A sweet year for all!

Tracing the Tribe wishes all its readers, their extended families and friends

A sweet, healthy, prosperous and peaceful New Year 5771.

שנה טובה ומתוקה
שנת בריאות ואושר
שנה של התגשמות כל משאלות הלב

Tracing the Tribe hopes that 5771 will be another successful year

of genealogical discoveries,

of remembering our ancestors,

and preserving their memories for the future.

Food: Italian Jewish holiday cooking

Did you know that Italians also love gribenes (chicken or goose cracklings)? Do you know how this tradition arrived in Italy? Find the answers below.

A favorite cookbook of Tracing the Tribe is Jayne Cohen's Jewish Holiday Cooking: A Food Lover’s Classics and Improvisations (John Wiley, 2008). She also writes for Jewish Women International's "Jewish Women Magazine."

The holiday issue of the magazine is now online with really interesting articles on Italian Jewish cuisine (and recipes) and a new blog, "Beyond Brisket," written by Cohen. Tracing the Tribe has a separate post on the blog.

When the chestnuts in Piedmont ripen in time for the fall holidays, Roberta Anau serves her Rosh Hashanah guests special burricche: turnovers lush with chestnuts, onions, raisins and smoked goose.

Silvia Nacamulli’s family includes Swiss chard among the ritual foods at its Rosh Hashanah seder; growing in profusion, chard symbolizes a wish for bounty in the new year. But this is Rome, so we’re not talking about serving it simply boiled. “We prepare it in a delicious frittata,” she says, a savory combination of the cooked green leaves, sauteed onions and eggs, fried golden on both sides and served at room temperature.

Jewish-style carciofi alla guidea (artichokes) are the best known Jewish dish, originating in the Roman ghetto, with the oldest continuous Western Jewish community dating back some 2,000 years.

Read the article and learn more about Anau and her restaurant and hotel near Turin, and about Nacamulli, who teaches Italian Jewish cooking in London and organizes cooking tours to Italy.

A Jewish-origin food marks the end of the 1576 plague in Venice. A special annual feast celebrates that event. The traditional dish is pesce en saor, cold fried fish in a sweet-and-sour sauce with raisins and pine nuts. Cohen says it was developed to preserve fish for Shabbat, dousing the fish in hot vinegar with sweet sauteed onions, raisins and pine nuts.

After the 1492 Edict of Expulsion, Sicily's Jews (including many from Spain) were expelled in 1943, and many went to mainland Italy. They brought along marzipan, sweet-and-sour sauces, raisins and pine nuts. Caponata was originally a Sicilian-Jewish dish - a cold salad of fried eggplant, onions, garlic, olives and capers (and New World tomatoes).

Cohen discusses German and Central European Ashkenazi immigrants who settled north of Rome, and brought along their geese. Soon Italian-Jewish recipes incorporated goose fat and cracklings (griebenes, Yiddish; gribani, Judeo-Italian), and made salami, sausage and ham from the birds.

Anau recalls that her great-grandfather, Moise Colombo from Turin, was so fond of his gribani that “he carried them around with him wrapped in paper, like chewing gum. He would go out for a glass of wine, unwrap the paper and snack on the gribani.”

Edda Servi Machlin, whose Italian Jewish cookbooks also share space in my kitchen, describes more specialties. Learn why the Jews in her Tuscan village of Pitigliano call stuffed breast of veal chazarello (piglet).

There are recipes for risotto with pomegranate seeds, cheese and etrog peel; Jewish-style spinach, and the ricotta cheese dessert mentioned above. Yum.

Read the complete article at the link above, and for additional Italian Jewish Recipes, click here.

Food: Artisanal honeys and more

Jewish Women's Magazine blog, "Beyond Brisket," authored by Jayne Cohen, has a post on the many varieties of artisanal honey, and another one ending the Yom Kippur fast in a traditional Italian way.

The honey blog post covers such varieties as lavender, blueberry, tupelo, sweet clover; star thistle (from Israel); from Mexico, smokey mesquite, avocado, orange blossom; Greek thyme and herbs, Italian acacia, lime blossom and more. The post includes where to get these specialties.

If you absolutely can’t get a special honey for the holiday, try this to make your plain honey more distinctive: warm one cup of honey in a small saucepan. Stir in sprigs of fresh thyme, rosemary or mint; fresh sage leaves; or two teaspoons of dried lavender. Cover and let steep for several hours, then, heating the honey if necessary, strain it.

