Sephardi Alternative to Honey Cake: Tispishti
Commentor tdr requested this flourless cake recipe from me. It is a traditional Sephardi Rosh Hashana recipe and those who are accustomed to forgoing nuts will quickly notice it has lots of nuts in it. If you don't eat nuts on Rosh Hashana, but want to give this recipe a try, save it for Pesach. It beats any Pesach cake you can buy on the market hands down, and will put Pesach cake mixes to shame.
My regular readers will also notice it isn't the most frugal of recipes. But, considering I'm using the ground nuts that were leftover from the Pesach charoset, and that have been sitting in my freezer, I can say it didn't cost me anything more than what I already had to spend.
Recipe adapted from Sephardic Holiday Cooking by Gilda Angel (my holiday cooking bible).
Cake batter:
6 eggs separated
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon liquor (the author uses Whiskey, I've used Hazelnut liquor or Almond liquor. Whatever is in our home-which isn't much-should work)
1 Tablespoon water
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
dash of ground cloves
1.5 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups ground walnuts (I imagine almonds would work too)
grated rind of orange and lemon
Syrup: (Heat in microwave or boil over stove)
3/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 cup water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat egg yolks until think and lemon colored. Add sugar and beat until smooth.
Stir in vanilla, liquor, water, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, ground nuts, and grated rinds.
Beat separated eggs whites until they are stiff. Fold together batter and egg whites.
Pour into a greased baking pan. I used a circle baking pan because it gives a nice presentation.
Bake 30 minutes more or less.
Poke holes in cake with a fork. Drown cake in syrup.
This is a rich recipe. It has been a hit amongst guests, but you can't eat too much of it. I recommend serving with fresh fruit.
Showing posts with label Sephardic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sephardic. Show all posts
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Rosh Hashana: Nuts, Yea or Nay?
Don't let this short post distract you from posting comments on my previous post. But can the minhagim experts please let me know just how widespread the no nuts on Rosh Hashana minhag is? Has it taken on great force in recent years because older Jewish Cookbooks don't refrain from Rosh Hashana receipes withe nuts, particularly Honey Cake? My husband can't imagine his mother's honey cake without nuts (she is pure Sephardi)!
I'm cutting the nuts out of the simanim courses because I don't want to leave my guests without food (chas v'shalom). . . . . or send anyone to the hospital (I do seem to recall one guest might be allergic). But I'm not planning to cut them out of the honey cake as there will be other dessert options. Sephardi Cooking is filled with nuts (on Rosh Hashana too) and nuts do add to the flavor and quality of the food.
So Yea or Nay to Nuts and why?
Don't let this short post distract you from posting comments on my previous post. But can the minhagim experts please let me know just how widespread the no nuts on Rosh Hashana minhag is? Has it taken on great force in recent years because older Jewish Cookbooks don't refrain from Rosh Hashana receipes withe nuts, particularly Honey Cake? My husband can't imagine his mother's honey cake without nuts (she is pure Sephardi)!
I'm cutting the nuts out of the simanim courses because I don't want to leave my guests without food (chas v'shalom). . . . . or send anyone to the hospital (I do seem to recall one guest might be allergic). But I'm not planning to cut them out of the honey cake as there will be other dessert options. Sephardi Cooking is filled with nuts (on Rosh Hashana too) and nuts do add to the flavor and quality of the food.
So Yea or Nay to Nuts and why?
Monday, April 16, 2007
Post-Pesach Tidbits (Some Should have been Pre-Pesach, Oh Well)
This Pesach's experiences will prompt a number of the next few posts. But in the meantime I thought I would add a few random things on my mind before getting back on the blogging block too soon.
First off, while I was computer free, AlazLaz tagged me to find out what Haggadah we use. While we have a growing number of Haggadot on our shelves with commentaries, all of which are fantastic resources, a simple Pesach Haggadah serves us best at the Seder. There is a particularly enjoyable Haggadah that we enjoy using, compiled by Rabbi Marc Angel of the Spanish Porteguese Synagogue Shearith Israel, complete with various commentaries from Sephardi Chachamin, past and present and a complilation of various minhagim. The index also has a very brief biography on each of the commentators which is easy to reference and is in and of itself a fantastic feature.
