by Gil Marks
1896
Theodor Herzl, an assimilated Austrian journalist shaken by the Dreyfus affair in France and unrelenting European anti-Semitism, publishes Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State), transforming Zionism into a political movement.
1899
Sam Schapiro begins selling Concord grape wine from his restaurant on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He soon becoming the first kosher wine company in America.
1903
The Kishinev pogrom in Bessarabia and the prolonged Russian pogroms following Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese war in 1905 result in the Second Aliyah, lasting until the outbreak of World War I in 1914.
1903
Dov Behr Manischewitz, after observing his wife, Nesha, pound matzas in a cloth to make matza meal and farfel, introduces commercial versions. His matza meal revolutionizes Passover cooking, including transforming the matza ball from a seldom-made item into one common on Passover and also during the rest of the year.
1909
The first kibbutz (collective community), Degania, is founded on the shores of the Galilee.
1915
The New York State Legislature enacts the first kosher protection law.
1917
Britain takes Jerusalem from the Ottomans and issues the Balfour Declaration, stating that Britain would facilitate a Jewish state in Palestine.
1917
Russian Revolution. The Pale of Settlement is abolished, but thousands of Jews are murdered in numerous pogroms.
1920
Arab pogroms increasingly terrorize Jews in Israel. The Haganah (Jewish defense organization) is founded.
1921
The first moshav (cooperative settlement), Nahalal, is founded in the Jezreel Valley.
1922
The League of Nations gives Britain a Mandate for Palestine; Britain set up three-fourths of the area as Transjordan, excluding any Jews.
1923
The Union of Orthodox Jewish congregations, founded in 1898, introduces the OU symbol to use on the first kosher American national brand of food, Heinz Vegetarian Baked Beans.
1924
The United States passes the Immigration Restriction Act.
1929
The Goldbergs , a show about a Jewish family living in the Bronx with Molly Goldberg as the main character, becomes the first family-based situation comedy on the radio. The radio show ends in 1946, but in 1949, The Goldbergs becomes the first television sitcom featuring Jewish characters; it is finally canceled in 1956. During its quarter-century run, the proudly Jewish show introduces various Jewish customs and numerous Jewish foods to mainstream America.
1931
Maxwell House, America's largest coffee producer, publishes the first Maxwell House Haggadah ; a later edition will be used at the 2009 Seder held by Barack Obama in the White House.
1935
The Nuremberg Laws revoke Jewish rights in Germany.
1935
Coca-Cola is certified kosher.
1936
Stalin institutes purges in Russia to destroy Jewish culture.
1938
Kristallnacht, a pogrom on November 9, begins Germany's persecution of Jews.
1939
The British White Paper prohibitively limits Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine. Britain maintains this restrictive policy through World War II and the remainder of its control of the area.
1939
Jewish demographics reach a high point—there are nearly 17 million Jews, with 9.5 million in Europe, 4.8 million in America, and 1 million in Muslim lands.
1941
The first record appears of the word rugelach, actually a synonym for the central European kipfel (crescent), which goes on to become one of America's favorite cookies.
1942
Nazi leaders formalize the Final Solution at the Wannsee Conference.
1945
World War II ends. There are about 11 million Jews worldwide with about 1 million Jews in the Muslim world: 265,000 in Morocco; 140,000 in Algeria; 135,000 in Iraq; 105,000 in Tunisia; 90,000 in Iran; 80,000 in Turkey; 75,000 in Egypt; 55,000 in Yemen; 50,000 in Kurdistan; 38,000 in Libya; 30,000 in Syria; 8,000 in Aden; 5,000 in Lebanon; 5,000 in Afghanistan; and 600 in Bahrain. Most will subsequently be forced to leave due to political instability, physical threats, and sometimes expulsion.
1947
The United Nations on November 29 votes to partition Palestine into two states.
1948
The state of Israel issues its Declaration of Independence on May 14. Arab armies immediately invade Israel.
1949
The Arab states agree to an armistice on April 3, ending Israel's War of Independence. Jews are prohibited from the Old City of Jerusalem and the Western Wall, which fall under Jordanian control.
1956
Sinai War.
1962
Daniel Thompson invents a bagel-making machine, which helps transform the then-obscure Polish bread into America's number-one fresh and frozen bakery product.