For breaking the Yom Kippur fast, there's a a moist, dairy-free almond sponge cake bocca di dama, brought - along with others - by Portuguese Jews who settled in Livorno.

Tracing the Tribe recommends adding this blog to your list.

Rosh Hashanah: Good eating

JTA's Rosh Hashana section has three interesting food-related stories.

One is by Linda Morel and how food traditions indicates ancestry. Tracing the Tribe noted it previously here.

Edmun J. Rodman - who attended the Los Angeles 2010 IAJGS conference and wrote a story about his experience - suggests celebrating with other than apples and honey, such as a chocolate egg cream - only with Fox's U-Bet syrup, of course.

In addition to taiglach, he recommends a new twist:

What about substituting another form of cooked dough, one with which many Jews are even more familiar: crispy chow mein noodles? We already eat them at Christmas; apparently even Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. So why not on a Jewish holiday?

For dipping, use the bright red sweet and sour sauce, of course. Let the dipping remind you to dip into your wallet; Rosh Hashanah is an auspicious time to make someone else’s new year sweet as well.

He also suggests various forms of pomegranates, seeds and juice.

Linda Morel has a story on cholent (Ashkenazi) or hamin (Sephardic) as the ultimate comfort food prior to the Yom Kippur fast, and provides several recipes.

Tracing the Tribe disagrees with her, but to each his - or her - own. I've never eaten a cholent or a hamin that I would consider comfort food. It is generally in the "discomfort food" category.

A nice Persian Rosh Hashanah dinner - numbers of dishes go up according to the number of people to be fed and color-coordination is imperative as all the senses must be satisfied - includes chicken soup with gondi (abgusht-e-gondi), plain steamed rice (chelo), at least two stews (khoresht, with chicken or meat) to ladle over the rice, one or two different rices mixed with herbs or nuts or vegetables (polo), a baked salmon sometimes stuffed, as well as all kinds of stuffed vegetables (dolmeh), various salads, and a good-sized dessert table of fruit, Persian baklava and other yummies. Of course, honey cake is a must for us.

A polo I like to make is a sweet with candied tangerine peel, shredded carrots, pistachios, with chicken baked in saffron. In fact, I save tangerine peels all year, clean all the white pith off them and finely slice them into narrow threads and dry them. When it comes time to make polo-shirin (sweet rice), I boil the threads in a sugar syrup and drain them thoroughly to mix with the rice. The sugar syrup becomes tangarine-scented in the process and is then good for using on baklava or Greek semolina cake, where a cold sweet syrup is poured over the hot pastry to be absorbed.

An all-beige table is a no-no. There should be red (tomato), green (herbs), white (rice), pink-orange (salmon), yellow (chicken soup). The more the merrier.

This year, we are invited out for Thursday and Friday dinners, so we'll keep our own Rosh Hashanah dinner very simple: abgusht-e-gondi or matzo balls (I prefer them), chelo and a khoresht, with my favorite honey cake.

We'll write about Yom Kippur - before and after the fast - next week.

Bechol Lashon: New issue online

The face of Judaism is changing. It includes Jews of many diverse backgrounds and origins.

As Judaism changes, Jewish genealogy must also change.

Bechol Lashon (In Every Tongue) is an organization that brings people together, and its new online issue is now available.

Read about diverse Rosh Hashanah traditions, African-American Orthodox Jews, communities around the world (Yemen, Guatemala, Rwanda, Uganda), Jews-by-choice, events in New York and California, photography exhibits, music and much more.

Read it here.

Judaica Sound Archives: High Holiday mix online

The Jewish New Year is almost around the corner. Rosh Hashana begins Wednesday night, September 8.

For Jews around the world, regardless of nationality or background, the High Holy Days are the most important days of the year. As we gather with family and friends to continue the traditions of our ancestors, we also express our spiritual connections.

The Judaica Sound Archives at Florida Atlantic University has produced a special High Holyday mix of some wonderful music to listen to online; they call it a New Year gift.


The online album is excerpted from albums available at any time on their website. Selections range from songs for children as well as the voices of legendary cantors - Leib Glantz, Leibele Waldman, Gershon Sirota and Moishe Oysher.


Click here to hear the mix clips.

Click here to hear more from the albums of those in the mix.

Food: Have teiglach, will travel

Another aspect of family history is to learn about our ancestors' food traditions.

