For Chanukah, smile and say cheese! Judy JoSzeF who’s in the kitchen
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k, we had a one meal holiday, Thanksgiving. You should have all aced that one. As I said last week, it was child’s play after Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot. Now back to what we’re used to: a holiday that lasts longer than a week. Since this is my third year at The Jewish Star, I simply cannot write about the miracle of the oil burning for eight days, potato latkes, fried doughnuts and chocolate coins anymore, I need something new — but what? I decided to surf the Internet, which I found stories about giant menorahs being lit, giant doughnuts being fried, and there was even a fictional character on SNL called Chanukah Harry, who lived on Mount Sinai and was the Jewish version of Santa, traveling through the air in a cart pulled by three donkeys named Moishe, Herschel and Shlomo. Just as I was about to give up, something caught my eye. It was an article written about dairy food being the food of choice for Chanukah, which made sense as potatoes weren’t introduced in Europe until hundreds of years later. It spoke about why cheese ingredients were used because of a story involving a Jewish heroine named Judith. My interest was piqued at this point and I wanted to find out if this was actual fact or folklore. he story is told of a beautiful woman named Judith who volunteered to go to the general of the Assyrian army, General Holofernes, and offer to give him information about the Jewish army and what they were planning. In reality, what she was really doing was trying to get inside info from him to pass along to the Jewish army. She brought along her own
included in the apocrypha. They have also been cited as valuable by the Rishonim, and later by midrashim that report that Judith killed the Assyrian General, which galvanised our people to muster the requisite courage to defeat a threatening enemy. She was a devout religious woman who risked her life to save our people. Most importantly, to me, Judith highlights the critical role women have played in achieving the redemption of the Jews throughout history. In honor of Judith and the history of Chanukah, give these cheese pancakes a try. They’re super easy to make and they’ll melt in your mouth. And of course a few fried potato latkes and sufganiot wouldn’t hurt either. Enjoy! After all, it will have been almost three weeks since we will have stuffed ourselves silly, so make up for lost time! Cheese pancakes Ingredients: 2 cups hoop cheese. I like to purchase mine from Neal at Brach’s. 4 extra large eggs 1 cup milk 2 tablespoons grated fresh lemon peel 1 1/2 cups flour 4 tablespoons sugar 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt Unsalted butter or canola for griddle or pan Directions: 1. Combine the hoop cheese, eggs, milk, and lemon peel in a bowl. 2. Add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix to combine ingredients. 3. Heat a griddle or pan over medium heat and add a small amount of butter or oil 4. When the butter is melted or oil is hot, pour about 1/4 cup batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Only fit as many in griddle or pan as will fit leaving ample room to flip. 5. Cook the pancakes for about 2 minutes per side, or until they are golden brown, adding more butter or oil to the pan as necessary.
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Catch us before we head on tour!
Last NYC performance Jan 18!
‘Sturgeon Queens’ airs this Sunday WLIW21 “The Sturgeon Queens,” a documentary that follows four generations of the Jewish immigrant family that started Russ & Daughters Appetizing in 1914 and still owns and runs the business, debuted last week and will air this Sunday at 9:30 am and 7 pm on WLIW21 (and at 2:30 pm on WNET13). The film traces the family’s progression from the early 20th century, when Joel Russ came from a shtetl in Eastern Europe to a tenement in New York and began selling herring from a push cart, to today, when two of his great-grandchildren preside over a thriving store and café praised by critics and an adoring crowd of Jewish and gentile foodies. The film features interviews with prominent customers including Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, actor Maggie Gyllenhaal, chef Mario Batali, journalist Morley Safer and writer Calvin Trillin. The film is built around a poignant, feisty, often hilarious, side-by-side interview with Hattie Russ Gold (who passed away April 2014) and Anne Russ Federman, two of the original daughters for whom the store was named — at the time, a radical move in a city of businesses passed down to sons. Rather than a traditional narrator, six longtime customers in their 80s and 90s sit around a table, reading the script — but they are not just script readers but characters in and of themselves.
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food because she kept the laws of kashrut. The General was smitten by her and she shared her food, which is said to have included a salty cheese which made him thirsty so that he would drink wine and become drunk. When he passed, she took his sword and beheaded him. The Israelis then launched a surprise attack on the leaderless Assyrian army and were victorious. As much as I loved the story and the outcome, I was a bit apprehensive to use it in my article, as I had never heard about the book of Judith. I did some additional research from an article by Mrs. Deena S. Rabinovich, director of Legacy Heritage Foundation Scholars Program at Stern College, I learned that Judith and Judah the Maccabee have each been associated with the story of Chanukah. Maccabee 1 and 2 as well as the book of Judith, have identified them as Jewish heroes. With further research I also learned that while each of these works are not included as part do the mesorah of consecrated Jewish works, they are
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December 5, 2014 • 13 KISLEV 5775 THE JEWISH STAR
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