The highlight of this Haggadah is the inclusion of key Ladino translations and songs including Quen Supiese, a Ladino version of Mi Echad Yodea, and Un Cavritico (One Kid/Had Gadya). What we discovered when we ordered this Haggadah is that there is more than one Ladino version to each of these songs. While extremely similiar, there are some differences. And that is what an Oral Messorah is for. Fascinating! And Pesach is filled with oral family mesorahs that are so numerous and so interesting and often myterious. This Haggadah is really is a great edition to any library (and no, I'm not being paid to say that). What is does lack is a Ladino translation of the Four Questions. Next year, iy"h, I will insert this into the Haggadah.
Some of the notable differences in the seder are 1) Only two berachot over cups of wine are made, keeping in mind the 2nd and 4th cup 2) Mah Nishtana follows the order of the Gemorah and the 3rd Question (afilu pa'am achat) is asked first, 3) Kos Eliyahu and hiding the Afikomen were adopted from the Ashkenaz tradition while not originally Sephardi customs, and 4) Men and Women all lean which is not a universal practice in Ashkenazi circles. I will stop at four for now. Gives me more to blog abour next year and four is just an appropriate Pesach number.
Onto other tidbits:
--> The Four Questions: I was a big nervous that my pre-schooler would get stage fright and be unable to "perform" the four questions which he had been working on quite intently (Last year at not quite yet 2 he did one Mah Nishtanah and one question with a bit of help) .
Despite the fact my MIL/FIL never sent their children to 2-year old or 3-year old nursery (formerly known as day care), they have become big believers so to speak as my SIL/BIL set the stage. As the younger sibling, my husband and I receive rather large clues that we aren't doing things right and we are going to put our children behind academically through these choices.
While I should just ignore all of this since I'm armed with my own facts and my kids are performing remarkably well for only have me as a teacher, I still put pressure on myself to perform. So when my almost 3-year old son stood up and performed the 4 questions flawlessly in beautifully accented Ivrit. I burst into tears.
Incidently, the younger cousin in nursery didn't even attempt a question. I've got to stop pressuring me. Fortunately, I'm not pressuring my own kids. This boy is probably as driven as they come and he takes to everything like a sponge. I should have recorded him singing on the Purim Podcast. He could have sung nearly any song from Eishet Chayil to Chag Purim to Shalom Aleichem.
--> Berachot: One little issue, after learning the beracha "al achilat matzah" he nows says "al achilat yadayim." I think we can straighten that out soon.
--> Confusing Environments and New Rules: While I can't complain about not having to clean and kasher my own home for Pesach as we joined my husband's family for the festivities, I don't believe it is easy to go away either. Taking little children (and some adults too) out of their environment for 2 weeks (extended trip) isn't easy by any means. It isn't just the living out of a suitcase, bouncing from place to place, and throwing off any semblance of a schedule that is difficult. It is all of the other things that happen (or don't happen) when you outside of your environment. Probably the biggest difficulty when traveling with small and curious children is that the new environment has not been tuned to their impulses and neither have the hosts. To make a long megillah short, I'm not sure that there was a place untouched despite very vigilant parents (that's us). Now our family host has her own children, but it appears they not one has been a tenth as mechanically inclined, athletic, etc as ours. If so, the house, set up, etc would have been completely different. And because of the bad weather, my son did not see a ball for the entire trip (is that a form of child neglect?).
--> Diet: Another difficulty is diet when outside of your home, and not just the Pesach diet! In our home regular Shabbat seudot include vegetable based soups, a little bit of poultry or meat, a variety of vegetables and/or salads, and a starch. More often than not, dessert is fresh fruit with a cookie. Our hosts are the opposite: heavy on meat/poultry/gefilte fish, extremely light on veggies which usually appear in the form of a kugel or in the form of a garnish if and when they appear, and heavy on potato starch/matza meal prepared desserts. Lunches and snacks are matza and cheese, matza brie, and matza rolls: not a fruit in sight, but thank G-d for the overpriced Pesach yogurt. And the biggest killer of all: Coca Cola served at every meal. There is a reason I don't bring sodas into our home. I spent the week after Pesach weaning my son off the Coca Cola. Now that we are home it is cold turkey because we have none here (baruch Hashem). The stuff is a drug, yet present at every meal, every kiddush, etc. Now I'm no health food fanatic, but putting Coca-Cola out at every meal? I can't think of a worse idea.