As our families moved from country to country, they brought along their favorite recipes along with their possessions. Sometimes the recipes needed adaptation as the original ingredients could not be found, thus creating a new tradition. The story of Jewish food is the story of Jewish history.

This JTA story, "Exploring Jewish ancestry through food" by Linda Morel, demonstrates one woman's experiences.

Tina Wasserman, a cooking teacher and the food columnist for Reform Judaism magazine, didn’t literally transport clumps of the sticky pastries whose dough is wrapped around nuts and simmered in honey syrup. But among her most cherished possessions, she packed her recipe for the traditional Rosh Hashanah sweet hailing from Lithuania.

“No one had seen it down here,” said Wasserman, the author of "Entree to Judaism: A Culinary Exploration of the Jewish Diaspora (URJ Press, 2010), until she served the dessert to her new friends.

She then introduced the recipe in cooking classes. Before long, teiglach became part of the Jewish culinary scene in Dallas.

Said Wasserman, she wanted to create a link to our ancestry through food as it is the most direct connection to memory in our brain.

For her book, she began collecting recipes based on the question of what makes a specific food Jewish from a historical viewpoint. The laws of Kashrut and Shabbat and holiday observances impacted the foods we have eaten throughout history.

Caponata, an Italian appetizer of eggplants, tomatoes and peppers, is a 500-year-old Shabbt dish from Spain. Following the 1492 Expulsion, thousands of Jews left Spain for Sicily. One year later, they were expelled and 40,000 of them fled to mainland Italy across the Straits of Messina and brought the recipe with them.

Each recipe in the book includes its origins, when and why it was eaten and brought it to a new life in a diffeernt part of the world.

Says Wasserman, some Ashkenazim eat kreplach at Rosh Hashanah, because during the Middle Ages, Central and Eastern European Jews sealed their wishes in little dough pouches and wore them as amulets. So as not to waste the food, they put it into soup. She maintains that most of our food customs date from the Middle Ages.

The article includes much more, and a pointer to Wasserman's website, Cooking and More, which creates a community around food.

The article includes recipes for Dulce de Manzana (Apple Preserves), Syrian Eggplant with Pomegranate Molasses, Ethiopian-style Lubiya (Sephardic Black-Eyed Peas), and Sweet Potato-Pumpkin Caszuela.

Read the complete article, see photos of two of the dishes, and check out Wasserman's website.

Food: Genealogy of gefilte fish

When my Teheran-born husband first heard "gefilte fish," he thought the name was "filthy fish." He soon learned that putting enough chrein (horseradish) on it made it palatable.

The Dallas Observer's Hanna Raskin offers a great story on the genealogy of this quintessential Ashkenazi holiday fare. It is a variation on "tell us what you eat, we'll tell you where you're from."

Gefilte fish, perhaps the most maligned food on the traditional Jewish High Holiday table, encodes its maker's ancestry as surely as hand-me-down stories and immigration papers, a local fishmonger says.

Jon Alexis of TJ's Fresh Seafood Market in Preston Forest Village claims he can almost always pinpoint where a customer's forebears first settled in the United States based on which fish they ask him to grind for their gefilte fish preparation. Although Alexis is quick to clarify his theory is based on purely anecdotal evidence -- "I don't want to upset anyone," he says -- he believes most recipes reflect a generations-old preference for certain flavors.

"These recipes are heritage, so you have that Antiques Roadshow thing," Alexis says.

Learn about the various mixtures of fish - pike, carp, whitefish, buffalo, tilapia, saltwater snapper - with a geographical tinge. Learn about the concoction with and without sugar, and what that might mean.

Nearly 50 years ago, someone suggested there was a "gefilte fish line" running about 40 miles east of Warsaw. West of it, it was sweet with sugar; to the east, it was hotter with chrein and pepper. Well-known to many Jewish genealogists searching Poland, many sugar refineries in Poland were owned by Jews and that's suggested as a possible reason.

Interestingly, though, nobody wanted credit for the sugary gefilte fish. Polish gentiles called it "Jewish fish" and Polish Jews called it "Polish fish." Gefilte fish has never been stylish.

Read the complete story at the link above, learn what a "fish dork" is, and read the comments.

Jerusalem: 8th Sephardic Bnai Anousim conference, August 2011

Tracing the Tribe flies to El Paso on Friday to participate and speak at the 7th Sephardic Bnai Anousim Conference, from July 16-19.

