Encyclopedia of Jewish Food

by Gil Marks

  After the biblical period, the character of Israeli wine changed with the widespread adoption of the Greek style of winemaking, which produced wines that were so concentrated that they needed to be diluted with water in order to be palatable. In the Greek method, fully ripe grapes were spread out on straw mats in the vineyard to dry in the sun for about a week, concentrating the sugar. Evaporation during storage in earthenware amphorae resulted in a thick, sweet, concentrated wine. The Greek style, which was already common in Greece by the time of Homer (c. eighth century BCE), probably developed because high-alcohol, high-sugar wines last much longer than low-alcohol ones, and are also much easier to transport. Before the Greek period, watered-down wine was considered by Jews to be corrupted, but by the time of the Talmud, wine that did not require three parts of water to dilute it was "not considered wine" and was deemed unfit for consumption. In this vein, the Talmud instructed that the Four Cups drunk at the Roman-era Passover Seder had to be mixed with three parts water to one part wine. Subsequently, the advent of the later Roman style of wine led to a return to wine requiring less or no dilution. In Roman times, it is estimated that the average person consumed a quart of wine every day.

  At the end of the Second Commonwealth, Roman legions laid waste to the ancient Judean vineyards. The might of Rome, however, could not erase fifteen hundred years of accumulated knowledge, and the Jews brought their viticultural skills with them to the Diaspora. One reason that Jews continued to engage in this form of agriculture was to ensure the continuing availability of kosher wine. According to Jewish law, after the crushing of the grapes, only a Sabbath-observant person may come in contact with the juice, unless it has been heated above a certain point (yayin mevushal), rendering it out of the category of wine. This special restriction applies only to grape wine and juice, and not to other alcoholic beverages.

  Since Muslim law forbids alcohol, Jews generally ran the vineyards and wine trade—when the authorities permitted these enterprises—in Islamic lands. The frequent mention of wine in Sephardic poetry reveals the Iberian Jews' fondness for it.

  Early Ashkenazim also retained their love of wine. Jews in France, who were tilling vineyards there centuries before the arrival of the Franks (the Germanic tribe that conquered Gaul in the sixth century gave the land its name, France), proved to be particularly adept at this ancient craft. However, the restrictions and persecutions of medieval Europe took their toll, and these lands and the ancient viticultural lore were eventually lost. On the other hand, Italian Jews have been making dry wines for thousands of years. Due to the climate in Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia, Jews in these lands had access to high-quality grapes that produced fine wines. Many families made their own supply at home, while some Jewish communities made arrangements with local winemakers to produce special kosher batches under the supervision of a local rabbi. In these areas, wine was not only a ritual object, but also a beverage that was consumed with meals on a regular basis.

  While the Jews of western and southern Europe retained a preference for dry wines, the story was very different in the northeast, where most of the Ashkenazim eventually settled. The climate, soil, and culture of Poland, northern Germany, Ukraine, and the Baltic States did not lend itself to viticulture, and high-quality grapes were generally too expensive or nonexistent. Whiskey, such as vodka and rye, and distilled liqueurs were more prevalent in these areas. Wine, made from whatever substandard grapes were occasionally available, generally required a large amount of sugar to be potable. More often, it was made from raisins, berries, or other fruit, which yielded intensely sweet wines. In northern Europe, wine was no longer drunk in place of water or as an integral part of the meal, but merely for rituals. As a result, eastern Europeans developed an affinity for syrupy sweet varieties, called Kiddush wine or sacramental wine. Thus the first wineries established in modern Israel—Schorr in the Old City of Jerusalem in 1848 and Teperberg in 1870—which were backed by Sir Moses Montefiore, devoted themselves solely to sweet wine.