--> Needing Explicit Instructions: Lastly, I like to help wherever I go and I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that I want to be told what to do! As a guest in a kitchen that is not my own and that I did not grow up in I need explicit instructions, especially on Pesach, when a kashrut messup could be devestating (even if it really isn't a problem, but I digress-I ranted about women's learning in my last post).
Unless a host family is super organized and has all utensils clearly labelled, all chometz utensils locked away (and I do mean locked because small children and even sitting babies can easily pull tape off cabinets if you blink an eye), and clearly written receipes, helping in the kitchen is not a "do it yourself" project. I can't walk into a kitchen and just know which utensils are milk, meat, and parve if they are not clearly labelled. I also do NOT know how so-in-so family member's Bubbe or Savta made their chicken soup. So, if you don't have the secrets clearly recorded, I really can't help you.
It isn't fair to grumble about lack of help if you don't create an environment that is safe to help in. Baruch Hashem this year things were more spacious and I was able to help much more. So while this issue is one of the past, I just figured I would put it out there.
Next Up: When a couple blows a simcha in the eyes of one set of parents?
This Pesach's experiences will prompt a number of the next few posts. But in the meantime I thought I would add a few random things on my mind before getting back on the blogging block too soon.
First off, while I was computer free, AlazLaz tagged me to find out what Haggadah we use. While we have a growing number of Haggadot on our shelves with commentaries, all of which are fantastic resources, a simple Pesach Haggadah serves us best at the Seder. There is a particularly enjoyable Haggadah that we enjoy using, compiled by Rabbi Marc Angel of the Spanish Porteguese Synagogue Shearith Israel, complete with various commentaries from Sephardi Chachamin, past and present and a complilation of various minhagim. The index also has a very brief biography on each of the commentators which is easy to reference and is in and of itself a fantastic feature.
The highlight of this Haggadah is the inclusion of key Ladino translations and songs including Quen Supiese, a Ladino version of Mi Echad Yodea, and Un Cavritico (One Kid/Had Gadya). What we discovered when we ordered this Haggadah is that there is more than one Ladino version to each of these songs. While extremely similiar, there are some differences. And that is what an Oral Messorah is for. Fascinating! And Pesach is filled with oral family mesorahs that are so numerous and so interesting and often myterious. This Haggadah is really is a great edition to any library (and no, I'm not being paid to say that). What is does lack is a Ladino translation of the Four Questions. Next year, iy"h, I will insert this into the Haggadah.
Some of the notable differences in the seder are 1) Only two berachot over cups of wine are made, keeping in mind the 2nd and 4th cup 2) Mah Nishtana follows the order of the Gemorah and the 3rd Question (afilu pa'am achat) is asked first, 3) Kos Eliyahu and hiding the Afikomen were adopted from the Ashkenaz tradition while not originally Sephardi customs, and 4) Men and Women all lean which is not a universal practice in Ashkenazi circles. I will stop at four for now. Gives me more to blog abour next year and four is just an appropriate Pesach number.
Onto other tidbits:
--> The Four Questions: I was a big nervous that my pre-schooler would get stage fright and be unable to "perform" the four questions which he had been working on quite intently (Last year at not quite yet 2 he did one Mah Nishtanah and one question with a bit of help) .
Despite the fact my MIL/FIL never sent their children to 2-year old or 3-year old nursery (formerly known as day care), they have become big believers so to speak as my SIL/BIL set the stage. As the younger sibling, my husband and I receive rather large clues that we aren't doing things right and we are going to put our children behind academically through these choices.
While I should just ignore all of this since I'm armed with my own facts and my kids are performing remarkably well for only have me as a teacher, I still put pressure on myself to perform. So when my almost 3-year old son stood up and performed the 4 questions flawlessly in beautifully accented Ivrit. I burst into tears.