I've been trying to participate for a few years, and finally the dates worked out. New Mexico glass artist Sonya Loya, who is very involved with the event, never gave up, stayed in contact, and I'm very happy to be participating this year. I will post about the event.

The 8th conference - in 2011 - will be held in Jerusalem around Tisha b'Av, which is August 8-9.

For more on this year's and next year's conference, read a Ruidoso (New Mexico) News story about Sonya Loya, who has become a leader in the movement.

When she walked into the B'Chol Lashon International Think Tank 2010 meeting in San Francisco last month, Sonya Loya's first thought was, "What am I doing here."

Invited to participate in the four-day session, she found herself sitting and mingling with professors with multiple doctorates, with researchers, sociologists and leaders of various impressive centers of study, with rabbis and educators.

"Everyone had Ph.D.s, plural, and they were from around the world, the Lemba tribe, the Abudaya, the Ethiopians, people from Brazil, Israel, Mexico and Washington D.C," she said. "What is a hillbilly from the mountains of New Mexico and a glass artist doing here?

"But Rabbi Denis Yabarri said they had been watching me closely for some years. After our shabbat midrash study, Rabbi Irwin Kula told me, 'You have fearless grace and that's what the Jewish people and the rest of the world needs.'"

Still, every time someone introduces her as a leader of a Crypto-Jewish community, it jars her. She doesn't consider herself a leader, only someone who is on a journey to rediscover herself and her Jewish faith and is willing to help others along the same path.

She works with with Rabbi Stephen A. Leon of Congregation Bnai Zion (El Paso) and with Rabbi Juan Mejia - a recent Jewish Theological Seminary rabbinical graduate with a converso background - who is the anousim director for B'chol Lashon.

Like many descendants of conversos, she was raised Roman Catholic but felt something missing. And like others, attended a messianic event where she learned of her possible Jewish heritage. But when she learned of the Sephardic Jewish movement, she began her return to Judaism.

Since 2003, she has been helping others on the same journey

"Crypto Jews number in the millions," she said. "I am contacted everyday by people asking for help. I received a few this morning. I'm fortunate to be able to help others learn about their heritage while leaning about my own. My art ties into the search. After I read 'Glassmakers, The Odyssey of the Jews,' I knew glass connected me to my ancestry."

She also helps to facilitate education in Jewish communities and to help those seeking to learn more about possible Jewish heritage.

In her quest for knowledge she discovered that her connection to glass artistry may have a long connection to her Judaism. Until 1492, the Iberian glassmaking industry was mostly Jewish, and members of Sephardic glassmaking families escaped the Inquisition as they traveled through Amsterdam to the Caribbean. Among them were the ROBLES (her maternal great-grandmother's family) and SALAS families. In the article by Samuel Kurinsky, these families were linked to the industry in Italy, Spain, France and Holland.

This year's conference, as have the past events, is being held at Rabbi Leon's congregation. Leon presented a resolution passed unanimously by more than 2,000 rabbis at the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism's Rabbinical Assembly conference in December 2009. The resolution calls for member congregations to welcome bnai anousim to Judaism and also called for memorializing the victims of the Inquisition as part of Tisha b'Av observances.

In 2011, the conference in Jerusalem will bring descendants of Crypto-Jews to Israel to learn about their history.

For more information or to register for this year's conference, contact Loya.

Shavuot: A cheesy holiday!

The great festival of cheese is a delicious holiday, except for those who are lactose-intolerant.

Also known as the Festival of Weeks, of First Fruits and of the Giving of the Torah, the holiday begins at sundown on Tuesday, May 18.

As often mentioned in Tracing the Tribe, Tablet is one of my favorite reads each day, and there are several holiday-related stories: "Blintz Binge," "Dairy Heirs" and "Got Milk?" There's also a Shavuot FAQ and other related reading.

The first, by Katie Robbins, covers a woman's search for the perfect blintz. Get your frying pans ready for the excellent recipe provided.

The second, by Joan Nathan, gives good background on the holiday, covers spring, the greening of the land, the artisanal kosher cheese industry in North America. Nathan gives a great cheesecake recipe.

The last, by Liel Leibovitz, offers a look at the complicated history of Jews and dairy, goat milk, more on lactose intolerance, Ashkenazim, Sephardim, and even some diary-related gematria.

Enjoy!

Moment Magazine: Passover Fix

Tracing the Tribe loves Moment Magazine for its many interesting stories.

