Courtesy Joanne Caras

Joanne Caras, creator of the “Holocaust Survivor Cookbook,” (a “world mitzvah project”), will be at a women’s event at the Chabad Center of Passaic County in Wayne on Sunday, March 4, at 7 p.m. The cookbook includes 250 recipes with stories and photos of more than 120 Shoah survivors from families from near and far, including relatives of Holocaust survivor Sam Zerykier of Teaneck, a.k.a., “Zeidy,” who died in 2008, one of the people for whom the cookbook is dedicated. All book profits (over $600,000 to date) support Jewish groups and charities.

The book is used in public schools to teach tolerance and Holocaust studies, and reportedly is the number-one best-selling hardcover book at the U.S. Holocaust Musuem in Washington. “Miracles and Meals-Volume 2 of the Holocaust Survivor Cookbook” will be released next month.

Autographed books will be sold at the event. Call Chani at (973) 694-6274 or jewishwayne.com.

The first recipe is by Holocaust survivor Shoshana Greenwald of Monsey, N.Y., who was a young girl at the start of World War II. Her father, Rabbi Wolf Frey, worked with Raoul Wallenberg helping to save Jewish lives. Her granddaughter, Devorah Feder, submitted the recipe.

Decadent Dairy Chocolate Cake

(for Pesach or anytime)
1 pound chopped semi-sweet chocolate
2 sticks of butter
8 eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Grease an 8 inch parchment-lined spring form pan and set aside. Melt the chocolate and butter over low heat. Beat the eggs for 5 minutes, fold half of the egg mixture with melted chocolate and butter, then add the other half. Pour into the prepared pan and bake at 325 for 45 minutes.

Serves 10

Shoah survivor Bronia Furst of Linden includes this recipe in the book.

Pareve Apple Cake

1/3 cup margarine
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 cooking apples
pinch salt
Optional walnuts/raisins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Use a square glass pan. Cut apples in 1/8 pieces and line them in the bottom of a greased/floured pan. Add brown sugar, eggs, margarine, and vanilla. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix all together. Pour mixture over apples and bake for 40 minutes. Chopped walnuts and raisins can be sprinkled over the apples before batter is added.

“Don’t you have any jolly books for me to review?,” I plaintively ask this newspaper’s editor. The books he has sent my way in recent weeks are all about the Shoah, and none of them are brilliant enough to make up for their grimness.

Then I have a happy — you could say a jolly — thought. Why must a book column focus on new books? Why not reread — and recall to the reading public — delightful older books, giving them a longer (book)shelf life?

Rabbi Simcha Weinstein Courtesy Chabad

Rabbi Simcha Weinstein, author of the award-winning “Up, Up and Oy Vey!” will be at Chabad of Fort Lee on Sunday, Jan. 22 at 10 a.m. His latest book is “Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century.”

Weinstein has appeared on CNN’s “Showbiz Tonight” and NPR, and has been profiled in publications including The New York Times, The Miami Herald, and The London Guardian. He is a contributor to The Jerusalem Post and The Jewish Telegraphic Agency and chairs the religious affairs committee at the Pratt Institute. He was recently voted “New York’s Hippest Rabbi” by PBS affiliate Channel 13. Call (201) 886-1238 or http://www.ChabadFortLee.com.

Stanley Fischman Photos courtesy BPY

Ben Porat Yosef in Paramus will celebrate the launch of Stanley Fischman’s (BPY’s director of general studies) new book “Seven Steps to “Mentchhood,” at the school, on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 8:15 p.m. Fischman will also discuss “The Virtue of a Principle-Driven Life.”

Fischman spent 10 years writing the resource book for parents and teachers based on Torah verses and real-life scenarios and applications. Books will be available for purchase and signing. For information, call (201) 845-5007 or www.benporatyosef.org.

The Bergen County YJCC holds a “Sefer Celebration: A Festival of Children’s Books” on Sunday, Oct. 23, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and on Monday, Oct. 24, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

The annual book and gift sale includes items for children of all ages, as well as gifts and accessories for children’s birthdays and for holiday giving. Proceeds benefit the William Seth Glazer Children’s Book Fund at the YJCC. Contact Anette McGarity at (201) 666-6610, ext. 5662, or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).