Chanucah Sameach!

 

With greetings from a still fantastically warm and sunny Israel to all family, friends, acquaintances and a growing band of readers stretching from Indonesia to Indianapolis, U.S.A.,  and Bolton, U.K. to Buenos Aires, South America.

Thanks for your support!

May you all have a week filled with light, love and as many doughnuts as you can reasonably eat!

“Baruch Atah Adashem, Eloheinu, Melekh Ha'olam Shehecheyanu V'kiyimanu V'higi'anu Laz'man hazeh. (Amein)

“Blessed are you, Lord, our God, Sovereign of the Universe, who has kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season. Amen”.

Shalom

Natalie Wood

Technorati Tags: Chanucah Sameach,Light,Love,Thanks,Doughnuts

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‘The Most Kindest Cut Of All’?

This article first appeared as “Nothing To Be Cut Up About!” on Technorati

When Prince William and Catherine Middleton discuss starting a family, the possibility of  circumcising any boys may be  on their agenda. The British Royal Family has a long tradition requiring that all male children be circumcised.

However, I’ve also read that:

“Princess Diana for some reason best known to herself was opposed to circumcision and refused to allow either William or Harry to be done. There were reports at the time which suggested that both the Queen and Prince Philip were very annoyed at this”.

In the west there is a remarkably low incidence of injuries and deaths following male circumcision, be it purely surgical or for religious reasons, as performed by specially trained Jewish mohelim  or   Moslem ritual circumcisers.

But now  a group of American anti-circumcision activists is  petitioning for a ballot measure that would ban circumcision in San Francisco.  If the group acquires sufficient signatures, local voters would see an anti-circumcision bill on their ballots within 12 months.

If it became law, the measure would make circumcision procedures illegal within San Francisco city limits, except in the case of extreme medical emergencies. 

The protestors say the law would protect innocent, defenceless children from the abuses of their parents, like any other child welfare law.

Extremists may well view the surgery (or ceremony) as ritual abuse, even mutilation, or otherwise take the eminently sane view expressed by most Jewish and Moslem parents that when it is performed early enough (after eight days in Jewish tradition, unless the boy is ill) there is nothing to worry about and it is a simple way of marking the child’s entry into our respective traditions.

So let’s look at the pros and cons of male circumcision only, because I view so-called ‘female circumcision’ as so incomprehensibly awful as not to be worth debating in this context:

Against:

• Any surgery for any reason is potentially lethal.
• Circumcision for religious reasons may indeed be viewed as ritual ‘mutilation’
• Ritual circumcision is an antiquated tradition and it may be argued that it brings gratuitous suffering to a tiny infant as it is performed without medical anaesthetic.

In Favour:

• It is  a medically approved practice and has proven to be healthy, not only for men but also for women, as in the Jewish community (I am unable to write authoritatively about the Moslem community) there is very low rate of cervical cancer.
• The ceremony is neither ‘mutilation’ nor ‘abuse’ but  a tiny material sacrifice that the child makes marking his entry to his community.
• It is the child’s first proof of his covenant with God and he cannot be frightened in advance of the procedure as he is too young to understand what is happening to him.

I’ve heard said that the boys often appear fractious at the ceremony. But no baby likes to have their nappy (‘diaper’) removed and I understand that a Christian baby may seem unhappy at his christening – simply because he dislikes the feel of  water suddenly sprinkled on his head.

I charge that the entire process is far more of an ordeal for the adults than for the children – which is certainly why Jewish mothers are usually advised to absent themselves during the actual ‘cut’.

Which brings me to a personal story: The communal mohel at the synagogue to which I belonged in Manchester is a fine, well-known senior surgeon in his working life. He does not have a rabbinical diploma like his counterparts serving Orthodox Jewish communities in the U.K. Far from earning a personal income from this work, he encourages the families involved to make a donation to the synagogue.

I remember being present at several circumcisions he has performed. One was on the son of my close friends and another was when he supervised a fellow surgeon as he performed the operation on his own son. I thought both men were enormously brave for those few moments and can report that the ‘infant’ is now well into his teens, having celebrated his barmitzvah about 18 months ago.

So back to  ‘Frisco: I can’t see an anti-circumcision law being passed without a fight. There are very big Jewish and Moslem populations in the area. Both are highly politicised and wield a lot of clout. Like the lack of rain in Israel this summer and autumn, the row could be a way of bringing the two communities together. Let’s see!

… And who’s plated up, looking good enough to eat? None other than my great-nephew at his Pidyon Ha’Ben in  Jerusalem this summer. The ceremony’s title translates as “The Redemption of the First Born Son”. It takes place in Jewish tradition after the circumcision, when a baby is 31 days old and involves buying him back from a Priest for five silver coins. Now everything begins to gets complicated, so please don’t ask me to explain more!