1967
Six-Day War. Jerusalem comes under Israeli rule.
1967
Several American companies begin to mass market traditional Jewish foods, such as Levy's rye bread and Hebrew National hot dogs, to appeal to non-Jews. By 2010, nearly 75 percent of Hebrew National's customers are not Jewish.
1973
Yom Kippur War.
1978
Israel and Egypt sign a peace treaty.
1993
Giant ConAgra Inc. acquires America's largest kosher meat processor, Hebrew National, while in the same year Sara Lee Corporation purchases the second-largest, Bessin, reflecting Jewish food's continuing acceptance by mainstream America.
2004
PepsiCo enters a joint venture with the Israeli company Strauss for Sabra brand, promoting hummus and other Israeli favorites in America. Osem, another Israeli company, also enters the American hummus market.
2010
There are an estimated 11 million kosher consumers in the United States, although only about 1 million are Jewish; the rest are Seventh-day Adventists, Muslims, and other religious groups (not to mention those with restrictive dietary needs, including vegetarians and lactose intolerants). Around 150,000 American packaged-goods items are certified kosher.
2010
There are about 14.5 million Jews worldwide: 6,452,000 in the United States; 5,550,000 in Israel; 491,500 in France; 375,000 in Canada; 297,000 in Britain; 228,000 in Russia; 184,500 in Argentina; 118,000 in Germany; 103,000 in Australia; 96,500 in Brazil; 80,000 in Ukraine; 72,000 in South Africa; 49,700 in Hungary; 39,800 in Mexico; 30,000 in the Netherlands; 28,600 in Italy; 18,200 in Belarus; 17,800 in Turkey; 10,800 in Iran; 10,000 in Romania; 9,800 in Latvia; 6,800 in Azerbaijan; 5,000 in Greece; 4,800 in Uzbekistan; 3,500 in Georgia; 3,500 in Morocco; 3,500 in Poland; 3,200 in Lithuania; 1,100 in Tunisia; 300 in Turkmenistan; 200 in Yemen; 100 in Egypt; 100 in Syria; 60 in Iraq; 50 in Lebanon; 1 in Afghanistan; and 0 in Aden, Algeria, Libya, and Jordan.
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Adafina
Adafina is a Sephardic Sabbath stew in which the ingredients are typically cooked in layers and served in separate dishes.
Origin: Spain
Other names: Algeria: t'fina; central Morocco: frackh, schena, shachina, skhina; northern Morocco: daf, dafina, d'fina; Tangiers: horisa, orissa; Tunisia and Libya: tafina, t'fina.
The Register of Depositions before the Inquisitors in the Canary Islands on July 4, 1570, recorded, "Ana Goncales deposes that when she was in the service of Ana de Belmonte, she saw that her mistress cooked mutton with oil and onions, which she understands is the Jewish dish Adafina." During the Spanish Inquisition, the single most incriminating dish connoting a retention of Judaism was adafina. Even an accusation of preparing this stew led to Conversos being burned at the stake. Inquisition reports from the fifteenth century list ingredients for adafinas, including chickpeas, fava beans, fatty meat, onions, garlic, and cumin. The initial laye
r of flavor in any Sephardic stew is chopped onion sautéed in olive oil, and usually the meat is browned with the onions as well.
After the Sabbath stew developed and spread through medieval Spain, Sephardim from the north and center of the country generally adopted the Talmudic term hamin as the name of their Sabbath stew. However, an alternative nomenclature emerged in the south, ad-dfina or adafina (from the Arabic meaning "buried/covered"), corresponding to the Mishnaic phrase "tomnin et ha'hamin" (Aramaic meaning "cover/bury the warm dish"). In this vein, al-kanz al-madfun is Arabic for "buried treasure," once a Spanish sobriquet for the Sabbath stew. Pointedly, there is a homophone in Hebrew, dafinah, meaning "force into a groove" and "to press against a wall," either of which would be applicable to the medieval cooking methods of inserting the pot into a hole in the ground with embers or sealing it in an oven. Among the six Jewish dishes contained in an anonymous thirteenth-century Moorish cookbook from Andalusia was one for an antiquated "Adafina," which consisted of layers of spiced meatballs and spiced meat omelets. Following the expulsion, the name adafina or d'fina primarily survived across the Straits of Gibraltar in North Africa.
