I’m reading a wonderful, smart, funny book called “The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), by Elif Batuman, a literature professor at Stanford University.

Being one of those “people who read Russian books,” I dove right in to Batuman’s “adventures” — and found something to share with Jewish Standard readers.

The first chapter, “Babel in California,” is an account of a conference about the Russian-Jewish writer murdered, like so many Jewish intellectuals, by the Soviets. At the conference, a translator objects that while his version of the Babel story “Odessa” is on exhibit in a glass case, it is “next to a caption quoting ‘Odessa’ in a different translation.”

“Copyediting,” he is told by the conference organizer. “You would not believe the changes they made.”

The organizer “told the story,” Batuman writes, “of the copy editor who had translated all the italicized Yiddish in such a way that Luftmensch (an impractical visionary) came out as ‘pilot’; shamas (the beadle of a synagogue) turned, via ‘shamus,’ into ‘private detective.’”

RKB

We were in a pet store last week, picking up our new kitten (her name is Ketzele, which means “little cat” in Yiddish and which we borrowed from Abby Leichman’s cat), and overheard a clerk speaking to a distraught caller. The caller wanted to know what she could feed her rabbit during Passover.

The answer? Hay — and possibly oats, although apparently not all oats but oats that have been checked against contamination by chametz and not wet-heat treated.

Now there’s a niche market for an enterprising person — kosher pet food, with a sideline in kosher-for-Passover products.

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Our Website went down a while back and our blog posts got lost in the ether. I won’t repeat mine here except to note that it was a lament for the television show “Numb3rs,” which we taped and watched faithfully every Sunday night. It was such a pleasure to see a warm and loving and engaged and educated Jewish family talking about ideas and feelings. We miss it already.

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The New York Times today has a front-page story headed “Security Checks on Flights to U.S. to be revamped.”

We recently flew back from Costa Rica and experienced a very stringent security check. All the passengers were divided by gender and then every man, woman, and child was patted down. Also, all carry-on bags were searched. It was unnerving, but it did away with the profiling problem.

Dear readers, we hope your Pesach continues to be sweet.

RKB

When NASA first planned to send up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ballpoint pens would not work in zero gravity.

To solve the problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $1.2 billion to develop a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface including glass, and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to 300 Celsius.

Confronted with the same problem, the Israelis used a pencil.

Jascha Heifetz, the great Jewish violinist, was no intellectual giant. He read the Reader’s Digest—and virtually no books.

  As for his religiosity, “In spite of his reservations about organized religion, Heifetz did believe in God, perhaps even in an afterlife, and on occasion he explained to me in his bumbling and roundabout way that there is no effect without a cause and the world would not exist unless somebody had made it….

The only practical result of his belief in a Supreme Being was that of all the Jewish holidays, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, was the only one he faithfully observed…. Heifetz told me that, as far back as he could remember, he always fasted on this Jewish holiday according to the religious prescriptions and celebrated the passing of the fast with dinner at the house of one or another of his Russian Jewish friends.”

In 1987, on Oct. 3, Yom Kippur, Heifetz was 86; still, he abstained from food and drink all day.

    When he died, his body was cremated—according to his wishes. A kaddish is not said at a synagogue after a cremation. But an orthodox rabbi told Heifetz’s associate, Ayke Angus (who is quoted above), that a kaddish was acceptable—perhaps Heifetz had not known any better.

    Angus finally found a rabbi willing to do the ceremony—a woman rabbi—so long as Angus could put together a minyan.

    “I’m sure Heifetz would have raised an eyebrow or two at the idea of a lady rabbi, considering his uneven and sometimes combative attitude toward women’s roles…. But a woman rabbi was also out of the ordinary in traditional Jewish religious practice, and that would have pleased him.”

From “Heifetz: As I Knew Him” by Ayke Agus, 2001.

The holiday of Pesach evokes so many family memories for me and I suppose for so many of new fans who follow my recipe blog.

I remember my family packing up for annual Passover picnics from our home in Jersey City all the way to the suburbs of Van Saun Park in Paramus. Ironically, this is where my own family settled and the park seems so much larger now….but that is a whole different story.

To prepare for Passover, my mother would lovingly take out the Passover dishes and silverware from the basement and along with that, came the serving pieces, many passed down from the generations. She always claimed that the food tasted better on these. I still use a blue bowl that my father’s parents brought over from Russia for eggs in salt water. Somehow the story went that the bowl was of course round, like life goes around, and the eggs were round, evoking the same feeling…and of course, the salt water was for tears…and believe me, my family has had many. There is a certain beauty to my table just knowing it is there.

As for the haggadot, my wonderful dad, may he rest in peace, would add notes inside his “leader” haggadah. Over the years, he had many “leader” haggadot..i guess he could never find the original, and each one has different paper notes. Dad was always trying to please everyone. 

Over the years I have collected colorful stuffed frogs that grace the table..they always bring smiles, not to mention add decoration.This is what makes memories. Here are a few recipes from friends that might be good for you to make at your seders—or really year-round. Mine is for my mom’s famous “Passover rolls.” To this day, it is stil the first thing my brother Jamie asks about.

Zissen Pesach to all!
BMC

Passover rolls
-Beth Chananie

1 cup water
1/2 cup oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup matzoh meal
1 tablespoon sugar, optional
4-5 eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Boil water, oil, sugar, and salt to a boil. Remove from heat and let stand a few minutes. Stir in matzoh meal. Add eggs, beating with mixer one at a time. Wet hands and form balls. Bake until rolls look puffy and slightly brown. Check after 20 minutes. Remove and cool on a rack. You will have to make these several times during the holiday for sure.