If you are already a subscriber or friend of the mag, you'll be receiving regular roundups, news items and quirky stories noticed by the editors. Readers can sign up for this free newsletter service here.

Mondays will focus on politics; Wednesday, culture; and Friday, religion.

Here's the Pesach special!

The first is on my favorite nostalgic Haggada; the second, a peek at silverscreen seders; and the third, on eyewatering chrein (horseradish). Click on the links below:

HOW COFFEE GOT INTO THE CHAROSET BUSINESS

Maxwell House started publishing Haggadahs in 1934 to give out free with the purchase of a can of coffee. It’s wide reach into American society “did more to codify Jewish liturgy than any force in history,” says one scholar. Approximately 50 million copies have been printed over the past 75 years. How did the Maxwell House Haggadah come to reign supreme in American Passover Seders for so many decades? Learn the true story in Moment’s intellectual food feast Talk of The Table.

LOOK WHO'S COMING TO DINNER, PASSOVER EDITION
As any movie-goer should know, the Passover-table is the showcase for Jewish dysfunctional families. From Marjorie Morningstar to Woody Allen, Moment’s Film Watch spotlights some great Seder films!

THE SWEETNESS OF MAROR
Horseradish has not always come in jars. A Moment writer recalls her grandmother’s horseradish garden and how growing and serving horseradish at the Seder following her death, she commemorates her grandmother’s legacy.

The print/online March/April 2010 issue can be viewed here. Among the stories: An eggplant journey, Matzah Man, Haggadah art, and many others.

Sign up for the free newsletter.

Tracing the Tribe is back!!!

Hello, loyal readers.

Tracing the Tribe arrived back in the early hours of Friday morning and has spent two days recovering from jet lag.

Tons of things piled up to work on, so expect a busy week - despite the holiday!

Enjoy your Passover holiday with your family and friends.

-- Make your favorite ethnic Passover dishes.

-- Remember to talk about your own family's unique journey geographically to where you live today. Recall your ancestors, talk about their experiences.

-- Involve the younger generations.

-- When you gather for your seders, also make time to go over family photographs.

-- Ask your seder guests to each bring an old family photo (a copy, please, as wine stains don't really improve old photos) for "show and tell."

-- Try various means to transmit your family's journey: Maps, photos, names, dates, countries, photos of ships that your family traveled on to wherever they went, funny stories and more.

-- Tell Tracing the Tribe about your seder experiences in the comment section. Share your nostalgia, the good times and the sad.

-- Remember to take pictures of your seders and everyone who attends them, video as well as still photos. It's a good holiday habit to get into!

With best wishes to all my readers
at this very special time of year,

Schelly

Portugal: Faro Jewish Heritage Center

Jewish history is found in surprising places, often by visitors who simply stumble by chance onto something rather interesting.

Tortoise Tales (a diary of motor home adventures) is a blog covering slow travel in a motorhome through Europe by two rather adventurous UK retirees Frances and Bernard Platman, who began their travels in October 2003.

In this post, they discuss their December 2009 visit to Faro, Portugal, in the Algarve region.

The Faro Jewish Heritage Center is the focus of this post.

The site covers the center, the cemetery, the museum and much more, as well as activities and events for the tiny permanent Jewish community (augmented by visitors) in this area - all thanks to former South Africans Ralf and Judy Pinto, who host holiday celebrations and other activities. If you're planning a trip to the Algarve, contact them.

At right, see a photo of the Faro Jewish cemetery.

How did Frances Platman learn about the Pintos?

Shortly after arriving at Armacoa de Pera, on the Algarve in Portugal, I was reading the Portuguese English paper and noticed in the “what’s on” columns for 13th December a snippet saying if we wanted an invite to a Chanukah party just phone….. So I did and spoke to a charming man who originally hailed from South Africa but had been living full time in Portimao on the Algarve for a number of years.

He and his wife are instrumental in setting up the Algarve Jewish Community,

They have been organising events for special occasions since their arrival in Portugal. He is also the director of the Faro Jewish Heritage Centre, Cemetery and Museum, and offered to take us there.

The Centre is the only remaining vestige of the first post Inquisition Jewish presence in Portugal and the cemetery contains marble gravestones from the period 1838 to 1932. The small museum has many artefacts and original furniture from an 1820 synagogue together with a video, “Without the Past”.

There's more in her blog post and much more on the Faro Jewish Heritage Center.

How was the Chanukah party?

