Hamentaschen: The key to peace!

Philippine UN Peacekeepers agree: Boys Town Jerusalem’s Hamantashen are the best.

Can hamantashen be a secret weapon for world peace?! Boys Town Jerusalem chef Avi Chamal (third from left) disclosed top-secret details of his own recipe for the Purim delights with members of the Philippine battalion serving with the United Nations Disengagement Observer Forces in the Golan Heights. The soldiers visited the Boys Town Jerusalem campus this week to attend a ceremony in which the school honored the humanitarian acts of the late Philippine President Manuel Luis Quezon, who in 1939 offered 10,000 visas for Jews to escape the Holocaust in Europe. Philippine Ambassador to Israel Petronila P. Garcia accepted the award on behalf of her government.

“Purim is the time we rejoice and give thanks that the Jews were spared annihilation by the wicked Haman,” said Boys Town Jerusalem dean Rabbi Moshe Linchner. “It’s a pleasure to begin to celebrate the holiday this year with those whose president and countrymen bravely offered Jews a safe haven during the darkest days of the Holocaust.”

Boys Town Jerusalem is one of Israel's premier institutions for educating the country's next generation of leaders in the fields of technology, commerce, education, the military and public service. Since its founding in 1948, BTJ has pursued its mission of turning young boys from limited backgrounds into young men with limitless futures. From Junior High through the college level, the three part curriculum at Boys Town — academic, technological and Torah — is designed to turn otherwise disadvantaged Israeli youth into productive citizens of tomorrow. Boys Town’s 18 acre campus is a home away from home for its more than 800 students. More than 6,200 graduates hold key positions throughout Israeli society.