Incidently, the younger cousin in nursery didn't even attempt a question. I've got to stop pressuring me. Fortunately, I'm not pressuring my own kids. This boy is probably as driven as they come and he takes to everything like a sponge. I should have recorded him singing on the Purim Podcast. He could have sung nearly any song from Eishet Chayil to Chag Purim to Shalom Aleichem.
--> Berachot: One little issue, after learning the beracha "al achilat matzah" he nows says "al achilat yadayim." I think we can straighten that out soon.
--> Confusing Environments and New Rules: While I can't complain about not having to clean and kasher my own home for Pesach as we joined my husband's family for the festivities, I don't believe it is easy to go away either. Taking little children (and some adults too) out of their environment for 2 weeks (extended trip) isn't easy by any means. It isn't just the living out of a suitcase, bouncing from place to place, and throwing off any semblance of a schedule that is difficult. It is all of the other things that happen (or don't happen) when you outside of your environment. Probably the biggest difficulty when traveling with small and curious children is that the new environment has not been tuned to their impulses and neither have the hosts. To make a long megillah short, I'm not sure that there was a place untouched despite very vigilant parents (that's us). Now our family host has her own children, but it appears they not one has been a tenth as mechanically inclined, athletic, etc as ours. If so, the house, set up, etc would have been completely different. And because of the bad weather, my son did not see a ball for the entire trip (is that a form of child neglect?).
--> Diet: Another difficulty is diet when outside of your home, and not just the Pesach diet! In our home regular Shabbat seudot include vegetable based soups, a little bit of poultry or meat, a variety of vegetables and/or salads, and a starch. More often than not, dessert is fresh fruit with a cookie. Our hosts are the opposite: heavy on meat/poultry/gefilte fish, extremely light on veggies which usually appear in the form of a kugel or in the form of a garnish if and when they appear, and heavy on potato starch/matza meal prepared desserts. Lunches and snacks are matza and cheese, matza brie, and matza rolls: not a fruit in sight, but thank G-d for the overpriced Pesach yogurt. And the biggest killer of all: Coca Cola served at every meal. There is a reason I don't bring sodas into our home. I spent the week after Pesach weaning my son off the Coca Cola. Now that we are home it is cold turkey because we have none here (baruch Hashem). The stuff is a drug, yet present at every meal, every kiddush, etc. Now I'm no health food fanatic, but putting Coca-Cola out at every meal? I can't think of a worse idea.
--> Needing Explicit Instructions: Lastly, I like to help wherever I go and I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that I want to be told what to do! As a guest in a kitchen that is not my own and that I did not grow up in I need explicit instructions, especially on Pesach, when a kashrut messup could be devestating (even if it really isn't a problem, but I digress-I ranted about women's learning in my last post).
Unless a host family is super organized and has all utensils clearly labelled, all chometz utensils locked away (and I do mean locked because small children and even sitting babies can easily pull tape off cabinets if you blink an eye), and clearly written receipes, helping in the kitchen is not a "do it yourself" project. I can't walk into a kitchen and just know which utensils are milk, meat, and parve if they are not clearly labelled. I also do NOT know how so-in-so family member's Bubbe or Savta made their chicken soup. So, if you don't have the secrets clearly recorded, I really can't help you.
It isn't fair to grumble about lack of help if you don't create an environment that is safe to help in. Baruch Hashem this year things were more spacious and I was able to help much more. So while this issue is one of the past, I just figured I would put it out there.
Next Up: When a couple blows a simcha in the eyes of one set of parents?
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Prasa NOT Pasta
Short post as not only is Pesach approaching quickly, but so is the end of tax season.
So with Pesach just around the corner, I decided it was time to start seriously prepping our preschool aged son for what to expect. So far it is proving to be a humorous adventure.
Like many children, my son is fascinated by sedarim (orders/routines), but more so. He remembers every details of a routine. For example, when recounting the previous visit to a certain high rise building that we regularly visit, he names every step of the process down to the seemingly insignificant detail of how Daddy must lift him to reach the elevator button because it is "soooooo high up!" Seems like we have a "1st son" on our hands.
