Hanukkah

By Jane Ammeson

This Hanukkah season Edie and Jerry Weinstein of Stevensville, Michigan will make potato latkes using a family recipe passed down from Jerry’s mother. Latkes, which are grated potatoes and onions fried golden brown in oil, are part of the heritage of Hanukkah; the Jewish holiday celebrating the revolt of the Maccabees in 165 BC against the Syrian Greek forces that tried to destroy their religion. Known as the Festival of the Lights, Hanukkah begins on the 25thh day of Kislev, the Jewish calendar, and lasts for eight days and nights. Celebrating the holiday, the Weinsteins carry on a tradition that has lasted for more than two millenniums.

“It’s the miracle of the oil,” says Marnie Heyn, an arts instructor at the Krasl Art Center in St. Joseph, Michigan and the Salvation Army. “It celebrates how the Jews drove the Greeks from a temple they had been using as a barn. There was a lamp in this re-sanctified sanctuary with only enough oil to burn for one night and instead it miraculously burned for eight days until more oil could be made—it had to be cold pressed virgin oil.”

The troubles began when Antiochus IV, the Greek-Syrian ruler, attempted to force Greek culture upon the Jews in Judea, now Israel. Jews were forbidden to practice their religion or to study the Torah. Though the Syrian Greek army far outnumbered the Jews, they took up arms to save their religion. They were led first by Mattathias the Hasmonean and then by his son Juday the Maccabee, thus the rebel Jewish armies became known as the Maccabees. After fighting for three years, the Maccabees were able to reclaim the temple on Jerusalem’s Mount Moriah and began to prepare it for rededication (Hanukkah is Hebrew for dedication). Part of the rededication involved keeping the lamp going using the one-day supply of oil that was found in the temple while more was sought. And because the significance of the holiday revolves around the miracle of the oil that kept the lamp burning bright for those eight days, foods used to celebrate Hanukkah are fried in oil.

“In America, we eat latkes, but in Israel they eat a fried donut,” says Edie Weinstein. Those donuts, filled with jam or a honey nut mixture, are called sufganiyot. Israelis begin eating sufganiyot a month before the beginning of Hanukkah. Another important food in the Hanukkah tradition is dairy products. That’s because, according to legend, a Jewish woman named Judith saved her village from Syrian attackers by feeding wine and salty cheese to the Holofernes, a Syrian general. The salt in the cheese made Holofernes so thirsty he drank way more wine than he should have and passed out. Judith, a courageous woman, then decapitated him and placed his head in a basket. This gruesome act had a purpose. Judith brought the basket back to her village where it was found the next morning by Holofernes’ troops. Finding their leader’s head in a basket was so demoralizing that the troops retreated, saving the village.

Cindy Burch, a first grade teacher at Washington Elementary in Coloma, Michigan has been cooking latkes in her class for many years as a way to teach children about ethnic foods and the meaning of Hanukkah.

“They have a lot of fun,” she says noting that they often cook in her classroom.

Burch’s sister Sondra Levin of Benton Harbor, Michigan usually makes latkes several times during Hanukkah. She also makes a variation of latkes—a potato kugel. This traditional Jewish dish is very similar to latkes in that it is a mixture of potatoes and eggs, but the kugel is baked in the oven.

“That way you limit the fat in it,” says Levin who will serve the kugel with latkes during the holiday. Levin will also buy a certain type of jelly filled donuts at Dunkin Donuts to serve for dessert. These, she says, are very similar to sufganiyot because they are round in shape and deep-fried.

“If they’re not deep fried, they don’t do the job,” she says with a laugh.

According to Edie Weinstein the menorah, an eight-branched candelabra, is also part of the holiday celebration. At sundown on each of the nights of Hanukkah, a shamish (the candle used to light the other candles) is used in the ceremony; one is lit each night until the final night when all are glowing. As the candles are lit, the family sings and prays.
Also important is the dreidl—a spinning top with Hebrew letters on it. The dreidl was a way to teach Hebrew to children in a way that would fool their captors who had outlawed the teaching of the language.

“Part of the celebration is the triumph of right over wrong,” says Edie who often makes a roast chicken and salad to accompany the latkes for a Hanukkah dinner. She also notes that applesauce and sour cream are traditional accompaniments of the latkes.

Jerry Weinstein’s Potato Latkes
Four potatoes, peeled and grated
One small onion, peeled and grated
Two eggs
One half-cup Matzo meal

Mix together, flatten into patties. Heat one half inch to one inch of oil in a large skillet until hot. Drop patties in oil, brown on both sides until crisp. Serve with sour cream and applesauce.

Marnie Heyn’s Turnip and Carrot Cakes
Four large carrots
Two large turnips
One egg
Scant handful of corn meal
Pinch of salt
Scrub, peel and grate carrots and turnips. Mix with other ingredients. Form into hand sized patties. Fry rapidly in one fourth inch peanut or walnut oil.
Drain and serve with Cardamom Sour Cream Sauce
Marnie Heyn’s Cardamom Sour Cream Sauce
One-cup sour cream
Juice of one lemon
One-fourth teaspoon sugar
Dash of cardamom.

Edie Weinstein supplied this recipe for Sufganiyot
Two and one half cups flour
Three fourths cup warm milk
One package dry yeast
Two eggs (separated)
Four tbsp. sugar
One-fourth tsp. salt
One tsp. vanilla
One tbsp. grated lemon rind or 1 tsp. Cinnamon
One half-cup butter
Jam for filling
Vegetable oil (for frying)
Powdered sugar (for dusting over the doughnuts)

Note: If you want to serve sufganiyot at a meat meal, you can replace the milk with water, and the butter with non-dairy margarine.

First, mix together the yeast, two tablespoons of the sugar, and the milk (or hot water). Let it sit for a few minutes—you should see it bubbling.

Sift the flour and mix it with the two remaining tablespoons of sugar, salt, lemon rind or cinnamon, two egg yolks, and the yeast mixture.

Knead the dough into a ball. Add the butter (or margarine), and knead it into the dough until the butter or margarine is fully absorbed. Cover the dough with a tea towel and put it into the refrigerator overnight to rise. If you don’t have enough time to do this, let the dough rise for about an hour, or until it’s doubled in size.

When the dough has risen, roll it out on a floured board to a thickness of about a centimeter. Cut the dough with a small round glass or a cookie-cutter into an even number of rounds. You should be able to make at least 24 rounds.

Now for the filling. Take a small spoonful of jam and place in the middle of half of your rounds. Use whichever kind of jam is your favorite. Over each round with jam in the middle, place another round. Seal the edges with your fingers and egg whites. (You’ll probably want a pastry brush for the egg whites). Leave the doughnuts to rise for about half-an-hour.
Heat about five inches of vegetable oil to about 375 degrees. Drop the doughnuts into the hot oil, browning on both sides. When done, drain the sufganiyot on paper towels, and when they’ve cooled a little, dust them in powdered sugar.