 

Technorati Tags: Prince William,Catherine Middleton,Male Circumcision,Royal Family,The Queen,Prince Philip,Jews,Moslems,Mohelim,Ritual Circumcisors,San Francisco,Protests

 

msniw

The Taking Of A Toast And Tea

My paternal grandfather, it is said, was in the kitchen at 6.30 sharp every morning ruling over his teapot like a despotic and jealous mandarin.

I am also famously addicted and am invariably portrayed in the family as a dozy dormouse curled up gently sozzled among the dregs of an over-sized tea cup.

 

 

The last time I was in my home-town, Birmingham, U.K., I demanded not one, but two cups of the old brew which has more resonance for me than any dozen of Proust’s madeleine biscuits.

No wonder then, when dear friends from Manchester visited us in Karmiel last month they brought with them an outsized box of tea bags which I keep firmly locked in the safe bearing my name.

It can only be because I am away in relentlessly warm and sunny Israel that I missed hearing the run-up to Britain's “International ‘A Nice Cup of Tea Day’” which took place yesterday.

In Britain they (the middle class ‘they’ anyway) still take their tea and tea-time very seriously and I have discovered that “each day  day we sink 165 million cups of it. It’s our national drink – classless, timeless and tasty”.

If it’s supposed to be a classless pastime, what sort of a peasant takes Earl Grey tea with milk? It should be drunk with deepest concentration, solely black with lemon – no children, no pets – and definitely no dunking of any sort of biscuit allowed!

The feature I read listed all sorts of grand hotels where one may sit in sumptuous surroundings, enjoying a full traditional English afternoon tea with everything from thin-cut crust-less sandwiches to crumpets. Certainly I remember doing that when Brian and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary amid the fading splendour of Brighton’s Grand Metropole Hotel.

Another fab watering hole has to be Bettys at Harrogate, Yorkshire (if you can get a table!) which was opened in 1919 by Swiss confectioner Frederick Belmont. Bettys has branches elsewhere, but so far as I know they all offer a range of about 50 different teas and as many sandwiches and sticky cakes as you can eat.

Now here’s a thought: If there’s a regular market and I could stay awake long enough to put the kettle on, I might be persuaded to open an English-style tea-shop here in Karmiel and call it … “The Dormouse”.

Technorati Tags: Tea,grandfather,Proust,Karmiel,Manchester,International A Nice Cup of Tea Day,Earl Grey,Brighton Grand Metropole Hotel,Bettys,Harrogate,Yorkshire,Frederick Belmont

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Grated–Sated–Eight-ed!

The Double Down Latke Sandwich

It’s almost Chanucah so it’s time for more self-indulgence than self-recrimination.

Back in Britain – and the United States - it’s also time for latkes (deep fried potato cakes) but  here in Israel, it’s doughnuts or go very hungry for a week.

In fact, having an instinctive dislike of deep-frying, I’m more than a mite miffed that I’ve not yet seen oven-ready button sized frozen latkes available in Israeli supermarkets like those provided as a Jewish alternative to oven-ready chips by the UK kosher foods manufacturer, Rakusen.

What’s more, as I’m also fed up with “cat’s-in-the-cupboard” jokes – native-Hebrew speakers haven’t a clue to what this alludes -  I’m ringing the changes with this latke recipe - a spoof version of Kentucky Fried Chicken’s ‘Double Down Chicken Sandwich’!

The deliciously decadent  ingredients include smoked salmon (‘lox’) but as a sea-green vegetarian I suggest that a ripe avocado may substitute very well and that other vegetables like broccoli or swede may be used instead of potato.

There’s also a great idea in the method: The potatoes are kept white by being grated directly into water and then wrung out  in a kitchen tea towel. The video makes the process look like a tug-of-war but again I suggest that a “ricer” may be just as effective – what’s more it requires far less effort!

Double Down Latke Sandwich

Ingredients:

1 pound potatoes
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon flour or matzo meal (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper
grape seed, olive or peanut oil
lox (smoked salmon)

crème fraiche or sour cream
chives or green onion, chopped
chopped lettuce, optional

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 250 deg., F 120 deg., C.

Peel potatoes and coarsely grate directly into a large bowl of cold water.

Soak potatoes one – two minutes after last batch is added to water, then drain well in a colander.

Spread grated potatoes, garlic and onion on a kitchen towel, roll up and wring out as much liquid as possible.

Transfer potato mixture to a bowl and stir in egg and salt.  If it’s too runny add a little flour or matzo meal.  Too dry add a little bit more egg.

Heat a large frying plan. Add enough oil to cover the bottom plus a bit more. Get the oil hot but not smoking. Use a spoon to add potato mixture into pan, spreading with the back of the spoon into 3 or 4-inch rounds.