The Chanukah party on the 13th December was very jolly, held in our hosts’ apartment. There were people there who were visiting just like us but also residents from all over the Algarve , some permanent and some who come and go from their country of origin. Fried foods were eaten, candles were lit and songs sang to remember the miracle of the holy oil in the temple which lasted for eight days although there was only enough for one when the Jewish people were besieged.

Jewish visitors to the area are always welcomed by this enthusiastic couple. We intend to keep in touch with them in the future as we have enjoyed our new friendship.

Thanks, Frances, for this post.

Readers interested in mobile home travel will also find Tortoise Tales interesting.

Music: Whose Christmas is it?

Musician and author Michael Feinstein's New York Times op-ed - Whose Christmas Is It? - is an interesting read, focused on the fact that much popular Christmas music was written by Members of the Tribe.

Tracing the Tribe has written on this previously; click here.

Read Feinstein's piece here. He addresses a weekend of Christmas concerts he did about 10 years ago, accompanied by a California regional symphony. He played a program of holiday classics the first night, but before the second concert, an orchestra board representative told him the program was "too Jewish." There had been complaints.

What provoked the complaints? Feinstein had mentioned the first night between numbers that almost all popular Christmas songs were written by Jews.

He opened the second concert with "We Need a Little Christmas," by MOT Jerry Herman.

Feinstein also mentions the evolution of Christmas as demonstrated in its music, which is more secular, and about Santa, sleighs and reindeer.

Yet I also hope that those who feel this encroachment will on some level understand that the spirit of the holiday is universal. We live in a multicultural time and the mixing, and mixing up, of traditions is an inevitable result. Hence we have the almost century-old custom of American Jews creating a lot more Christmas music than Hanukkah music.

Here's Feinstein's list of some of the most popular Christmas songs, written by other MOTs.

Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” Mel Tormé's “The Christmas Song,” “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “Silver Bells,” “Santa Baby,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Winter Wonderland.” Most were written for Tin Pan Alley and appeared in sheet music, not in a show or film.

However, Feinstein says Israel Baline's - excuse me, Irving Berlin's - "White Christmas was introduced in the film, "Holiday Inn," while another classic, "Silver Bells" appeared in "The Lemon Drop Kid."

Read why some very famous Jewish songwriters are not in this list, such as Jerome Kern, the Gershwins, Richard Rodgers and Harold Arlen.

Feinstein shares his idea of seasonal expressions:

It doesn’t take Freud to figure out that the sugarplums, holly and mistletoe all tap into a sense of comfort, longing, security and peace that so many fervently desire; that we all wish the clichés were true. As Jews, Christians, Muslims, Mormons, Buddhists and everything in between, we are all more alike than we are different.

Read Feinstein's complete piece at the link above, as well as Tracing the Tribe's post.

Chanukah: What's new in doughnuts

The place to be for Chanukah - if you are a conisseur of sufganiyot (doughnuts to the linguistically-challenged) - is Israel.


Each year, new varieties are available at streetside tents where the delectable delights are fried fresh for lines of people. The air is thick with the fragrance of frying oil and chocolate, and whatever "in" varieties are on the menu.


When I worked on the Jerusalem Post's Metro weekly, we did an annual article on what new flavors were available at the major bakeries.


While it seems that only jelly doughnuts are found in the US, that's not the situation here. In any case, even if you do find them here, the jelly is not that horrible library paste stuff I knew in Hebrew school, but is often imported strawberry or raspberry jam or jelly. I still hate them.


Even as a kid, I asked, don't these come in chocolate? My seemingly blasphemous question produced shocked responses from the adults.


Luckily, in Tel Aviv, chocolate is always part of the holiday lineup, either outside or filled with. Plain chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, chocolate rum, and lots of other fillings, along with dulce de leche, pina colada, with chocolate coating or not, with sprinkles or not, with various flavored liqueurs. Also available are the regular large ones in addition to mini-versions.


What I haven't seen here are doughnut holes. In Southern Nevada, we often bought doughnut holes by the bag for snacks for the Hebrew school students.


This year, according to YNet, the A list includes vodka. when you buy your holiday supply, remember to bring your ID. The alcohol content is supposedly that of a bottle of beer. According to the story, the alcohol content is 35% for each


The vodka importer hired a pastry chef who's also a bartender to create the new items. The vodka is mixed with the jam filling, but bakeries may decide to add it to other flavors, such as chocolate.


