractors, combines and old equipment. Paying cash. Call 308-530-8842.

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SELL YOUR classic car, truck or motorcycle online. Call this newspaper or call 1-800-3692850 to place your ad on the national Midwest Classic Cars web site for only $25.00. Your ad with photos runs until your vehicle is sold!

WALK-IN BATHTUBS starting at $2,500.00. 30 year established plumbing company offering several models and styles. Complete installation. References available. Buy American. Jiffy Jet Plumbing. Call 402-896-2966.

ATTEND COLLEGE online from home. Medical, Business, Criminal Justice, Hospitality.

Job placement assistance. Computer available. Financial aid if qualified. SCHEV certified.

Call 800-487-0378, www.CenturaOnline.com.

GROWING SERVICES at Sidney Regional Medical Center-Sidney, NE, Experienced RNs needed. Surgery/Acute/Extended Care/HH. Excellent Benefits. Exceptional Pay. Welcoming Community. Join our Team, 308-254-5075.

AIRLINES ARE hiring. Train for hands on Aviation Career. FAA approved program. Financial aid if qualified. Job placement assistance. Call Aviation Institute of Maintenance, 888-8968006.

HVAC TECHNICIAN, Kearney & Holdrege. NATE certified. Residential heating & cooling repairs, install new equipment, diagnose and repair light commercial systems. Top wages, health insurance, 401K & cafeteria plan available. Call 308-236-6437.

MASTER PLUMBER, Master Plumbing License, valid drivers license. Blueprint reading.

Benefits. Submit resume to: Warren-T, 1400 W. 22nd St., Kearney or e-mail info@warrent.com.

SOUTH CENTRAL Diesel has immediate openings for growing Parts and Sales Dept. Need strong computer skills, highly motivated, well-driven & have excellent customer service skills.

Must be able to lift up to 60-80 lbs. Great Pay, Retirement, Paid Vacations, Health Insurance.

Contact Mike @ 308-995-6528 or scdinc2@qwestoffice.net.

SOUTH CENTRAL Diesel, Inc., Holdrege, NE, is seeking a FT Diesel Technician. Must have basic set of tools. Technician will work on Diesel Pickups & smaller diesel engines. Position may include Injector repair & Diesel Pump rebuilding. Ideal candidate would be detail oriented, clean, self-motivated & organized. Great Benefits include: Vacation Pay, Retirement Plan, Holiday Pay, Factory Schooling Paid, & Employee Health Insurance Paid. All the latest equipment and a clean shop is waiting for you! Contact: Mike Wiser @ 308-995-6528 or scdinc2@qwestoffice.net.

TRUCK DRIVERS wanted for harvest help. CDL license required. Grain cart driver also. $2,500/month with room and board. Call anytime, 308-999-0482.

YOU GOT the drive, we have the direction. OTR Drivers, APU equipped pre-pass EZ-pass passenger policy. Newer equipment. 100% No Touch. 1-800-528-7825.

PROMOTORS/REPS NEEDED - New Wireless Service. Starting 9/22 through the following three Sat. 6hr shifts. $12p/hr. Event location: Major Nebraska retail store. Send resume:chuck@frepm.com, www.frepm.com.

Memorial Communityy Hospital’s p Auxiliary Presents: Food will be available on the premises.

55th Annual Rummage Sale

9 buildings full of merchandise

Thursday, September 20th: 9 am - 7 pm Friday, September 21st: 9 am - 7 pm Saturday, September 22nd: 9 am - 6 pm Sunday, September 23rd: 10 am - 2 pm BAG SALE!!

This year, proceeds from the Rummage Sale will be used to purchase a Portable Digital X-Ray machine for Memorial Community Hospital & Health System in Blair, Nebraska.

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402-575-9602

Find out more at FirstFiveNebraska.org

60 | The Jewish Press | September 14, 2012

BETH ISRAEL SISTERHOOD

Shana Tovah!

From the Board Members and Staff of the Center for Jewish Life

B’nai Israel Synagogue A Century of Tradition 618 Mynster Street, Council Bluffs 51503

323-8885

You’re always welcome at B’nai Israel!

A beneficiary of the Annual Campaign of the Jewish Federation of Omaha

JEWISH WAR VETERANS of AMERICA

National Register of Historic Places

A Peaceful and Prosperous

Rosh Hashanah

Epstein Morgan Post 260

to the Community

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and peaceful Rosh Hashanah.

FREE membership to all active-duty personnel Contact: Jay Benton, Commander 402-250-6133 We welcome any and all new members

Happy & Healthy New Year With Your Help We’ll Have A Great Past Ahead Of Us

Become an NJHS Member and Provide a Legacy for Future Generations Benefactor $1,000 • Platinum $500 Gold $250 • Patron-1 Year $100 Sponsor $50 • Regular $25

Best Wishes for a Happy New Year

Henry Monsky Lodge B’nai B’rith

Best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year

Sincere wishes for a Happy, Healthy New Year

Beth El Synagogue Sisterhood Kadimah USY BESTT

Men’s Club BILU USY Hazak

National Council of Jewish Women Omaha Section

NCJW extends its warmest wishes to the Jewish community for a Joyous New Year.

Have a sweet New Year!

League Offering Volunteers for the Elderly The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home Auxiliary

L’Shana Tovah

The Natan and Hannah Schwalb Center for Israel and Jewish Studies At the University of Nebraska-Omaha Wishes everybody a

Happy New Year

Best wishes to our wonderful community for a sweet, healthy, happy year.

May this year bring the fulfillment of our most fervent wishes and dreams.

Rabbi Mendel and Shani Katzman and Family Chabad Board Members and Volunteers