Reduce heat to moderate and cook until undersides are very well browned, about 5 minutes. Turn latkes over and cook until undersides are very well browned, about 5 minutes more.  You want walnut brown, not beige.

Transfer to paper towels to drain and season with salt. Add more oil to skillet as needed.

Keep latkes warm on a wire rack set in a shallow baking pan in oven.

To make the Double Down, spread crème fraiche on one side of a latke, pile on lox and onions, spread some crème fraiche on another latke, then make into a sandwich.

------------

Good or what?

Other Foodaism fans have written variously and thus:

‘… Personally I blame my ancestors for the cholesterol problem …’
 ’ … Excuse me while I barf. Also, it’s difficult enough to find non-kosher creme fraiche, but kosher? I don’t think it exists in the US …’

‘… This is hilarious AND looks fabulous! ….’

With thanks to Rob Eshman, Jay Firestone and gang from Jewish Journal and the Foodaism team.

Technorati Tags: Chanucah,Latke Recipe,Rob Eshman,Jay Firestone,Jewish Journal.com,Foodaism

msniw

Turning Full Circle With Those Family Rings

Article first published as http://technorati.com/lifestyle/family/article/turning-full-circle-with-those-family/Turning Full Circle with Those Family Rings on Technorati.

Well it happens in families! Learning that Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton with his late mother’s ring reminded me of my own solemn but utterly pleasurable duty when my niece and nephew-in-law announced their  engagement in London.

I was unable to attend the ultra-Orthodox Jewish celebrations but delivered – by special courier from Manchester – my own mother’s engagement and eternity rings as it had been her earnest wish that her beloved granddaughter should have them.

The timing could not have been better as my niece went on to have them remodelled respectively into an engagement ring and earrings in time for her chuppah (Jewish wedding) and was still showing them off months later at the special  party following the birth and circumcision of her first born son.

But back to Wills and Kate: News of their engagement was also wonderfully timed. No wonder it was greeted with much thumping of the table at Government Cabinet level.

A glorious Royal marriage is something  the beleaguered British populace may anticipate with relish.

I’m sure I’m not the only one to believe that the young couple’s romance has already lasted longer than many marriages largely because they’re both sensible, stable, mature - and anxious to make their relationship work.

Furthermore, it is obvious that Prince William is desperate for the secure and steady home life denied him and his brother during their parents’ troubled marriage.

Now I’m probably talking heresy when I suggest that while  Kate Middleton has a smashing figure and wonderful clothes-sense she is not stunningly pretty.

She has something far more important: She exudes what we term in Yiddishised Hebrew as innate ‘chein’ – a charming grace which glows from every photograph and which I’m sure will win her as many hearts as the late Princess of Wales.

Moreover, I guess that the nuptials will be somewhat understated compared to the Royal romps of the 80s. This would echo the post-war wedding enjoyed by the Queen and Prince Philip and be in line with with the U.K.’s economically straitened circumstances.

After all as I write, Prince William is only second-in-line to throne and not the immediate heir as was (and is!) Prince Charles when he married the former Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.

But none of this matters. If my husband and I are an example, the British ex-pat community in Israel is every bit as happy and excited about the news as everyone else worldwide.  Mazeltov!

 

Technorati Tags: Prince William,Kate Middleton,Charles,Diana,rings,Ultra-Orthodox Judaism,Chuppah,British Cabinet,Yiddish,Hebrew,Chein,Israel

msniw

Two more murdered in Israel’s culture of road deaths

 

Day after miserable day, the toll of deaths and injuries on Israel’s roads grows apace. But you read of them only when the incident is particularly dramatic or they involve a celebrity.

The latest horror saw off two young IDF soldiers: Staff Sergeant Ayman Kayzal (possibly ‘Kayzel Iman’) died outright while Lieutenant Michal Zohar died of later from head injuries.

I feel personally moved by Michal’s passing because her best friend  is the granddaughter of one of my lovely new acquaintances in Karmiel.

The incident happened late on Thursday when a truck ploughed into a crowd waiting at a bus station in Acco (‘Acre’). At least 11 others were also hurt in what police believe was a deliberate attack.

Haaretz.com reported:

“Three more of the injured were in a critical condition and had been transferred to nearby Nahariya for treatment, paramedics said. Police arrested the truck driver, a local father of three aged 45, as he tried to flee the scene in his vehicle, which was halted when security guards from the neighbouring train station fired pistols at the truck's wheels.

The driver later admitted intentionally crashing the truck before refusing to see a lawyer, police said.

“Members of his family who gathered outside the police station where he was being held said he had a history of psychological problems.