I remember an NYU geology class, when we took thermoses (is the plural of thermos thermosi?) of hot chocolate with vodka on our field trips. None of us froze, but we didn't get much done in the way of rock-hunting. We were fortunate in that we didn't have to climb steep hills or cliffs.


The story reports that those who eat two or more of these doughnuts should consider taking a taxi home after their holiday parties.

A 100-gram (about 3 oz.) donut costs about $1.18 or NIS 4.5, and has 90 milliliters of vodka in the jam filling.

Gifts for your favorite genealogist?

The holidays are just around the corner. Perplexed about what to get for your favorite genealogist? Here are suggestions to consider. For some of them, the deadline is November 30 - so take advantage of the possibilities

Why not an initial subscription or a renewal to a major data site?

Choose from Footnote.com, NewspaperArchive.com (see the special offer of 60% off the regular price for page reproductions!) GenealogyBank.com, WorldVitalRecords.com or, for those with major UK roots, FindMyPast.com.

What about magazine or journal subscriptions or renewals?

Family Tree Magazine, Family Chronicle and others. For researchers of Jewish families, Avotaynu: The International Journal of Jewish Genealogy, is a must. Avotaynu is now offering a 50% sale on subscriptions along with 10% and 20% on books (November 30 is the deadline for this!).

For the more scientific-minded, why not gift a Y-DNA, mtDNA or combination test at FamilyTreeDNA?

The company is offering major promotional prices for the holidays. Tests must be ordered and paid for by December 31, 2009. On January 1, 2010, prices go up, so why not do it now? That's the company to go to because it has the largest comparative databases in the industry. For researchers of Jewish families, that's even more important as the largest Jewish DNA comparative database is within the larger one.

What about memberships in national or local genealogy societies?

Major societies, including some Jewish genealogical societies, often have members' sections on their websites that only paid members can access. These may include many indexes and unusual databases. Some societies also include a monthly or quarterly journal hat comes with membership.

There's also the option to make it possible for a friend or relative to attend a major annual conference of great interest.

Who wouldn't want to receive a gift of registration for a conference like the 2010 IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, (Los Angeles, July 11-16), or the Southern California Genealogy Society Jamboree 2010 (Burbank, June 11-13)?

Some sites are offering holiday sales now, like Avotaynu and also the Family Tree Shop at Family Tree Magazine.

Family Tree Magazine is discounting many items in its Family Tree Shop. Even better, register to win your very own "wish list" of items (up to $150). Learn more and register here. Four lucky winners will be announced on December 3, so put this on your to-do list.

The magazine is offering sale prices on items covering various topics and research areas, including CDs. A good buy is the Family Tree Magazine 2008 CD with all the 2008 issues, containing 480 pages. Articles are searchable, printable and portable. Click directly to all featured websites from the CD. After a 21% discount, the sale price is $18.99. Click here and browse for items of interest.

We all know how expensive genealogy books can be, but here's a chance - from Avotaynu - to stock up on resources genealogical at a discount through November 30.

If you're already a subscriber to Avotaynu - and you should be if Jewish genealogy is important to you - receive discounts on useful reference books. If you're not yet a subscriber, now's the time to get a 50% discount to the journal - and the other discounts.

Current subscribers must click here for the discounts, which include a 20% discount on Avotaynu on CD-Rom, a 15% discount on some excellent genealogical reference works, and a 10% discount on all other books. Shipping charges added. Read the information at the site for all the important details.

Avotaynu on CD-Rom contains all issues for the first 24 years (1985–2008) with 93 issues and 5,700 pages, fully searchable (Windows/Vista only). The sale price is $79.60. If you already have it, the upgrade's sale price is $31.95. Tracing the Tribe thinks this full set would be a great gift for a beginning genealogist of any age.

Have fun checking out gifts for others and adding to your own wish list!

Tablet: Toys NOT to buy for the holiday

Titled "Toy Vey," enjoy Tablet Magazine's list of things NOT to get for young people at holiday time.

Here are just the names of the toys.

See the complete article by Marjorie Ingall for more, much more, definitely more than you really wanted to know about each toy, including where not to buy them.

Writes Ingall, "Peruse them all, then buy your child a book." Tracing the Tribe tends to agree.

-- Plush Mohel Scissors (Talk about traumatic!)

-- Ten Plagues Finger Puppets (Tracing the Tribe kind of like these, but please save them for your seder!)