While he declares every holiday or event as his favorite, I'm predicting that Pesach will become the highlight of his year, just like it is the highlight of Daddy's year. He loves order and routines, and Pesach offers just that. It also offers a lineup of other things he absolutely loves: grape juice, a warm breakfast on yom tov, the opportunity to be with family, and songs, songs, and more songs. This kid loves singing and chazanut.
The only problem with the new routine is that he wants a different, more familiar, routine. This week my husband made him a "mock seder" while I got ready to go out. So after making the first kiddush of the seder, Sephardiboy stands up and tells Daddy that he forgot to sing Shalom Aleichem and Aishet Chayil. Fortunately, the idea of making kiddush twice (yes, you read that correctly) was quite thrilling to him and seemed to make up for the disappointment he had experienced earlier.
And if the routine is confusing, even more confusing is the concept of Chometz. When I first starting teaching the concept, I had asked him what foods he thought were chometz. What did he list first after bread? Drumroll please. . . . . . . . rice. I quickly made a mental note that I will have to introduce the subject of kitniyot before a future Rebbe introduces it in school since our approach is more nuanced. But, it is too early to introduce the concept now.
At this point my son has catagorized an entire list of food as either chometz or not chometz, and rice is no longer in the chometz list. He knows he will not be having his favorite food (pasta) for Pesach "because Pasta is Chometz."
So yesterday, he overheard me and Savta discussing the Pesach menu. I asked how much Prasa (A meat patty made with prasa, ladino for leeks) we will be making and in runs our little tzadik screaming "But, pasta is chometz. We do NOT eat chometz on Pesach." I respond, "PraSA, not PasTa."
So far I am 0 and 2 in teaching about Pesach.
Short post as not only is Pesach approaching quickly, but so is the end of tax season.
So with Pesach just around the corner, I decided it was time to start seriously prepping our preschool aged son for what to expect. So far it is proving to be a humorous adventure.
Like many children, my son is fascinated by sedarim (orders/routines), but more so. He remembers every details of a routine. For example, when recounting the previous visit to a certain high rise building that we regularly visit, he names every step of the process down to the seemingly insignificant detail of how Daddy must lift him to reach the elevator button because it is "soooooo high up!" Seems like we have a "1st son" on our hands.
While he declares every holiday or event as his favorite, I'm predicting that Pesach will become the highlight of his year, just like it is the highlight of Daddy's year. He loves order and routines, and Pesach offers just that. It also offers a lineup of other things he absolutely loves: grape juice, a warm breakfast on yom tov, the opportunity to be with family, and songs, songs, and more songs. This kid loves singing and chazanut.
The only problem with the new routine is that he wants a different, more familiar, routine. This week my husband made him a "mock seder" while I got ready to go out. So after making the first kiddush of the seder, Sephardiboy stands up and tells Daddy that he forgot to sing Shalom Aleichem and Aishet Chayil. Fortunately, the idea of making kiddush twice (yes, you read that correctly) was quite thrilling to him and seemed to make up for the disappointment he had experienced earlier.
And if the routine is confusing, even more confusing is the concept of Chometz. When I first starting teaching the concept, I had asked him what foods he thought were chometz. What did he list first after bread? Drumroll please. . . . . . . . rice. I quickly made a mental note that I will have to introduce the subject of kitniyot before a future Rebbe introduces it in school since our approach is more nuanced. But, it is too early to introduce the concept now.
At this point my son has catagorized an entire list of food as either chometz or not chometz, and rice is no longer in the chometz list. He knows he will not be having his favorite food (pasta) for Pesach "because Pasta is Chometz."
So yesterday, he overheard me and Savta discussing the Pesach menu. I asked how much Prasa (A meat patty made with prasa, ladino for leeks) we will be making and in runs our little tzadik screaming "But, pasta is chometz. We do NOT eat chometz on Pesach." I respond, "PraSA, not PasTa."
So far I am 0 and 2 in teaching about Pesach.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
BIG Mazal Tov and some Fun Chanukah Things
I want to take this time to wish all of my friends and readers a Chanukah Sameach and a Shabbat Shalom. Please keep reading and discussing. A great readership really helps the writer behind the computer screen.
