Who’s in the kitchen Who's in the kitchen: Latkes and loot

Chanukah, the time of year when it’s actually acceptable to eat foods prepared in oil, gamble and expect gifts every night for eight nights. Let’s be honest, how many of us really take the time to learn about the history, interesting and unknown facts and folklore of Chanukah. Sure, we’re all busy frying up latkes and sufganiot (jelly donuts), we’re inviting our families and friends (or are being invited) to parties. We’re polishing the chanukiot, deciding between ready to use oil filled glass cups or just glass cups, a bottle of oil and wicks. We’re running around (or busy on the internet) buying many gifts for each kid. Hey, we don’t rely on a guy in a red suit to do our shopping for us, but I admit, most of us do shop wholesale.

While researching information for this article, I discovered some interesting facts aside from the usual-we were persecuted, we fought back, we won, let’s eat-story. Sure everyone knows about that, and the miracle of the oil lasting eight days. Below are some other things you might not have heard about. For those kids with little patience for all the details, just tell them it was an awesome miracle, equivalent to a cell phone battery with enough charge for only one day but actually lasted eight.

Chanukah means “rededication” and is a holiday that honors and celebrates one of the first recorded fights for religious freedom and the success of this fight.

The Maccabees weren’t warriors by training. They were spiritual academics propelled to fight to maintain their religious freedom. On a lighter note, it’s believed the custom of playing dreidel dates back well before the BCE/CE changeover. The original game of dreidel was used as a means of subterfuge by students illegally studying Torah. When the oppressive ruling soldiers would raid a study group, the students would gather around a spinning top, acting as if they were engaged in gambling.

It was also the first war fought on the roads and not on organized battlefields.

The Maccabees introduced the innovation of stealth warfare, attacking the enemy legions from caves and hilltops on the side of the road. It’s believed those same areas were used when we prevailed against the British occupation and during the 1948 war.

Although the truth of the story is impossible to prove, there is an account about George Washington and the meaning of Hanukkah that has become part of American lore:

For centuries, the lights of the Hanukkah menorah have inspired hope and courage. They may have also been responsible for inspiring then-General George Washington to forge on when everything looked bleak when his cold and hungry Continental Army camped at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777/8. The story is told that Washington was walking among his troops when he saw one soldier sitting apart from the others, huddled over what looked like two tiny flames. Washington approached the soldier and asked him what he was doing. The soldier explained that he was a Jew and he had lit the candles to celebrate Hanukkah, the festival commemorating the miraculous victory of his people so many centuries ago over the tyranny of a much better equipped and more powerful enemy who had sought to deny them their freedom. The soldier then expressed his confidence that just as, with the help of G-d, the Jews of ancient times were ultimately victorious, so, too, would they would be victorious in their just cause for freedom. Washington thanked the soldier and walked back to where the rest of the troops camped, warmed by the inspiration of those little flames and the knowledge that miracles are possible.

Rambam, in presenting the laws of Hanukkah, surprisingly provides the historical background of the Maccabees and informs us that “Jewish sovereignty was restored for more than two hundred years.” I was puzzled that he focused on the importance of sovereignty. One night, my mother-in-law, a Holocaust survivor, told us that the most important thing to happen to the Jewish people during her lifetime was the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. One of the reasons for this, she proudly said, was that now anti-Semites cannot persecute Jews anywhere around the world with impunity, as now the State of Israel will defend and protect us. I now understood why sovereignty was so important to my mother-in-law. Judah the Maccabee had done exactly what my mother-in-law hoped that a sovereign Jewish State would do on behalf of Jews living in the Diaspora. He had led an army of Jewish soldiers to save a besieged Jewish community and rallied his fellow Jewish soldiers shouting: “Whoever is for G-d join with me!” He then engaged in the first “operation walking carpet” and with Hashem’s help saved the entire Jewish community in our homeland.

Now, if only we could miraculously fry dozens of latkes in a tiny amount of oil………

Hand Grated Crispy Potato Latkes

Ingredients;

n 5 lbs Idaho potatoes, peeled and washed

n 6 extra large eggs, beaten

n Salt and pepper to taste

n 1 large onion, peeled

n 2 onions, chopped, fried till golden brown and strained

n Canola oil for frying

Line a baking sheet with paper towels; set aside.

Grate potatoes and 2 onions on a hand grater (the secret to great latkes).

Add salt, pepper, eggs and strained fried onions.

Heat ¼ inch oil in a skillet.

Spoon half cup of mixture per latke into hot oil.

Work in batches, making sure not to crowd the skillet, so that each latke will be able to be turned over easily and not stick to each other.

Fry on both sides until golden brown and crispy, 4-6 minutes.

Transfer to baking sheet to drain. If not served immediately they can be reheated in the oven.

Judy Joszef can be reached at judy.soiree@gmail.com