“Acco has frequently been a flashpoint for violence between Arab and Jewish communities who share the northern coastal city, and police quickly removed the arrested man from the scene, fearing an outbreak of mob violence.

“But there was no apparent nationalist or racist motive for the attack, which they were not treating as a terror incident, police said. The driver appeared to have been distressed by a family dispute, although it was unclear what what led him to launch the attack”.

The Jerusalem Post reported that the driver was identified as 45-year-old Gabriel Hen whose remand was extended until November 21.

“Police in the North have said Hen, a Jewish resident of Acco told detectives during questioning that he deliberately rammed his truck into the bus stop.

“’The Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency] and the police killed my kid,’ the suspect told police during interrogation, when asked to explain his actions.

“A subsequent police check revealed that the man has two children, both of whom are alive and well. Police said the background to the attack remained unclear.

“After the incident, the driver fled the scene on foot, and got as far as a kilometre before being arrested by police.

“The incident was attended by senior police, including Northern police district head, Commander Shimon Koren who told reporters there that the driver had left a trail of carnage, colliding with vehicles before crashing into a bus stop.

The J.P.’s statistics prove that more than 330 people have been killed on Israel’s roads during 2010 but I’m bound to say that the Israel Ministry of Transport and Road Safety, for all its huffing and puffing, simply doesn’t treat the situation seriously.

I’m forever riding  on buses driven recklessly or bad-temperedly. On Motze’i Shabbat (Saturday evening) last weekend our driver into town chatted on his mobile phone for the entire journey while one afternoon this week another driver stopped our bus in the middle of the road to intervene in an altercation among a group of young passengers.

If my own family is any guide, the general feeling is that it’s matter of culture; that terrorism is treated much more seriously than road safety and that the necessary money is not set aside to tackle the issue.

I’m beginning to think they are right. Let’s examine what happened at the Knesset’s “National Day for Personal Responsibility for Road Safety”:

Nurit Grossman of the Anashim Be'Adom action group says – my interpretation – that on the day she and her organisation were treated with disdainful contempt by transport ministers.

Grossman received an Award for a Citizen Advancing Road Safety on behalf of her group but the politicians and civil servants departed after making self-congratulatory, self-aggrandising speeches and before the awards were made!

I quote from her speech at Anashim Be’Adom’s own recent annual conference:

“The reception in the Knesset was very appropriate, but we were disappointed by the ceremony itself. The Minister of Transport and Road Safety, and the Minister of Communications complimented each other and themselves – and then left the hall before the presentations.

“And apparently no time was left for the prize winners to make their speeches. We have sent both our thanks and our recommendations to the National Authority for Road Safety for next year's ceremony, which include holding the awards presentation at the beginning ( it is either a sign of contempt or a lack of respect for the Minister of Transport and Road Safety and other Ministers to leave once they have made their own speeches).

“It is also important for the Ministers at least once a year to hear what the public think of their performance, in particular from those who give much of themselves in the cause of Road Safety”.

Technorati Tags: Israel Road Accidents,Acco,Karmiel,Bus Drivers,Bus Station Killings,Haaretz.com,Jerusalem Post,Gabriel Hen,Shin Bet,Police,Commander Shimon Korenoren,Israel Ministry of Transport and Road Safety,National Day of Personal Responsibility for Road Safety,Nurit Grossman,Anashim Be'Adom,National Authority for Road Safety

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IF YOU SEE HER – CONTACT THE POLICE!

Until a half-hour ago, I had never heard of, let alone seen a photograph of this lovely young girl. But my heart missed a beat when I saw it and then read the accompanying message on Facebook.

So, although I am never likely to talk with, let alone meet her mother, Rachel, I’m reposting the appeal in the hope that someone who knows Jackie Buyher will see her and ask her to contact Rachel, who begged: 

“PLEASE CROSSPOST...URGENT! My daughter, Jackie Buyher, has been missing from the... northwest side of Evansville, Indiana, USA since Wednesday, November 03.  She is 16 years old, about 5' 6" tall, sandy brown hair (straight, shoulder length), hazel eyes, and weighs approximately 120 lbs. Friends that I am in contact with, as well as school officials, have not seen her since that day. A missing person's report has been filed with the Evansville Police Dept., and recently has expanded to a nation-wide alert. If anyone has seen her, or think they may know her whereabouts, please dial 911 and report any information you may have to the Evansville Police Department.

Why should I react like this? Well, I am human and what’s more I’m meeting young adults like Jackie every week at a school in Karmiel, Israel.

All have so much to offer and life has much to give them in return but at their age we all think we’re immortal. It just ain’t so! Meanwhile, let’s hope that this story has a happy ending. I’ll let you know.

Technorati Tags: Jackie Buyher,Rachel Buyher,Crosspost,Facebook Appeal,Indiana USA,Police

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