  Eastern European immigrants brought their affinity for sweet wines to the New World; as in eastern Europe, in the eastern United States, high-quality grapes were nonexistent. In 1899, Sam Schapiro, an immigrant from Galicia (now southern Poland), opened a small restaurant on Attorney Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where he made his own wine, the sweet type. Schapiro's wine proved more popular than his food and he soon began expanding that business, starting the first kosher wine company in America. The introduction in 1869 of Concord grape juice—which was first commercially sold in bottles in 1893—quickly led to the planting of Concord grape vines in Upstate New York, just in time for Sam Schapiro's new business. In 1907, Schapiro opened a structure on Rivington Street with a block-long cellar, which endured until 2001. Schapiro initially offered only one type of wine, a Kiddush wine made from inexpensive Concord grapes transported down the Hudson River from Upstate New York; these grapes yielded a harsh juice that required the addition of plenty of sugar during the winemaking process. Schapiro soon expanded to Malaga, another sweet wine, although Concord remained the best seller. The company proudly boasted, "The wine you can almost cut with a knife."

  In 1935, shortly after the end of Prohibition, Leo Starr and Meyer Robinson, two former employees of the defunct Gafen Industries, a wine company closed due to Prohibition, partnered with the large matza producer Manischewitz to use its brand name for an unconnected wine business. The winery in Bush Terminal in Brooklyn soon became the largest kosher winery in America. Manischewitz's main competitor was Mogen David, founded in Chicago in 1933 by the Cohen and Marcus families. Sweet wines completely dominated the American Jewish wine market and, in the minds of Jewish consumers and non-Jews alike, sweet wine became synonymous with Jewish wine, not to mention the butt of many a joke.

  In the 1940s, the Pluczenik brothers opened the Kedem Winery on the Lower East Side to appeal to the Orthodox community and sold typical sweet wine. In 1848, Emanuel Herzog founded a winery in Vrobove, Slovakia. The Herzog's operation eventually became the royal wine supplier to Emperor Franz Josef, who loved the family's off-dry Riesling, and presented the title of baron to Emanuel's great grandson, Philip. At the onset of World War II, the winery was seized by the Nazis. The family survived in hiding and in 1948, following the Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia, Philip's grandson, Eugene Herzog, brought his family to America and went to work for Kedem as a truck driver and eventually winemaker. In 1958, Eugene purchased Kedem and brought his four sons into the business. Against the prevailing wisdom of the elder statesmen of the wine trade and nearly everyone else, Kedem revolutionized the American kosher wine market. In 1972, remembering the drier wines of Slovakia, Eugene's son, David Herzog, in an unprecedented move, imported one thousand cases of three varieties of kosher French dry wines. The company continued importing dry wines and in 1986 introduced its own line. In addition to Herzog, various other kosher wineries opened in California. Today, nearly every wine-growing area of Europe produces high-quality kosher wines. Kosher wineries operate from Chile to Australia.

  Meanwhile, the situation in Israel changed in a major way in 1889 when Baron Edmond de Rothschild, owner of Chateau Lafite in Bordeaux and a dedicated supporter of Jewish settlements in Israel, invested a significant sum of money in the effort to establish new vineyards and obtained and planted high-grade varieties of European grapes in local vineyards. He built large wine cellars at Rishon le-Zion in 1889, southeast of Tel Aviv, and a second facility in Zichron Ya'akov in 1892, south of Haifa, both of which produced wines in the French style. In 1906, Rothschild established the Carmel Wine Growers Cooperative to produce the grapes and make and export the wine; the Carmel Mizrachi cooperative is still Israel's largest winery.

  In 1976, kibbutzniks in the Golan Heights, who previously had concentrated on apple processing, planted the first vines that had been seen in the Golan in nearly two thousand years. The new enterprise imported vine stock from California and brought in young American winemakers. In 1983
, eight kibbutzim and moshavim in the Golan joined forces to form the Hazor Wineries cooperative (the enterprise was later incorporated as the Golan Heights Winery), which marketed its wine under three labels—Yarden, Gamla, and Golan. The Golan group's wines set high standards and were consistent in quality. Within a few years, the Golan Winery had grown into Israel's third-largest winery.

  In 1950, the Segal family, known in Israel for its distilleries, took over Askalon Wines in Ramle. Influenced by what the Golan Winery had achieved, Askalon went from making two generic wines to producing many varietals. In 1988, Stock, distiller of numerous liquors and brandies, built a new winery in the town of Ariel. Two years later, two of Stock's largest grape growers, Shmuel Boxer and Yair Lerner, acquired the Israeli Stock Company and renamed the winery Barkan Wine Cellars. They then acquired Segal Winery in 2001, making Barkan Israel's second largest winery.

