Page - 46
The Jewish Voice and Opinion
A
fter a tumultuous start, Ima’s Restaurant on Cedar Lane in Teaneck has landed on its feet, complete with an Israeli-Kurdish-inspired meat menu under the supervision of the Orthodox Union. The restaurant’s OU hechsher has the blessings of the local Rabbinical Council of Bergen County, which has welcomed Ima’s and its owner, Ofira Zaken, of Fair Lawn, and her new partner, Perry Langer of Teaneck, back under its umbrella of approved kosher restaurants. Mrs. Zaken, who does virtually all the cooking at Ima’s, learned how to prepare the dishes literally at her mother’s knee. Intimate and redolent of Middle Eastern herbs and spices, Ima’s took its name from the popular restaurant run by Mrs. Zaken’s Iraqi-born Kurdish-Jewish mother,
PA Unity
May 2011 Tell Our Advertisers “I Saw It in The Jewish Voice & Opinion”
Ima’s Now Has the O-U Miriam Binyamin, in Jerusalem’s Nahla’ot neighborhood, opposite Sacher Park. Recent patrons at Ima’s in Teaneck were seen enjoying salads, such as hummus and baba ghanoush, scooped onto generous discs on homemade pita. While the restaurant serves other traditional Mediterranean favorites, including an excellent tabouli, kebabs, and schnitzel, Mrs. Zaken’s signature dishes are those involving stuffed vegetables, made with zuccini, peppers, cabbage leaves, grape leaves, beets, and onions, and kubbeh, fried, baked, or boiled bulgur or semolina dumplings, stuffed with rice, spiced ground beef, or vegetables. For those addicted to kubbeh, there is a wonderful hamusta, sour sorrel soup studded with the dumplings.
Now that she has, for the most part, turned her thriving Jerusalem businesses over to her sons--one runs the restaurant; another is in charge of the bakery; and the third manages Ima Kubbeh Bar in Jerusalem’s shuk--Mrs. Binyamin, 72, plans to visit Teaneck to see how her stores’ namesake is doing in Teaneck. Mrs. Zaken, who was 17 when her mother opened the restaurant and worked for many years as Mrs. Binyamin’s righthand, is eager for the original Ima to see what her daughter has accomplished. Located at 445 Cedar Lane, Ima’s is open Sun-Thurs from 11am to 10pm, and on Fridays, in the summer, from 11am-4pm. The phone number is 201-357-5789 or 201-357-5790. “I put my soul into the food. I love to cook, and I love to make connections with people,” said Mrs., Zaken. S.L.R.
continued from page 40
Mr. Mowbray recognized that “one of the first casualties” beyond direct funding could be the US training of Palestinian security forces. “Those forces are being trained, in essence, to fight Hamas--a goal that would be rendered moot,” said Mr. Mowbray. Funds from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to the PA would also be cut off, especially since those funds for infrastructure in the West Bank were intended to strengthen the “moderate” Fatah faction in its quest for power over Hamas. “With Hamas linking arms with Fatah, that rationale no longer holds,” said Mr. Mowbray.
Unfair Nabil Saath, an aide to Mr. Abbas, told Israel Radio there is no requirement for Hamas to recognize Israel because Jerusalem does not recognize Hamas. Mr. Saath called the Quartet’s demands that Hamas renounce violence and recognize Israel “unfair, unworkable, and do not make sense.” Some observers said Mr. Saath was deliberately engaging in sophistry. Which Lands Mr. Abbas’s thrust to achieve unity with Hamas is assumed to be based on his determination to receive UN recognition of the PA as a new Arab country, based on
the proposals by Saudi Arabia in 2002. The so-called Saudi initiative mirrors the Palestinian demands on Israel since the 1993 Oslo Accords: Israel’s relinquishing all land restored to the Jewish State in the 1967 Six-Day War, including the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, and Israel’s acceptance of millions of Arabs--those who fled Israel in 1948 and 1967 and their descendants--into Israel proper, forever changing the demographics of the country and ending any future for the Jewish state. For its part, Hamas has insisted it will not recognize Israel as long as the Jewish state “occupies” land claimed by the
Baseball
continued on page 50
cont. from p. 44
own personalized official Major-League game ball signed by Bucky Dent himself. That’s a $100.00 value!” says Mr. Uvsitzky. Campers who sign up with a friend will receive a $50 deduction. Baseball Classic In addition to running the camp, Mr. Uvsitzky has invited yeshiva high schools with baseball teams to contact MVP about competing in the first “Bucky Dent Invitational Yeshiva Baseball Classic,” the date for which has still to be determined. For more information, visitwww. mvpkosherbaseballcamp.com. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime baseball experience,” says Mr. Uvsitzky. Y