Molly Goldberg Jewish Cookbook (32 page)

Equivalent Weights and Measures

1 pound 1 cup

RICE,
UNCOOKED
RICE,
UNCOOKED SUGAR, BROWN SUGAR, CONFECTIONERS' SUGAR, GRANULATED TOMATOES, FRESH TOMATO SAUCE
(l CAN) WINE

i pound i pound i pound i pound 7?4~8 ounces l wineglass

2 cups

3 cups, cooked 2^4 cups, packed 3^-4 cups, sifted

2 cups

3 average 1 cup

4-5 tablespoons

291

H i^o™ oi-
Hodr\®r fend/

(W\fh

JKe Stern oi
i&ssav&r

There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour.

ECCLESIASTES 2:24

KOSHER FOOD AND HOW IT BEGAN

To begin with, there have been regulations for the preparation of food for almost three thousand years. But no explanation can be understood unless there is a little knowledge of the background of the Jewish people.

The very earliest history of the Jews
is
in considerable doubt because written records are not available, but there was undoubtedly a tribe with Semitic origins living in the Chaldean region. Later they lived in the area known as Goshen, in the northeastern part of what was then Egypt, about 1350 b.c. Subsequently the people were taken into slavery by the Egyptians, where they received cruel treatment. Moses led his people from bondage about the year 1220 b.c. They wandered about in the desert and then finally arrived in what we now know as the Holy Land. There began a period of greatness for the Jewish people. Tribes were united under leaders called Judges, a word that has survived to the present day. King David brought peace and wealth to his nation. His son was Solomon, famed in song and story, and the man who built the great Temple at Jerusalem.

295

The Molly Goldberg Cookbook

But great as Solomon was, his methods of taxation caused many protests, and after his death there followed a time of confusion and disruption. The country broke into two parts (much like our own war between the states, when the North was pitted against the South).

The north formed a kingdom known as Israel, and the south was called Judah. The two halves battled fiercely, although intermittently, for two centuries beginning about 935 B.C. Then Saigon II captured the north, thus leading to the exile of the Israelites and the legend of the ten lost tribes of Israel. While it is true that a large number of people vanished without leaving a trace, what actually happened to them is more a matter of conjecture than of fact. Scholars of the future may or may not solve the mystery; at present no proof is available. There are those who believe that the ten tribes emigrated toward India and the East; others believe that they turned toward Africa and became the so-called "black Jews" or Ethiopian Jews, of whom there are actually a considerable number. In various cities throughout the United States, but particularly in New York, there are various congregations of colored Jews practicing orthodox Judaism. Another theory is the Anglo-Israelite view, which firmly believes that England was partly settled by these lost tribes. In any event, during the seventeenth century this theory permitted many Jews to re-enter England.

The southern part, Judah, was conquered by the Assyrians, Egyptians, and Babylonians. The great Temple at Jerusalem was destroyed and the people exiled. Later they returned to Jerusalem with the approval of Cyrus the Great, leader of the Persian Empire, who is thought to have wanted another country between himself and powerful Egypt, much as modern nations arrange "buffer states" between themselves and another important power. Although the returned Jews were dominated by the Greeks, they finally won their freedom again under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus, who in 165 b.c. led them on to victory. But it was all in vain, for shortly thereafter the

296

Kosher Food and How It Began

Roman legions took control of Jerusalem and the surrounding cour try; the city was finally destroyed about a.d. 70.

Now there was nothing to be gained by remaining, and the people dispersed in all directions of the compass. Wagons and caravans moved to the north, east, south, and west, although chiefly they went to Europe. Spain in particular became a center of Jewish life and culture. The centuries went by, the Middle Ages, when life moved slowly. The homeland was not forgotten, only laid away temporarily in the minds of the exiled Jews. As if to compensate, they practiced their religion all the more fiercely and clung to it, for it was all they had left in the world.

The Crusades came, and with them a series of laws expelling the Jews from their adopted countries. In 1290 they were forced to leave England; in 1392, France; in 1492, Spain, and in 1497 they left Portugal. Those who were lucky enough to escape went anyplace they could, but many fled to Turkey and Holland, where they were welcomed. A large group settled in Russia, Poland, Austria, Rumania, and Germany, as well as in many of the other neighboring countries.

With this historical background, it is now possible to understand the development of Jewish laws and practices regarding food. According to Jewish history, the very earliest laws concerning food and diet were given to the people by Moses just prior to leaving Egypt. This is discussed in more detail in the section on Passover. It is extremely difficult at the present time, some thirty centuries later, to say whether or not Moses or some other person or group actually gave the laws to the people, and there is a certain amount of difference of opinion on this subject by Biblical scholars. After Moses, there are the five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, and in particular the section called Leviticus, which sets forth rules regarding which foods may or may not be consumed.

But the rules of Moses and the books of the Bible were only a beginning. They were followed by that pillar of Judaism, the
Talmud,
the learning. These books are in effect a compendium of the oral laws

297

The Molly Goldberg Cookbook

of the Jews, as opposed to the written laws, the Scriptures. The
Talmud
itself subdivides into two principal parts: the
Mishna,
which was written in Hebrew, and the
Gemara,
prepared in Aramaic, an old Semitic language. Many people carelessly refer to the
Gemara
as the
Talmud,
but this is not quite a correct usage, since the
Gemara
is only half of the
Talmud.
Much of the
Mishna
was codified by King Judah I, although part of the basic work was prepared by two important scholars, Hillel and Shammai. It is thought that the so-called Babylonian
Talmud
was completed about the year a.d. 500.