  Beginning in the 1980s, Israelis began traveling abroad more, returning home with an increased appetite for fine wines, and thus providing a ready market for the new high-quality Israeli vintages. In 2009, Israel had eight major wineries, ten medium-sized wineries, and more than 180 boutique wineries, which produced around 33 million bottles. From the coastal plain, with its sandy soil and semitropical temperatures, to the Golan Heights, with its ideal volcanic basalt plateau and microclimate of warm days and cool nights, the land of Israel once again abounds with vines.

  (See also Grape and Raisin)

  Wot

  Wot is a spicy and fiery stew.

  Origin: Ethiopia

  Other names: watt.

  Wot, the national dish of Ethiopia, is commonly cooked in a clay vessel over an open fire. For large celebrations, men take over the cooking duties, preparing the wot outdoors in large kettles. A wot may contain doro (chicken), begee (lamb or goat), siga (beef), or assa (fish) or be vegetarian with shirro (chickpeas), kik (split peas), or misir (lentils). A wot always contains berbere, a chili-based combination of spices similar to Indian curry powder but much hotter. The berbere is typically added to a wot early, in large amounts, so that the longer cooking time develops the full flavor and heat. The result is one of the world's hottest dishes. Alicha/aleecha ("mild" in Amharic) is a less fiery version of this stew.

  Ethiopian stews include a rather thick sauce with a large amount of onions serving as the base. The unique method of cooking the onions in a dry skillet before adding the fat helps to break them down completely, thereby thickening the sauce. Wots also include plenty of garlic and ginger. Tomato sauce or plenty of paprika is used to make a keiy (red) wot. Doro wot, unquestionably the favorite Ethiopian dish, typically contains hard-boiled eggs; traditionally, one piece of chicken and one egg is served per portion. Jews generally reserved meat wots for special occasions, such as the Sabbath and festivals.

  Wots are daily fare in Ethiopia, making up nearly 10 percent of the diet; injera (pancake bread) constitutes much of the remaining 90 percent. Several layers of injera are piled in the middle of a mesob (woven straw mat that serves as the table) as a common platter and the stew is placed on top, as well as perhaps a few salads and cooked vegetables. Ethiopian stews and side dishes are characteristically eaten with the right hand; the diners tear off pieces of injera and use them to scoop up little portions of wot. When injera is torn into small pieces and stirred into a wot, the dish is called fitfit. Less common is enferfer, made by finely crumbling dried injera and stirring it into a wot along with fried onions and green peppers. Wots made from legumes supplement the lysine deficiency of a diet based on teff injera.

  The injera or other flatbreads also help, somewhat, to mute the fire of the chilies. Vegetarian wots may be accompanied with iab (Ethiopian cheese), as dairy also helps to cool the heat. Sometimes extra wot is rolled up in an injera, making a gursha, and one to three of them may be presented to an honored guest as a token of respect and affection. Coffee is typically sipped at the end of the meal.

  The Sanbat (Sabbath) was and is a very special part of the Ethiopian Jew's week. Beta Israel meals are prepared in advance with everything ready before sundown on Friday and all dishes are served at room temperature. Even those who cannot afford it during the week, make a special effort to have a little chicken or meat in their Sabbath wots.

  (See also Alicha, Berbere, Iab, and Injera)

  Ethiopian Spicy Chicken Stew (Doro Wot)

  4 to 6 servings

  [MEAT]

  5 large red or yellow onions, minced

  ½ cup vegetable oil

  3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced

  1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

  2 to 4 tablespoons berbere (Ethiopian chili powder)

  1 cup water

  1 cup tomato sauce

  About 1 teaspoon salt

  About 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

  1 (3- to 4-pound) chicken, cut into 12 pieces, or 6 chicken thighs and 6 drumsticks

  4 to 6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled

  1. In a dry large skillet or pot, cook the onions over medium heat, stirring constantly, until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Do not burn.

  2. Add the oil. When it begins to sputter, add the garlic, ginger, and berbere and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add ½ cup water. Add the tomato sauce, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring constantly, until the liquid is reduced to the consistency of heavy cream, about 8 minutes.

