Fried Cheese Blintzes for Hanukkah? Sephardim Shed Light on Why it is Customary to Eat Dairy Foods.

Guess what? There are two dairy holidays in the Jewish tradition. That is, if you come from a Sephardi background. We all connect dairy with Shavuot. But Hanukkah? Yes, Hanukkah. If your ethnic roots are Kurdish or Persian, then you're eating dairy delights on Hanukkah.

Sephardi women love to cook, so it’s no coincidence that this custom directly relates to one of the Hanukkah heroines. Maccabim aside, who else knew how to live by the sword and make the enemy die by the sword? Judith, of course. An attractive, seductive, wealthy widow, she knew how to milk a situation for all its worth. That’s why when the Assyrian general Holofernes blockaded the city she lived in and cut off its water supply, Judith understood what had to be done. She went to the general’s camp and pretended to surrender. Holofernes was so struck by Judith’s good looks that he invited her into his tent. Judith came armed with just the right weapons – wine and cheese. The combination was even more delectable than Judith’s beauty. The general ate, drank and didn’t have a chance to make merry because he fell into a drunken sleep. A slumber so deep that Judith easily beheaded him and saved her people from the siege. To honor Judith’s daring deed, Sephardim eat dairy and fried foods on Hanukkah.

What does this mean for your classroom? A lot. To begin with, it opens the window on Hanukkah’s heroines. Who were these women who showed their mettle? The girls in your class will be happy to know and the boys will learn a lesson or two about female bravery. Next, what about your Hanukkah celebration? Ask some of the parents to help you out with a Hanukkah cottage cheese noodle kugel or fry up some classic cheese blintzes that fit the double bill of dairy foods fried in oil. Want the kids to “cook” on their own? Mixing granola with yogurt and topping it with fresh or dried berries is easy to do. How about a “7-layer cream cheese cake” made from whole wheat bread and low-fat cream cheese? I just thought of these two options off the top of my head, so I can imagine the creative “cooking” ideas you’ll come up with. Whatever dairy dish you decide to bake or make, enjoy and have a Hanukkah Sa'meach.

Don’t forget, you can buy my book Hanukkah Around the World through Karben’s on-line book store, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, or your local Judaica store.

On Hanukkah, Galician Jews Knew How to Play Their Cards

Playing cards during the day? Oy Vey!

As far back as the 15th century, the Ashkenazim of Worms, Germany forbade this indulgence – except during Hanukkah, and even then the Rabbis debated its function. Clearly, the “ayes” won, as card playing continued to be a Hanukkah custom that eventually spread to the Galician city of Rzeszow, in south-eastern Poland, where they played a card game similar to Black Jack. On Hanukkah, Heder (lower Yeshiva) students stopped learning for several hours a day to play cards or watch others play. What was interesting were the cards themselves. Hanukkah playing cards had four nicknames: “Kvitlech” meaning little notes – a name that we connect today to the “kvitel” bearing wishes that we fold up and tuck into the crevices of the Wailing Wall; “Klein Shass”, which means a small Talmud; “Tilliml”, representing a small book of Psalms; and “Lamed Alefniks” – the “thirty-oners” representing the 31 kings of Canaan mentioned in the Book of Joshua. Even more important was who made the cards. In Poland, no one ever heard of the company Bicycle Cards. It was up to the teachers or children to hand paint each card.

I’m sure you see where I’m heading. In this day and age of virtual everything, it’s nice to go back to some home-grown, hands-on activities, especially when we’re looking for new ways to connect students to the messages of Hanukkah. Adapting an age-old Hanukkah custom to the contemporary classroom might just do the trick. Hanukkah is all about celebrating heroism, courage and religious freedom. There are enough heroes, heroines, religious symbols and even food to draw on for creating a hand-made Hanukkah card game where you decide the type of game and how many cards make the deck.

Now there's an ace up your sleeve!

You can read about eight other fascinating Hanukkah customs and try some yummy Hanukkah recipes when you buy my book Hanukkah Around the World. You can purchase it through Kar-Ben’s online store, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or ask your local Jewish book store.