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Mother-in-Law Brisket
-Eileen Schneider

1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1 small can tomato sauce
1 cup red wine
1 cup water
2 teaspoon powdered bouillon or two bouillon cubes
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon dried basil
3/4 bag baby carrots
2 medium (sweet onions)
Around 4 pounds- top of the rib or first cut brisket.

Cut meat into pieces to fit an eight-quart Dutch oven. Brown and sear meat on all sides. Place in Dutch oven. In large pot mix all the other ingredients. Bring to a boil, then pour over meat. Bake 3 to 3 1/2 hours at 325 degrees. Switch order of pieces half way. Let cool, remove meat. Puree liquid to make the vegetable gravy (easiest with immersion blender). Cut meat against the grain and place in Pyrex dish. Pour gravy over. Freeze or reheat when ready to serve covered with foil. Delicious.

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Broccoli Pudding/Spinach Pudding
-Nina Glaser
 
2 boxes (10 oz) chopped broccoli—(for spinach use 3 boxes chopped spinach)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 eggs
1-1/2 tablespoons margarine (melted)
1 tablespoon onion soup mix 
        
matzoh meal

Combine chopped broccoli (or spinach) defrosted and well drained, mayonnaise, eggs, margarine and onion soup mix. Grease an 8x8 pan. Sprinkle the bottom with matzoh meal. Add vegetable mixture. Lightly sprinkle matzoh meal on top. Bake at 350 for about an hour. Easy to make and always a favorite. For year-round use, pour mixture into a pareve pie crust.

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Matzoh pudding
-Hollis Gold

12 matzohs
9 eggs well beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup oil
3 teaspoons cinammon
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
6 apples—peeled, cored, and sliced
1 1/2 cups raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Break matzohs into pieces and soak in water until soft. Drain well. Beat eggs with salt, sugar, oil, and cinnamon. Add to drained matzoh and stir in nuts, apples, and raisins. Bake in 9 x 12 pan for 50 minutes. A family favorite passed on by friends.

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Passover Sherbet for All Year Round
-Shira Schechter Weiner  

1 cup of water
3/4 cup sugar
1 package red jello
1 cup orange juice
1 cup pineapple juice
 
Boil water and sugar for 5 minutes. Add jello - stir to dissolve. Add juices - stir.  Freeze overnight. Defrost slightly and beat with an electric beater - it will change from a reddish color to light pink. Refreeze and serve when needed. Nice to serve with white meringue cookies and fresh berries. Recipe can be doubled.

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Mandel Broit
-Ellen Ruzinsky and her mom, Enid Ruzinsky

2 cups sugar
1/2 pound margarine (unsalted)
6 eggs
2 3/4 cup cake meal
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup potato starch
Two 3-ounce bars bittersweet chocolate cut into small bits
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon, 2 teaspoons sugar - mixed together

Cream sugar and margarine. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each. Sift cake meal, salt, and potato starch together. Fold into egg mixture. Add chocolate and nuts. Mix well. Form into two loaves, two inches wide, and than than an inch high. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. You will make several batches during the holiday.

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Fruit topping for sponge cake
-Hollis Gold

12 ounces of fresh-frozen strawberries or blueberries [defrost…when softened start to mash up]
one egg white
1/4 cup sugar

Mix the egg white with the sugar. Add the smashed fruit. Blend with hand mixer and will appear like whipped cream consistency. Serve on individual slices of plain sponge cake or chocolate cake - it will make the dessert special.

My friend, Ruth Smith from Paramus, shares these two family-favorites of hers with readers. Thelma’s Mandelbread comes from late mother-in-law Thelma, and Judy Cookies, from her close family friend Judy Marenoff of Rockland County.

Judy Cookies

½ lb. slightly softened salted butter (if using unsalted butter, add 1-1 ½  teaspoons salt)
½ cup sugar
2 egg yolks
2 cups flour, sifted
½ teaspoon vanilla
Chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients except chocolate chips. Form into small balls between palms of hand. Place balls on ungreased cookie sheet. Push one chocolate chip into center of each ball. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-12 minutes.
Yield ~60 small cookies

Thelma’s Mandelbread

3 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup oil
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla
Sugar and cinammon to sprinkle

Stir together 3 egg whites and sugar. Add oil and 1 cup flour, baking powder, nuts, raisins, and vanilla. After these ingredients are well mixed, add remaining 2 cups flour (one at a time).  Knead with hands if necessary. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Shape dough into 4 loaves. Flatten and make oval loaves. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Bake 35 minutes. Slice into ½ inch thick slices. Put back on cookie sheet and bake 10 minutes. Turn slices over and bake on other side for 10 minutes.

At one time, it was said that the rarest creature in the world was a non-Jewish violinist. Jews—like Jascha Heifetz – dominated the field.

    George Bernard Shaw, besides being a notable playwright, was an astute music critic.

Once, after hearing Heifetz perform, he dropped him a note:

My dear Heifetz:

Your recital has filled me and my wife with anxiety. If you provoke a jealous God by playing with such superhuman perfection, you will die young. I

earnestly advise you to play something badly every night before going to bed instead of saying your prayers. No mere mortal should presume to play as

faultlessly as that.

sincerely,

G. Bernard Shaw                                                                             13 June 1920

A question sent to Yahoo’s Ask section:

What personality traits do Jews have in common?

The following was voted the best answer:

good deli

funny

$

smart

tolerant