Isaacs Ronald H. - Lets eat Jewish food and faith

Lori Stein is president and director of Layla Productions, an award-winning book packaging/production consulting firm. She has contributed to the publication of over 200 books. Stein is co-author of Recipes from Americas Small Farms , which has garnered outstanding reviews. As a volunteer, Stein has run an arts and crafts program at a pediatric hospital ward, tutored reading and other subjects, and taught gardening classes. For almost two decades, she has served as the site coordinator for the Carnegie Hill Yorkville Community Supported Agriculture food co-op in New York City.

Rabbi Ronald H. Isaacs recently became the rabbi emeritus of Temple Sholom in Bridgewater, New Jersey, where he was spiritual leader for forty years. He is currently rabbi of Beth Judah Temple in Wildwood, New Jersey. A prolific author, he has published more than one hundred books covering virtually all aspects of Judaism for diverse audiences. Among his titles are the Every Persons Guide series, the How-to Handbook trilogy, and the childrens books Farmer Kobis Hanukkah Match and The Family (and Frog) Haggadah . He blogs at Thoughts from Rabbi Ron and writes a monthly column for The Cape May Herald. Rabbi Ron is a popular lecturer and teacher. For additional information see his website www.rabbiron.com.

T his book is the result of a collaboration that was remarkably efficient, effective, and pleasurable. I want to thank Rabbi Ron Isaacs for his huge contribution to this book, both in the Reflections essays at the beginning of each chapter and the enormous trove of information and insight that is embedded on every page. I hope that he enjoyed it as much as I did.

The person responsible for this collaboration, and therefore for the entire book, is our literary agent Joan Parker, and I want to make sure she knows how grateful I am, not only for introducing me to Ron but for shepherding this book through every stage of its existence. Not only was she the agent who said, Yes, I can sell this, she also helped us craft the outline and was meticulous about reviewing and providing valuable commentary from start to finish.

And I also want to acknowledge Boyd and Julianne Griffin, who suggested that Joan and I get together.

Thank you, Suzanne Staszak-Silva, our editor at Rowman & Littlefield, who saw value in this project. She provided just the right amount of support without ever being intrusive; she allowed us to follow our own instincts while gently guiding us to a better book. We also want to thank production editor Elaine McGarraugh, editor Kathryn Knigge, copyeditor Katy Whipple, and jacket designer Sally Rinehart of Rowman & Littlefield for their expert attention.

Throughout this project, my sisters Deena and Michelle, as always, pitched in whenever and however needed. For testing and tasting, figuring out what was missing from a recipe, proofreading, and telling me the truththats what family is for, but they go way beyond. Thank you to my mother, Shirley Stein, who was an artisanal cook before the term was invented. To my sisters-in-law Tzviya and Channah Stein of Rechovot, Israel, who introduced me to the many tastes of Jewish food over forty years ago and provided a lot of the food knowledge that is in these pagesin gratitude for everything you do. To my brothers, Joseph and Rabbi David Stein, who created homes where Jewish food was always plentiful and delicious (and to David for reading the section on kashrut and making sure that the Orthodox viewpoint was represented; I hope he is satisfied with the final result). To Eliraz and Yishai Orion and Chelli and Zvi Stein, who were always there to make sure that the Sephardi side of this book was given full attention. And to all my nieces and nephews, and great-nieces and -nephews (fifty-four of them, with a few more every year) because eating would not be as much fun without them.

Hundreds of books have been written about Jewish food; I referred to many of them, and theyre listed in the bibliography. But I have to single out a few of them that were so incredible and full of information that they made my own research possible: Gil Marks, Encyclopedia of Jewish Food ; Claudia Roden, The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York ; John Cooper, Eat and Be Satisfied ; Matthew Goodman, Jewish Food: The World at Table ; and Joan Nathan, The Jewish Holiday Cookbook .

I am amazed and grateful that so many people were willing to provide and test recipes and to answer all my questions. I want to acknowledge the contributions of Bonnie Lane Webber, Peg Streep, Henchi Lew, Dick Sandhaus, Beth Lefft, Janet Amateau, Jodi Bogen, Paula Algranati Izenstein, Ann Snyder Benator, and the Bukharan taxi driver whose name I cant find, but who told me about all his families traditions.

In talking to so many people as I worked on this book, I came to realize that every family has its own traditions and some ideas that were considered universal were known only to a few people. Even within my own family, not everyone agrees; my mother and her sisters regularly engaged in heated arguments over whether Mama put dill in the chicken soup. So I am sure that some people will read some of this and think that parts of it are not true, when actually they are true, just for someone else. The topic of this book is enormous; it touches on just about every other topic in the world. I cant tell you how much fun I had while working on it and how much I hate to leave it because I know it can never be finished. But I hope you enjoy it.

Lori Stein
February 2017
New York

I want to thank Joan Parker, a personal friend and my literary agent, for bringing Lori Stein and myself together to learn more about Loris vision. And I am privileged and honored that Lori, an accomplished writer and owner of Layla Productions, a book production company, asked me to join with her in this project. Not only does she possess a wealth of knowledge regarding the impact of food on Jewish culture and religion, she is also an outstanding cook and recipe tester in her own right. It has been a joy to work with her, and I cannot wait to try out some of her recipes. I have learned so much from her (as I know you will too) about the connection between food and Jewish values, food traditions around the world, and how food, eating, and community are pillars of Jewish culture.

I hope that those of you who read this book will be encouraged to try out some of the recipes in the book, tweak them, and create some originals of your own. You will surely gain a new perspective on just how food and Judaism intersect. And you are in for a culinary treat that will not only whet your appetite but have you asking for more. Enjoy the book! As we say at Passover time: Let all who are hungry come and eat!

Ron Isaacs
February 2017
New Jersey

Amit-Cohen, Irit, translated by Jerry Aviram. Zionism and Free Enterprise: The Story of Private Entrepreneurs in Citrus Plantations in Palestine in the 1920s and 1930s . Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Academic Publishing, 2015.

Angel, Gilda. Sephardic Holiday Cooking . Mount Vernon, NY: Decalogue Books,
1986.

Borowski, Oded. Agriculture in Iron Age Israel . Warsaw, IN: Eisenbrauns Publishing, 1987.

Brown, Michael P. The Jewish Gardening Cookbook: Growing Plants and Cooking for Jewish Holidays and Festivals . Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights, 1998.

Brownstein, Rita Milos. Jewish Holiday Style. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999. Buxbaum, Yitzhak, A Person Is Like a Tree: A Sourcebook for Tu BeShvat . North-vale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 2000.

Cohen, Jayne. The Gefilte Variations: 200 Inspired Re-creations of Classics from the Jewish Kitchen, with Menus, Stories, and Traditions for the Holidays and Year-round . New York: Scribner, 2000.