In addition to meat and onions, a basic adafina contains some sort of legume—Moroccans and Egyptians are partial to chickpeas, while white beans are more common among Tunisians and Algerians. For Passover, some cooks use fresh fava beans from the new crop. Vegetables differ regionally as well. Algerians typically add turnips, while Tunisians use a well-cooked leafy green (sfanach) or cardoons. After potatoes and sweet potatoes arrived in the region from South America, they eventually became familiar additions. Sephardic Sabbath stews are always seasoned with cumin and frequently with other spices as well. Some adafinas are slightly sweetened with dates or honey, while others possess a hint of fire with the addition of harissa (chili paste) or chilies. Some cooks add pieces of quince or dried apricots and plums. Ubiquitous to all Sephardic Sabbath stews are haminados (slow-cooked eggs). The key to what is used in the adafina is an ingredient's ability to stand up to the long cooking time.
Many adafinas are enriched with a calf's foot, a tongue, an ox tail, or a small meat loaf, providing another dish for Sabbath lunch. Once luxuries and generally the province of only the wealthy, these enhancements are common today. Moroccans generally include a kouclas (dumpling) wrapped in cheesecloth, typically consisting of any combination of rice, wheat berries, and ground meat, or separate bags for any or each of the three. Today, some cooks substitute ovenproof plastic bags for the cheesecloth, adding water and seasonings to each bag. Many Algerians, Tunisians, and Libyans make a bobinet (beef sausage) or osbana/osban (a sort of sausage made from the chopped entrails of a sheep mixed with eggs, rice or bread crumbs, sautéed onion, garlic, and spices and stuffed into a sheep's stomach). Egyptians tend to eschew dumplings, making just the basic stew. For the meal breaking the fast of Yom Kippur, some households make an adafina containing a whole chicken stuffed with ground beef, ground almonds, and cinnamon.
In North Africa, the stew was typically started over a fire on Friday, then set in the coals of a kanoun (brazier) and covered with special bulky blankets for insulation and left to simmer overnight. Families lacking a kanoun sealed the lid with a flour paste, then carried the pot on Friday afternoons to a large public oven in town. In most communities, a guard was hired to watch the oven all night to avoid any tampering.
The majority of Moroccan Sabbath stews are traditionally cooked in layers and separated into different dishes for serving. Consequently, Moroccan adafina is technically a meal-in-one and not a blended stew. The haminados, usually peeled after cooking and put back in the pot for several minutes, are generally offered first as the appetizer. Diners can season their own eggs with salt and ground cumin. The remaining ingredients are then served in separate deep bowls. Presentation is important and fancier hosts line the dishes with lettuce leaves, which contrast with the intensely browned adafina ingredients. The legumes along with a little of the cooking liquid are sometimes spooned over couscous left over from Friday dinner. The remaining cooking liquid is presented as a warm soup, sometimes with thin noodles added. It is customary in many homes to follow the adafina with a glass of a digestif, such as fig liquor.
(See also Hamin, Haminado, Harira, Kouclas, Sabbath, Shkanah, and T'fina)
Moroccan Sabbath "Stew" (Adafina/Dafina/Skhina)
6 to 8 servings
[MEAT]
¼ cup olive or vegetable oil
2 large onions, chopped
3 to 6 cloves garlic, minced
8 ounces (1¼ cups) dried chickpeas, or 4 ounces chickpeas and 4 ounces dried white beans or dried baby lima beans, soaked in water to cover for 8 hours and drained
1 tablespoon paprika
1 to 2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, or 1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground turmeric or 1/8 teaspoon ground saffron
About 2 teaspoons table salt or 4 teaspoons kosher salt
About ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
3 to 4 pounds boneless lamb shoulder or beef flanken, brisket, short ribs, or chuck, cut into 2-inch cubes
1 pound beef marrow or veal shin bones
1 chicken, cut into pieces, and/or 8 ounces garlic sausage, thickly sliced (optional)
1 pound (2¼ cups) wheat berries, soaked in water to cover overnight and drained, or 2 cups long-grain rice
1 recipe kouklas (Moroccan Rice and Meat Dumpling (Kouclas bi Ruz/Relleno de Arroz) optional)
8 medium (2 pounds) boiling or new potatoes
4 sweet potatoes or carrots, peeled and halved (optional)
1 to 2 tablespoons harissa (Northwest African Chili Paste (Harissa)), ½ to 1 cup pitted dates, or 3 to 4 tablespoons honey (optional)
About 7 cups water
6 to 8 eggs in shell
1. In a large, heavy pot or deep 10- to 12-quart ovenproof dish, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté until soft and translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the chickpeas and stir to coat. Sprinkle with the paprika, cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, salt, and pepper.