  3. Add the chicken and toss until well coated, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the remaining ½ cup water. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is tender, about 30 minutes. Add a little more water if the liquid reduces too much.

  4. With a toothpick or the tines of a fork, pierce ½-inch-deep holes over the surface of each egg. Add the eggs to the wot, turn gently in the sauce, and heat through, about 5 minutes.

  Yahrzeit

  Various Jewish communities hold special ceremonies to recognize the anniversary of a relative's death, practices dating back to the late medieval period. The Talmud mentioned the theoretical case of someone who takes a vow to eschew meat or wine on the anniversary of the death of his father, but not in regard to any fixed or official ritual. Ashkenazim commemorate the anniversary of a close relative's death, according to the Hebrew calendar, with a yahrzeit (Yiddish meaning "year time"). The term was first recorded in a Jewish source around 1420 by Rabbi Jacob Mollin of Mainz, Germany. The customs were described in detail shortly thereafter by Rabbi Isaac Tyrnau of Austria in Sefer Ha-Minhagim. The observance of yahrzeit spread from Germany to most other Jewish communities; Sephardim substituted the Hebrew term nachalah (heritage/inheritance) or petira (death). In modern Hebrew, it is generally yom ha'shanah (day of the year). Originally, a yahrzeit was only held for a parent, but the ritual was extended to include a spouse, sibling, and child.

  The yahrzeit is marked by several customs, which became deeply ingrained among Jews. Based on the line in Proverbs, "The soul of a man is the light of the Lord," a twenty-four-hour memorial candle is lit at sundown on the evening preceding the anniversary of the death. Yahrzeit candles are also lit during the week of shiva (seven days) following the burial, as well as at sundown preceding Yom Kippur, and on the last day of Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot, when Ashkenazim recite the Yizkor (memorial prayer) in the synagogue. On the yahrzeit, the Mourner's Kaddish prayer is recited in the synagogue. Some people visit the grave of the departed, while many make a special effort to perform extra mitzvot (good deeds) and Torah study to bring merit to the departed. Some relatives commemorate a yahrzeit by fasting, but among Chasidim it became common to sponsor a kiddush in the synagogue, saying a "L'chaim" over a glass of schnapps. Some hold a siyyum (the completion of the study of an entire Jewish work of scholarship) on the occasion in honor of the deceased, including a celebratory meal.

  Sephardim, on the anniversary of a death, hold a meldado or meldadura (from the Ladino companas de meldar, "study group") for the deceased with relatives and friends. Candles are burned and various sections of the Mi
shnah and Zohar are read, including those beginning with letters spelling out the names of the deceased and his or her mother. Afterwards, various foods, including biscochos de levadura (bread rings) or biscochos de huevo (unsweetened egg pastries), raisins, hard-boiled eggs, chickpeas, and sweetened drinks are served, allowing the participants to recite various benedictions. Extra food is prepared for distribution to the poor. The meldado was originally a home ritual, but recently it has largely been shifted to the synagogue.

  Syrians hold ariyat (readings) at various stages of the mourning process to mark the conclusion of each phase, reciting passages of the Zohar and offering eulogies. An aryiat is held after the afternoon prayer service of the final day of shiva. Those present later join the mourners in a dinner. At the conclusion of sheloshim (thirty days), another ariyat is held, followed by a sweet buffet.

  Moroccans conduct a mishmarah (Hebrew for "guard/vigil"), to study the Zohar and Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) and read Hosea 14:2—10 in memory of a man and Samuel 2:1 in memory of a woman. Afterwards, a dinner is served featuring traditional foods of mourning and benedictions are recited in memory of the deceased.

  The Talmud also mentions a tradition recalling the anniversary of the death of a revered rabbi. Around the late sixteenth century, this emerged as a Mizrachi custom of hilula ("celebration/wedding" in Aramaic) often in the form of a pilgramage. Mizrachim, especially those from North Africa, also celebrate a hilula on the anniversary of the death of departed tzadikim (righteous persons)—people gather at the gravesite and hold study sessions, celebrating, and feasting in their memory. Hilulot served as a strong unifying element in the Maghrebi Jewish communities.