Baked Latkes and the True Miracle of Hanuka

If it's Hanuka (and it will be this coming Tuesday evening), it must be latkes!  We again took a break on Tuesday and Wednesday from our Hebrew Through Movement sessions to explore Hebrew vocabulary associated with preparing latkes, or, as they're better known in Israel - leveevot.

Instead of frying the prepared mixture, our recipe called for baking it. There was so much oil on the pans and in the mixture, that the pancakes basically fried in the oven - certainly less messy and safer than frying over heated oil! 

As usual, I began by reviewing previously used vocabulary and introducing vocabulary specific to this recipe.

To be sure the students understand the vocabulary, I ask them to raise each ingredient up in the air, then place it back on the table.  L'hareem et ha'kos shel shemen (Raise the cup of oil).

L'hareem et ha'k'ara ha'k'tana eem batzel (Raise the small bowl with onions) Note: we used diced onions instead of grating them to save time and avoid tears!

Now comes the real action - Reisheet kol, l'gared et tapoochei ha'adama (First of all, grate the potatoes)

L'hachzeek ba'k'ara! (Hold onto the bowl!)

Az, leet'rof et ha'beitza (Then, beat the egg)

Ein lanu harbei z'man - l'gared v'leet'rof! (We don't have much time - grate and beat!)

Achshav, l'hoseef et ha'shameer v'et ha'shoom. (Now, add the dill and the garlic.)

Leesh'foch et ha'shemen l'toch ha'k'ara ha'g'dola... (Pour the oil into the big bowl...)

...v'az l'arbev et ha'kol b'yachad b'toch ha'k'ara ha'g'dola. (And then stir everything together in the big bowl.)

U'va'sof, la'avor et ha'eerboov la'tavneet eem kaf. (And finally, transfer the mixture to the baking sheet with a spoon.)

Achshav, zeh moochan la'afot ba'tanoor. (Now, it's ready to bake in the oven.)

Ta'eem me'od - B'TEYAVON! (Very tasty - BON APETIT!)

After we took a much-needed hafsaka (recess), followed by our tefillah session with Rabbi Greninger, we returned to our Edot classroom and I introduced the subject of Hellenism as a focus to our discussion of the Hanuka holiday and the "real miracle" of Hanuka. After opening the discussion by showing the students a poster with about 30 different Latin letter spellings of the word "Hanuka," I asked them which spelling was the only correct one. After receiving a few responses, one of the children answered "All of them," and another student then called out, "Actually, none of them!" The latter is the correct answer. Hanuka is a Hebrew word (meaning "dedication") and is the name of a Jewish national holiday, so the only truly correct spelling is with the Hebrew alphabet - chet, noon, kaf, hey (חֲנֻכָּה).

Once we had established that it is a Jewish national holiday commemorating a very important epoch in our nation's history, I shared that about 2,200 years ago, the Jewish People had to face an enemy that was more powerful than any enemy we had ever faced before. I ask the students whom they thought this enemy might be, and received many answers - the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians, and the Syrians among others. I wrote these down, then told the students that I was about to show them an 8-minute video segment that would help to answer the question. To help the students focus, I gave them each a sheet of paper with one of 5 topics written on the top: Art and Architecture, Education, Language and Literature, Science and Philosophy, or Religion. They were to listen carefully for any information relating to their assigned topic and jot it down on the paper to share in our discussion following the video showing. The video segment was taken from the "Heritage: Civilization and the Jews" dvd-rom program. (Begin at 17:30 minutes into the program, and end at 25:57)

What the video segment shared with them was the incredible Greek culture that flourished from its height during the reign of Pericles in Athens in the 5th century B.C.E. until the advent of the Roman Empire in the 1st century B.C.E.. I wanted the students to understand how amazing and seductive a culture it was, so that by the time of the Hanuka story events (168-163 B.C.E.) when 9 out of 10 Jews were living outside of Judea, almost all the inhabitants of the territories conquered by Alexander the Great had adopted the Greek culture.Of course the Judeans were the only ones back then worshiping one God, but were assimilated in almost every other aspect. In fact, so many Jews could not understand Hebrew anymore, that the Bible had to be translated into Greek.

After we shared what the students had learned about the Greek culture from the video segment, I wrote the word "HELLENISM" on the board and explained that the Greek word for Greece is Helas, and that Hellenism is a term referring to the love of the Greek culture. We then discussed the split that occurred in the Jewish world within Judea, caused by the advent of Hellenism. Could Jews live within a majority culture and still hold onto their beliefs and their national identity? Could they speak another language on a daily basis, eat other foods, enjoy another culture's holidays, dress as everyone around them did, sing their songs, dance their dances, etc. etc., and still be able to feel proud of their Jewish heritage, hold fast to their beliefs, and share that pride and belief system with the generations that followed them?

It didn't take long for the students to catch on to the fact that we were describing our own American Jewish situation. I asked for a show of hands of how many spoke Hebrew fluently (no hands raised), how many kept strictly kosher at home (no hands raised), how many attended Shabbat services every week (no hands raised), how many felt proud of being Jewish and wanted their children to feel the same (ALL HANDS RAISED!!!). 

Tragically, 2,200 years ago, Jews in Judea did not have the opportunity to explore the possibility of living within a majority culture while still holding onto their beliefs. Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) ordered all the peoples in his Syrian Kingdom to worship the Greek gods. There were many Hellenist Jews who were more than willing to "convert" and helped to introduce Greek gods into the Temple in Jerusalem. But many refused to give up their Jewish beliefs; those Jews were led by the Maccabees. Just like in our own American Civil War, families were often divided and fought against each other.There were atrocities committed on both sides. Happily, the Maccabees were able to reclaim the Temple in the year 165 B.C.E. and cleanse it from the unkosher offerings sacrificed to the Greek gods. The war raged on for five years after that event until the Maccabees could claim a total victory.

About six hundred years after the Maccabean Revolt, the Rabbis of the Talmud created a story about oil miraculously lasting 8 days to try to "erase" our national memory of the bloody Maccabean Revolt. They did not want future Jewish generations to think that our nation could only survive by bloodshed. "Not by might, and not by power, but by spirit alone shall we all live in peace." (Words from the Debbie Friedman song inspired by the phrase in Zechariah 4:6, when God tells the prophet Zechariah, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit.")

Finally, I asked the class once more the question I had posed to them at the start of the session - who or what was the enemy that was more powerful than any enemy we had ever faced before? The answer was "assimilation" - and the true miracle of Hanuka was that our tiny nation - very small in numbers compared to the other nations - not only survived but thrived within a majority culture. This is the story of the Edot. No matter where Jews have lived, we have borrowed cultural elements from the surrounding culture, given them a "Jewish twist" and thus enhanced and enriched our own culture. Back then it was the Greek culture; for us today it's the American culture. As long as we remember who we are, where we came from and how we got here - as long as we continue to share our values and beliefs with our succeeding generations, the "miracle" will continue!