The
Mishna
is indeed a detailed book, filled with rules and regulations on almost every conceivable phase in the life of the people, but it was not sufficiently meticulous for those scholars of the period whose principal delight in life was raising abstruse and exotic arguments over hypothetical and technical situations. To settle many of the points which were intended to be disposed of in the
Mishna,
a series of commentaries came into existence known as the
Gemara.
This is a compilation of lore and knowledge intended to explain the
Mishna
and the problems it raised in its own explanations. The
Mishna
itself consists of six principal orders, called
sedarim,
and sixty-three separate units. Only thirty-six and one half of these units have a commentary in the
Gemara.
The
Gemara
may be compared only to a scholarly maze, for once in it, it is unlikely that you will find your way out of it during your lifetime. Certainly those scholars of the Middle Ages gloried in a lifetime of study, spending delightful months and years arguing and discussing problems which would not likely arise. It is a compilation of miscellaneous information on almost every conceivable subject, including food, law, medicine, astronomy, and hundreds of other subjects. The
Gemara
itself may be divided into the legal discussions, or
halakah,
and the
hagadah,
which is filled with folklore and fables. In addition to the
Gemara,
there is a world of literature by Jewish scholars in every land, and these are, in effect, commentaries on the
Gemara.

Then, to round off the entire picture, there is the
Shulchan

298

Kosher Food and How It Began

Aruch,
the prepared table, most of which was written about aj>. 1520 to 1600. This sets forth in codified form the rules and regulations regarding food and its preparation.

Many of the earliest instructions regarding food go back to the books of the Bible, notably Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. These books state: "Thou shall not seethe a kid in its mother's milk." Seethe, in Biblical usage, means to cook. In practice, this was understood to mean that meat of any sort could not be cooked together with milk. As time went by, the prohibition was extended to milk derivatives such as cheese. Subsequently the rule was even further extended as a prohibition against having meat dishes and milk dishes in the same meal, except that a separate meat dish may be served after a dairy dish. Once meat is eaten, no dairy products may be consumed until at least six hours have elapsed.

With a few exceptions, Jewish people recognize four principal food divisions (Passover food is discussed separately):

1. 
Milchig,
or dairy foods. These include sweet butter, milk, sweet and sour cream, buttermilk, and cheese. Orthodox Jews do not use canned milk or salt butter.

2. 
Fleischig,
or meats. Included in this group are all meats and poultry (except those classified as
trefe),
including all of the various variety meats, such as liver, sweetbreads, etc. All
fleischig
foods must be killed according to the ritual law on the subject, the
shechitah.
The ritual law will be discussed later in this chapter.

3. 
Pareve,
or neutral foods. These are neither meats nor dairy food, and as such may be mixed with meat or dairy dishes. They include such foods as vegetables, fruits, fish, and eggs. Certain fish are
trefe,
and these are of course not
pareve.
Eggs are free of restrictions except that they must not have any spot of blood in them, since blood is a prohibited food and thus
trefe.
Should an egg be found in poultry, it is forbidden to cook the egg with dairy foods.

299

The Molly Goldberg Cookbook

4.
Trefe
(also called
trefah),
or prohibited foods. Jewish people do not eat pork, shellfish, or blood of any animal or fowl. Leviticus II is the authority which says: "Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat/' Later interpretations have amplified this first instruction so that it is now generally understood to mean that the only animals fit for consumption are those without upper teeth, but having a split hoof, which chew their cud and have four legs (thus eliminating the monkey and kangaroo, for example). The pig, of course, does not chew the cud, although it does have a cloven hoof. Mohammedans, too, do not eat pork, and in India there are religious sects which avoid pork in any form, thus supporting the theory of those who believe that the lost tribes mentioned above may have settled in India.

It is not possible today to prove that the ancient scholars knew that pork carries the virulent trichinosis, since nowhere in the books is there any mention of the disease-carrying potential of pigs. On the other hand, it may be argued that the law-givers knew this fact and worded the law in such a fashion as to eliminate pork from the diet. Even today, with modern inspection, refrigeration, and advanced rules for the preparation of food, trichinosis is not an unknown disease in the United States. Elsewhere in the world it is quite common. In the sub-tropical climate of the Near East where these people lived, it is not difficult to visualize the unsanitary conditions of some three thousand years ago when these laws were first promulgated.

The requirements for birds are that they may not be birds of prey or scavengers. This eliminates hawks, vultures, and the like. Also, they must have a hind toe; although actually the Bible refers to a front toe, it has been interpreted to refer to a hind toe. The most commonly used poultry are duck, chicken, and domesticated turkey and goose. The use of wild geese and turkeys is still in some doubt.

Leviticus again is the authority regarding the consumption of fish.

300

Kosher Food and How It Began

"These shall ye eat of all that are in the water: whatsoever hath fins and scales/' No shellfish may be eaten, since these do not have fins and scales. The theory behind this is undoubtedly the fact that shellfish do not move about freely in the water, but tend to remain in one place. If that place is contaminated, the shellfish will be contaminated, whereas fish with fins and scales move readily in the water, seldom remaining in one place for any length of time. Therefore, according to Biblical edict, shrimp, lobsters, crabs, turtles, clams, and eels are not to be eaten. It should be remembered that these prohibitions were laid down about thirty centuries ago in a country having an extremely hot climate and during a time when people had only the most primitive ideas regarding health and sanitation. Waste matter was dumped into nearby waters as a matter of course. The lawgivers of that day knew that not every shellfish was contaminated or likely to become so, but the danger was there, and for the sake of simplicity formulated a rule that could be understood by the simplest of their people.