-- Star of David 3D Glasses

-- Samson Action Figure (Ah, the things you can do to plastic!)

-- Harvey Nagila Dancing Doll (Read the true story on this one!)

-- Techno Draydel with Lights and Sound Effects (Some people have dreidel collections, but not of these!)

-- Kosherland

-- Hanukkah Harry ( a 7 1/2-foot-tall lawn ornament!)

-- Talking Queen Esther Doll

Enjoy!

Moment Magazine: A great gift idea!

Tracing the Tribe loves Moment Magazine.

Each issue has excellent interesting articles, many of which are noted in this blog. See what's in the current issue.

It is the world's largest independent Jewish magazine. Founded by Elie Wiesel and Leonard Fein in 1975, and then relaunched in 2004 and recently has improved even more with a great mix of writers and topics.

Moment is offering a great Chanukah offer - an offer you simply shouldn't refuse! Enjoy it yourself or gift it with this special offer available only through November 30.

A one-year subscription is only $8, and if you decide to gift eight (or even more) of your nearest and dearest friends and family, the price drops to only $5 per annual subscription. Give the gift that keeps giving with each new issue.

Hop over here and add names and addresses for gift cards.

See the Moment website and its blog to get an idea of what you and others can find in each issue.

To see articles that Tracing the Tribe has really enjoyed, enter "Moment Magazine" in the blog search box (right side bar, scroll down).

Happy gifting!

Miami: Cheesecake & stone crabs, Dec. 6

As a former South Florida resident, my brain cells are indelibly imprinted with memories of great Jewish delis, Joe's Stone Crabs and the Cuban restaurants.

I wish I could be at the next Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Miami meeting which will feature author Seth Bramson speaking on his most recent book, "Sunshine, Stone Crabs and Cheesecake," on Sunday, December 6.

Bramson, a JGS Miami member, has written 16 books, including the first-ever Jewish history of the area, "L'Chaim! The History of the Jewish Community of Greater Miami," which details the part Members of the Tribe played in building the community.

The morning begins at 9.30am for networking, with the main program at 10am at the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, 4200 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami. (See below for information on security arrangements).

Also, join in the group's annual Hanukkah celebration, complete with decorations, special treats, and a Hanukkah Party Grab Bag. See the JGS Miami website for directions, or contact president Joan Parker for more information on any details.

(SECURITY PARKING: There is free secure parking; bring ID. The gate is permanently closed. On the left, find a yellow security box, press #001 to connect to security. Announce that you are attending the JGS meeting, the gate will slide open and then close behind you.)

'Cool' Chanukah videos

In Israel, Jacob Richman's website offers so many resources in so many categories. He's just created a list of 115 cool Chanukah YouTube videos.

Chanukah begins Friday, December 11 at sundown.

Laugh a little! It's good for you! And count the different ways the holiday is spelled!

The list includes these and many more:

Adam Sandler's - The Chanukah Song
Kenny Ellis sings his hit single Swingin' Dreidel
I Had a Little Dreidl - Bagel Blvd Chanuka Edition
Left to Right - Michelle Citrin
Captain Smartypants sings Dreidel
The Funky Gold Menorah by The Mama Doni Band
Chabad: Chanukah Around the World
Light Up - Moshe Skier Band
Poway Chanukah: Yes, We Can!
Nefesh B'Nefesh: Modern Day Miracles
Birthright: Light em Up
Hanukkah Bird (animation and song)
My Menorah - The knack is back! (animation and song)
Ahmedinijad admits he is addicted!
Eli Yazpan, Hanukkah (in Hebrew)
Jewlarious: he Miracle on 42nd Street
Benji Lovitt: Happy Chanukkah from Jerusalem!
Meshugga Beach Party - Oh Hanukkah
"First Time Lighting" - with Matisyahu, Nosson Zand
Al Hanisim - Six13 @ Chabad Chanukah Telethon
Hannukah Song Texas Style
Oy Cappella - Adam Sandler Chanukah Song
Voices of Liberty singing O Hannukah
Aish: Just Jew It - True Chanuka Story
Chana Zelda
"The Latke Song" by Debbie Friedman
How to play Chanukah Dredyl
LeeVees - Latke Clan
Gerber Folk Skewer The Dreidel Song
The Eight Nights of Hanukkah, as told by Jewish celebrities
Purim Homintaschen vs. Hannukah Latke debate
Feed Me Bubbe - Latkes

Enjoy many more!