And, I am honored to wish a big Mazal Tov to Rabbi Yakov and Udi Horowitz, on the upcoming marriage of their daughter Faigy to Dovid Meir Loeb on week from this Sunday. Rabbi Horowitz's articles and parenting column are excellent and well worth the time. May Faigy and Dovid Meir build a bayit ne'eman b'yisrael. What a lucky couple to have such parents to look to when their time to parent comes.
I've tried to make it a point to post some interesting Sephardi tidbit before each Yom Tov. So, in continuing with this tradition, I thought I would post a cute little Ladino Chanukah Song, "Ocho Kandelikas," which I was teaching one of my children this week, and a recipe for the food mentioned in the song.
The song can be heard in full here. (A word of warning for those who don't listen to kol isha on recordings, this recording includes kol isha. Sorry.)
Lyrics:
Hanukah linda sta aki, ocho kandelas para mi, Hanukah Linda sta aki, ocho kandelas para mi. O...
(Beautiful Chanukah is here, eight candles for me. )
Refrain: Una kandelika, dos kandelikas, tres kandelikas, kuatro kandelikas, sintyu kandelikas, sej kandelikas, siete kandelikas, ocho kandelas para mi.
(One candle, two candles, . . . . eight candles for me)
Muchas fiestas vo fazer, con alegrias i plazer. Muchas fiestas vo fazer, con alegrias i plazer. O...
(Many parties will be held, with happiness and pleasure)
Repeat Refrain.
Los pastelikos vo kumer, con almendrikas i la myel. Los pastelikos vo kumer, con almendrikas i la myel. O... (We will eat pastelikos [see below] with almonds and honey).
Repeat Refrain.
I want to take this time to wish all of my friends and readers a Chanukah Sameach and a Shabbat Shalom. Please keep reading and discussing. A great readership really helps the writer behind the computer screen.
And, I am honored to wish a big Mazal Tov to Rabbi Yakov and Udi Horowitz, on the upcoming marriage of their daughter Faigy to Dovid Meir Loeb on week from this Sunday. Rabbi Horowitz's articles and parenting column are excellent and well worth the time. May Faigy and Dovid Meir build a bayit ne'eman b'yisrael. What a lucky couple to have such parents to look to when their time to parent comes.
I've tried to make it a point to post some interesting Sephardi tidbit before each Yom Tov. So, in continuing with this tradition, I thought I would post a cute little Ladino Chanukah Song, "Ocho Kandelikas," which I was teaching one of my children this week, and a recipe for the food mentioned in the song.
The song can be heard in full here. (A word of warning for those who don't listen to kol isha on recordings, this recording includes kol isha. Sorry.)
Lyrics:
Hanukah linda sta aki, ocho kandelas para mi, Hanukah Linda sta aki, ocho kandelas para mi. O...
(Beautiful Chanukah is here, eight candles for me. )
Refrain: Una kandelika, dos kandelikas, tres kandelikas, kuatro kandelikas, sintyu kandelikas, sej kandelikas, siete kandelikas, ocho kandelas para mi.
(One candle, two candles, . . . . eight candles for me)
Muchas fiestas vo fazer, con alegrias i plazer. Muchas fiestas vo fazer, con alegrias i plazer. O...
(Many parties will be held, with happiness and pleasure)
Repeat Refrain.
Los pastelikos vo kumer, con almendrikas i la myel. Los pastelikos vo kumer, con almendrikas i la myel. O... (We will eat pastelikos [see below] with almonds and honey).
Repeat Refrain.
Bimuelos recipe
The following is a Sephardi pastry recipe for Chanukah. It is essentially a doughnut, but instead of putting jelly inside, it is dipped into a sweet syrup or warm honey. They can be made in advance, stored in an airtight container. But, if you make it in advance, warm the syrup for dipping in when you serve. (Since we are serving these for Shabbat Chanukah, I will be keeping the syrup warm on the blech for dipping at dessert time and may even warm the pastries up for a brief time).