2. In the order given, add to the pot (without stirring) the meat, bones, and optional chicken. Loosely tie the wheat berries in a large piece of cheesecloth and insert it into the center of the stew. Many cooks add a kouclas (dumpling). If using rice in the stew, use a meat and wheat berry dumpling; if using wheat berries in the stew, use a meat and rice dumpling. Surround with the potatoes and, if using, sweet potatoes and/or dates.
3. Add enough water to cover by more than 1 inch. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 2 hours. Add enough water to cover the stew. Arrange the eggs in the stew and press to submerge.
4. Tightly cover the pot. Place on a thin sheet of metal over a low heat or in a 225°F oven and cook overnight. Remove and peel the eggs, serving them separately. To serve, place the chickpeas, cooking liquid, meat, wheat berries, potatoes, and eggs in separate bowls.
Adzhapsandali
Adzhapsandali is a vegetable stew, usually based on eggplant.
Origin: Georgia
Other names: adzhapsandal.
Until recently, most Georgian homes had a fire in the center of the large communal room with a shwatzetzkhli (large copper pot) hung by a chain from the ceiling, in which various stews were simmered, the main course of many meals. Outside was a clay oven, used to bake breads and casseroles. Vegetable dishes were either cooked in the pot or, less commonly, baked in the oven. The most popular of these stews is adzhapsandali (Adzha is a province on the Black Sea). Some versions are soupy, while others are dry. Eggplant, introduced by the Persians and subsequently becoming the Georgians' favorite vegetable, is commonly the heart of adzhapsandali; other produce is added depending on its availability and the discretion of the cook.
What distinguishes the stews of Georgian cookery from other vegetable stews is the large amount of fresh herbs and a kick from cayenne.
Georgian Jews enjoy this lively stew hot on Sukkot and Friday night or at room temperataure for Sabbath lunch. Adzhapsandali is served as a main course or side dish, typically accompanied with khachapuri (filled pastries) or mchadi (corn cakes) and Georgian wine. At dairy meals, adzhapsandali is commonly accompanied with yogurt.
Afikomen (Tzafun)
Near the beginning of the Passover Seder, the middle of three matzas is broken in two and the larger section, called the afikomen, is wrapped and set aside to be eaten as the final item of food of the evening. This, however, was not the original usage of the word afikomen, but its modern convention, reflecting historical changes in Jewish ritual and lore.
The Mishnah states, "One may not add after the paschal offering an afikomen." This wording clearly indicates a forbidden activity. At the time that the Temple stood, the paschal offering (korban pesach) constituted the final part of the Passover Seder meal. Following the destruction of the Temple and the cessation of the paschal offering, it was replaced with a portion of matza at the end of the meal, separate from the matza at the onset over which the Hamotzi (benediction over bread) is recited. This concluding piece of matza is not consumed because of hunger, but, according to some, for the fulfillment of the commandment of eating matza or, according to others, in memory of the Temple.
The formalized Passover-night liturgy was developed by Sages living in Israel two thousand years ago, at the time of the Roman occupation. They incorporated into the Seder not only the various biblical commandments but also many elements from the contemporary Greco-Roman symposium (Greek for "drinking together"). It was a ritualized upper class banquet and intellectual dialogue, including reclining on couches, eating from private small tables, ritual hand washing, dipping greens, consuming fruit-and-nut relishes, a series of ritual wine libations, a sumptuous meal, and a series of questions as a starting point for an intellectual discussion of a designated topic. These aspects of the symposium served as models of freedom and affluence, the ideals to which the Seder participants aspired.
