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A Latke by Any Other NameRabbi Melanie Aron Friday December 1, 2006 In theory there is no sermon during these early Shabbat services, but those who attend regularly know, that I am prone nonetheless to try to introduce to a word of Torah. The topic for this evening, was obvious, the latke, and what could be a better topic than this quintessential Hanukah food, which, through the efforts of generations of Jewish mothers ( and sometimes fathers) willing to brave the American Public School classroom during the month of December with their fry pans and extension cords, have introduced this sacramental food to millions upon millions of non-Jewish children. I believe that those school children, now grown up, would be disappointed to learn that the two oldest English language Jewish cookbooks did not include any mention of the latke. The first, published in England in 1846 and called The Jewish Manual by A. Lady, was the work of Judith Cohen Montefiore, also known as Lady Montefiore, matriarch of a very prominent family of British Jews and a great philanthropist. The second, published in the United States in 1871, was the American Jewish Housekeepers Cookery Book by Esther Levy, a remarkable record of 19th century domestic life- and both without a word about latkes. So what’s going on here. For most of Jewish history, Chanukah was associated with the eating of cheese. This was tied to the story told in the Apocrypha about the beautiful widow Judith who is victorious over the wicked General Hollofernes, beseiger of Jerusalem. By giving the General salty cheese to eat, Judith entices him to drink too much wine, so that he falls into a deep sleep, which with a little help from Judith and a tent peg, becomes everlasting. There are also traditions of eating fried food on Hanukah, tied into the story of the Maccabees and their many battles. The Maccabees we are told didn’t have time for fancy cooking, no roasted Turkey, or slow cooking brisket for them. Instead they needed something that could be fried up in a jiffy. Only in more recent centuries is that custom tied to the story of the oil lasting eight days. If you really think about it, potatoes originated not in the ancient Middle East but in the New World and were only introduced into Europe by the Spaniards, eventually becoming a staple in the late 18th century. How ubiquitous potatoes became in the life of Eastern Europe Jews is illustrated by the Yiddish folksong, which proclaims, Sunday, potatoes, Monday potatoes….. all the way through Friday potatoes, with the triumphant coda, but on Shabbes, potato kugel. Scholars of the period claim that it was not unusual for Eastern European Jews at the time to eat potatoes in some form three times a day. The fact that the latke is the American Jewish Hanukah Food, speaks to the victory of the Eastern European Jews over the 17th and 18th century Sephardic Jews with their loukournades, deep fried puffs rolled in honey, and over the 19th century German Jews, with their jam filled fritters, the ancestors of the Israeli sufganiot. But I think the Latke’s finest moment was in the recent significant American Jewish anniversary marked on November 21st, that is the 60th anniversary of the University of Chicago’s Latke-Hamentashen debate held every year since 1946 on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. It began as an effort of what was then a small Jewish community on campus to find respite from the Christmas onslaught and to bring a little light and levity into the very dark and cold Chicago pre-final exam period. By 1965, the latke-hamantaschen debate had become a local tradition with 700 people in attendance, twice as many as were at the University of Chicago Hillel’s Kol Nidre service that year. The debate takes place with much pomp and circumstance, only PhD’s wearing full academic robes may participate. It has been introduced on many other campuses all around the country and has been captured in a book. The superiority of the latke has been argued by its relationship to American democracy in formation on the American frontier, where fry pans abounded for the frying of potatoes but where ovens for the baking of hamentaschen were an unknown luxury. Zionists have acknowledged the latkes relationship to core values in establishing a Jewish state. Was not the melody for Hatikvah, Israel’s national anthem, taken from The Moldave, by the Czech Composer Smetana, which everyone knows is Yiddish for sour cream, something never served with hamentaschen. Unless you are tuberphobic, you are sure to identify with the survey research by Tzimmes and Tzurris, which confirms that Cuisinart ownership is a significant factor in explaining variation in the degree of resentment among latke makers. While there are those who make hamentaschen with chocolate chips, all would agree that Latke’s allow for greater individuality and creativity. Think of the recently redesigned Reconstructionist latke. For a movement which gives the past a vote but not a veto, the latke has become a French crepe with HDL rich butter instead of old LDL rich lamp oil. To conclude I would like to share with you a few verse of the famous Ode to the Latke written by the Professor Emeritus of Slavic Languages and Literature of Yale University. Somehow I can imagine Arthur Harris sharing this fine literature with us.
Ode to the Latke (abridged)
A Jew develops from the cradle
A Jew'll pursue with zest and mania
A Jew will put his soul and talent
Some Jews will hail with shofar, bugle
And what is in a hamantasch?
No Jew could possibly endore
In our garden there is one dish most noble
The sphere of sphere, the circled line
The source of joy and eternal spring,
Latke, latke, sizzling bright
In what fragrant oil or grease
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