ANTH 205 Lecture 17

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Israel: Foodways

(May also be called Judaism foodways)

Very multicultural nation, but majority are united by Jewish faith

Three Diasporic communities:

1. Mizrahi: Middle East, North Africa, Asia
2. Sephardic: Spain, Portugal, and Mediterranean
3. Ashkenazi: Central and Eastern Europe

Eastern / Mediterranean foods (e.g. falafel, hummus, couscous)

Jewish Dietary Law

Kashrut as defined in Leviticus

• Kosher: food that may be consumed
• Treif: food that is not in accordance

Prohibited animals:

Mammals

carnivores

Any animal that does not chew cud or does not have a cloven hoof (pigs, camels)

Birds

birds of prey

scavengers

without tradition (has not been eaten before)

Reptiles

all are off limits

water animals

Those that do not have both fins and scales (only fish are kosher)

insects

All except one type of locust

Mixture of meat and milk

"You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk"

Hebrew Calendar

Lunisolar calendar of 12 months with 29 or 30 dys

1. Nisan: Mar/Apr
2. Iyar: Apr/May
3. Sivan: May/Jun
4. Tammuz: Jun/Jul
5. Av: Jul/Aug
6. Elul: Aug/Sep
7. Tishri: Sep/Oct
8. Heshvan: Oct/Nov
9. Kislev: Nov/Dec
10. Tevet
11. Shevat
12. Adar

Days are sunset to sunset

Years reckoned from 1 year before creation (2013 = 5773)

Shabbat

7^th day of week:

Jewish Sabbath day (Saturday)

Prohibition against doing work, including cooking.

Focus on hospitality, relationships, rest, contemplation.

This is what the LORD commanded: "Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning Ex 16:23

Ends when 3 stars can be seen on Sunday

Challah [ˈχaɫ ɫaʰ] Bread: Symbolic of manna during 40 years in desert; typically braided

3 Meals:

• Evening on Friday, Morning and Afternoon on Saturday
• No required foods (other than challah and wine)
• Fasting is prohibited

Rosh Hashanah

Jewish New Year

• 1^st of Tishrei
• 2 day celebration
• A day of judgment: all people pass before creator
• Shofar: Ram's horn blown
• Symbolic Foods:
  • Apples and honey
  • Round Challah (not braided)
  • Mystery Fruits (Sepharic tradition to reach under a covered bowl blindly)
  • Tsimmes (sweet vegetables: carrots, prunes, cinnamon)
  • Ram/sheep head (or whole fish)
  • Pomegranates: 613 seeds; same number of Mitzvahs (commandments) in Torah

Yom Kippur

Day of atonement

10^th of Tishrei (10 days after Rosh Hashanah)

Marks Moses' 2^nd descent

Holiest and most solemn day of the year for Jews

Kapparot

Transfer of sins to animal (slaughtered or kicked out)

Relationship to scapegoat

Not practiced often

25-hour Fast: no leather shoes, bathing, anointing, or sex

Sukkot

Feast of Booths/Tabernacles

Reverence to hut dwellings of time in desert

15^th of Tishrei, 5 days after Yom Kippur

Sukkah (sing. of Sukkot): walled structure covered with plant material; meals eaten there during holiday

The Four Species; each symbolizes a different type of person

1. Lulav - Frond of a date palm (also collective term for all four species)
   • flavor but no scent (learned but unpracticing Jews)
2. Hadas - "bough of leafy trees" (myrtle)
   • scent but no flavor (unlearned but practicing Jews)
3. Aravah - willow branch
   • no scent or flavor (unpracticing Jews)
4. Etrog - "fruit of splendid trees" (citron)
   • flavor and scent (model Jews)

Recite blessing in 6 directions: up, down, North, South, East, West

Hanukkah

Dedication; Festival of Lights

25^th of Tislev until 2^nd or ^3rd day of Tevet (December)

Commemorates Maccabean revolt of 2^nd century BC and rededication of 2^nd Temple

Menorah: miracle that 1 days' worth of oil lasted for 8 days.

No ritual foods, but lots of traditional ones:

• Fried foods (oil/lamp/temple)
• Latkes: Ashkenazic tradition
• Birmuelos: Sephardic
• Doughnuts: Israel

Giving small sums of money to children (gelt)

Passover

Feast of Unleavened Bread

14^th of Nisan (Mar/Apr); 7–8 days

Commemorates story of Exodus: 10^th plague was the slaughter of every firstborn

Food rituals:

• Sacrificial lamb
• Search for, removal, and destruction of all chametz [χamets] (leavened bread)
• Also time for cleaning
• Kosher dishes, koshering process

Matzo: Unleavened flatbread

• made from only flour and bread
• worked continuously
• Explanations:
  1. Left Egypt in a hurry (no time for bread to rise)
  2. Traveling bread (similar to first explanation)
  3. Poor-man's bread (reminder of slavery in Egypt and to be humble)

Seder feast

• 4 cups of wine (4 terms of redemption)
• Matzo
• Symbolic fods
  • Zeroa (lamb shank bone)
  • Charoset (fruit, nuts, and wine: straw and clay in Egypt)
  • Karpas (leafy vegetable dipped in saltwater or vinegar: tears)
  • Betzah (hard-boiled egg)
  • Maror (bitter herb horseradish and lettuce: toil and suffering)