- 1 package or 2.5 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 cups warm water
- 1 teaspoon sugar or honey
- 2.5 cups flour
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- Vegetable oil for deep-frying
- 1 recipe of sugar syrup cooled
- Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup of water. Stir in sugar or honey and let stand 5-10 minutes until foamy.
- Combine flour and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Pour yeast mixture and remaining water into the well and stir until dough is smooth. Cover and let rise at room temperature until it doubles, approximately 1.5 hours. Stir again.
- Heat 2 inches of oil of a medium heat to 375 degrees.
- Dip spoon in cold water to drop doubt into hot oil. Deep-fry until golden brow on all sides. Drain on paper towels.
- Dip warm doughnuts into cooled syrup. If you prefer, you can dust with confectionery sugar (or see above for Shabbat method).
Sugar Syrup
Combine 2 cups of sugar (or 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of honey) with 1 cup of water and 2 teaspoons of lemon juice. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to simmer and simmer without stirring until a syrup forms. Cool in the refrigerator. You can add a 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, a tablespoon of orange zest, or even a tablespoon or rose water or other fragrant water.
And a Halachic Concept
Rabbi Mansour answers the question, "Chanukah- When Your Neighbor Does Not Have Enough Money To Buy Oil To Light The Menorah," what the halacha is when your neighbor does not have the money to buy enough oil to light the minimum, while you have only enough money to fulfill lighting all of the candles (a hiddur, as we are only required on light on each night as a minimum). The answer in short is that the neighbor with money for all of the lights, but no more than that, sacrifices his hiddur so his neighbor can fulfill the mitzvah of lighting too.
Rabbi Mansour states: "Although this Halacha may not have direct, practical relevance nowadays, the underlying principle is an important one: a person should be prepared to help others perform Mitzvot at the minimum level, even at the expense of his own performance at the highest standard."
This principal hopefully will serve as a nice lead in to a future topic. (!) Stay tuned. . .and Happy Chanukah.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Chag Sameach and a Nice Commentary on the Four Questions
Since this will most likely be my last post before the Yom Tov, I want to take this time to wish my readers and my friends a Chag Kasher V'Sameach. Pesach is a great holiday in our family and we have been looking forward to it for a while now. Besides some of the great Pesach foods, it is really great to be around the table with all of the siblings and cousins. It is heartwarming to see their enthusiasm, hear them sing songs, and share their haggadot.
Since we have really been looking forward to Pesach, we got an early start on looking through the Haggadah. I thought it would be fun to share a Torah thought from one of our Haggadot on the Four Questions. These thoughts are so relevant to how we raise our children, and it will be nice to take this Pesach (one of the New Year's) into the rest of the year.
Rabbi Shelomo Halevy Alkabets explains that the child does not ask because he is afraid of making a mistake. He does not know how to phrase his question and lacks confidence. Therefore, the parent should try to lead him into a conversation, to encourage him, to strengthen him, to strengthen his confidence. Through the conversation, the child will have the opportunity of expressing himself. This child has understanding and knowledge, and it is the parent's responsibility to help the child express himself. (Rabbi Hayyim Yosef David Azulai, Geulat Olam.)
The child who does not even know how to ask lacks imagination and curiosity. The parent has an obligation to tell the story of the miraculous exodus, thereby stimulating the child's imagination. Even such a child can advance intellectually if he is encouraged to ask questions, to find out the meaning of things. (Rabbi Yaacov Houli, Me'am Lo'ez).
The four children are paralleled by four kinds of parents. The wise parent encourages the child to learn and to ask. The wicked parent treats religious symbolism with scorn, separating himself form the community. The naive parent does not trouble to student and learn, and has no deep knowledge of Torah and Jewish tradition. In each of these three cases, the children follow the models set by their parents.
The child who does not know how to ask is the most unfortunate child. Children are naturally curious and are always asking questions [tell me about it!]. To find a child who is unable to ask is shocking, even frightening. Such a child exists because of the domineering nature of the parent. A parent who is constantly criticizing the child, always silencing him, and frequently showing him disrespect-such a parent deprives the child of self-esteem. The child suppresses question because he is afraid, because his parent have not given him self-esteem.
