By Cynthia Baseman (5-26-09)

Today is forty-seven days, which is six weeks and five days of the Omer.

 

It is a tradition to count the days between Passover and Shavuot, as we mark our freedom from slavery and celebrate our freedom to accept Torah. This is called "counting the omer." This year we will observe the tradition of "counting the omer" by sharing stories about the many different ways that we have been turned on to Jewish learning, and through Jewish learning to Torah.

Thank you to everyone who wrote about a memorable moment of Jewish learning. We've collected 49 amazing stories, and we're grateful to all of our contributors. 

When I was first married in 1990, my mother handed me a cookbook, The Jewish Home Beautiful (1941) by Betty Greenberg and Althea Silverman, which had belonged to my grandmother Bunny.  A few years later, she gave me Joan Nathan's Jewish Cooking in America (1994). The former is a slim, blue, hardcover book and as a new wife and beginning cook I had a tough time imagining myself in the kitchen following recipes for Beet Preserves, Liver Knishes or Feather Kneidlach made with chicken fat.  The recipes in Nathan's Jewish Cooking in America looked a lot more appetizing.  But before I ever started pulling down a mixing bowl or pre-heating the oven, I got caught up in reading the commentary within each book. 

Seeing our Jewish traditions summed up in the seasonal menus made a lot of sense to me, and I kept on reading.  Something dawned on me as I made my first biscotti with matzo cake meal instead of flour on Passover; Jewish cookbooks were a gateway to a more personal understanding of being a Jew.  In Hebrew school, we grudgingly recited the Hebrew alphabet and watched the clock waiting for release from 'heder,' whereas when I was preparing for Shabbat or a holiday meal, I could pore over the explanations and history of our people until the wee hours. 

I am charmed by the changes that have taken place since these two cookbooks were written.  The Jewish Home Beautiful was published before Israel became a state and offers advice on "the Sephardic pronunciation used today in Palestine."  On the subject of Purim, the authors wrote: "The central figure of the Purim story is a woman, Queen Esther.  Both the Cinderella-like manner in which she rose to fame and power, and the courageous manner in which she saved her people, satisfy the dramatic urge in every woman's soul."  It is clearly "mothers" who are doing the cooking in this version of the Jewish home.

In contrast, Joan Nathan's Jewish Holiday Baker, Jewish Cooking in America, and Everyday Cooking for the Jewish Home give a nod to men and women cooks.  All these books contain many versions of recipes suggesting the merits of ancient traditions and contemporary interpretations of older recipes.  I checked - there wasn't a reference to chicken fat anywhere in sight.  On the subject of hamantashen, Nathan wrote about the Purim sweet and how "hamantash" can mean anything from Haman's hat to the three corners of the cookie representing Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 

My youngest son Harrison now has the baking bug.  Fridays after school, he can be found braiding challahs and delivering them fresh around the neighborhood.

Since 1990 when my mother, Gloria Kaplan, gave me my first two Jewish cookbooks, I have been inspired to learn more about Judaism.  My family has been enthusiastic about this development and no one has gone hungry yet.

 

By Cynthia Baseman

These stories are brought to you by the Temple Emanuel RE-IMAGINE project, an 18-month initiative sponsored by Hebrew Union College, devoted to re-thinking and re-structuring our religious school.