The Haggadah teaches parents to reevaluate their own roles in relationship to their children, to open channels of communication. If parents and children can sit around the same table, can celebrate the festival, can discuss words of Torah-then there is hope.
Since this will most likely be my last post before the Yom Tov, I want to take this time to wish my readers and my friends a Chag Kasher V'Sameach. Pesach is a great holiday in our family and we have been looking forward to it for a while now. Besides some of the great Pesach foods, it is really great to be around the table with all of the siblings and cousins. It is heartwarming to see their enthusiasm, hear them sing songs, and share their haggadot.
Since we have really been looking forward to Pesach, we got an early start on looking through the Haggadah. I thought it would be fun to share a Torah thought from one of our Haggadot on the Four Questions. These thoughts are so relevant to how we raise our children, and it will be nice to take this Pesach (one of the New Year's) into the rest of the year.
Rabbi Shelomo Halevy Alkabets explains that the child does not ask because he is afraid of making a mistake. He does not know how to phrase his question and lacks confidence. Therefore, the parent should try to lead him into a conversation, to encourage him, to strengthen him, to strengthen his confidence. Through the conversation, the child will have the opportunity of expressing himself. This child has understanding and knowledge, and it is the parent's responsibility to help the child express himself. (Rabbi Hayyim Yosef David Azulai, Geulat Olam.)
The child who does not even know how to ask lacks imagination and curiosity. The parent has an obligation to tell the story of the miraculous exodus, thereby stimulating the child's imagination. Even such a child can advance intellectually if he is encouraged to ask questions, to find out the meaning of things. (Rabbi Yaacov Houli, Me'am Lo'ez).
The four children are paralleled by four kinds of parents. The wise parent encourages the child to learn and to ask. The wicked parent treats religious symbolism with scorn, separating himself form the community. The naive parent does not trouble to student and learn, and has no deep knowledge of Torah and Jewish tradition. In each of these three cases, the children follow the models set by their parents.
The child who does not know how to ask is the most unfortunate child. Children are naturally curious and are always asking questions [tell me about it!]. To find a child who is unable to ask is shocking, even frightening. Such a child exists because of the domineering nature of the parent. A parent who is constantly criticizing the child, always silencing him, and frequently showing him disrespect-such a parent deprives the child of self-esteem. The child suppresses question because he is afraid, because his parent have not given him self-esteem.
The Haggadah teaches parents to reevaluate their own roles in relationship to their children, to open channels of communication. If parents and children can sit around the same table, can celebrate the festival, can discuss words of Torah-then there is hope.
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Hello and Welcome
Hello and welcome to my blog. I've thought about blogging for many months, but I just hadn't got around to it. Finally reading months worth of posts of other bloggers about very important topics, I decided that it was time to give blogging a try and express my ideas and concerns about some of the hot button issues in the Orthodox Jewish community. Since I have a financial background and tend to comment a lot on economic issues, I figured it would be fun to choose a blog that reflected that concern of mine. After throwing around a number of names that didn't seem to have the right ring, my husband suggested Orthonomics and, alas, a blog was born.
I post under the name SephardiLady. The name came about when another blogger (sorry, I can't remember who) posted a topic on halacha that involved a dispute between Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Since I was representing the Sephardi interpretation, I posted under the name SephardiLady and I kept with the name.
Shavua Tov and welcome to my blog.
Hello and welcome to my blog. I've thought about blogging for many months, but I just hadn't got around to it. Finally reading months worth of posts of other bloggers about very important topics, I decided that it was time to give blogging a try and express my ideas and concerns about some of the hot button issues in the Orthodox Jewish community. Since I have a financial background and tend to comment a lot on economic issues, I figured it would be fun to choose a blog that reflected that concern of mine. After throwing around a number of names that didn't seem to have the right ring, my husband suggested Orthonomics and, alas, a blog was born.
I post under the name SephardiLady. The name came about when another blogger (sorry, I can't remember who) posted a topic on halacha that involved a dispute between Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Since I was representing the Sephardi interpretation, I posted under the name SephardiLady and I kept with the name.
Shavua Tov and welcome to my blog.
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