Category Archives: November
MAMA STAMBERG’S THANKSGIVUKKAH? RELISH
NOTE: Perhaps, this year, try it on latkes?
“Mama Stamberg’s Cranberry Relish”
Dan Mitchell, NPR Online
Every year as Thanksgiving approaches, fans ask NPR’s Susan Stamberg for her mother-in-law’s recipe for cranberry relish. It’s a recipe that she has read on the air every year since 1971 -– and here, in Stamberg’s own words, is how she came by it:
“At the first Thanksgiving of my married life, in Allentown, Pa., my mother-in-law, Marjorie Stamberg, served a fabulous and fascinating cranberry relish. I asked for the recipe, which she kindly provided. I put the recipe for ‘Mama Stamberg’s Cranberry Relish’ on the air every year a few weeks before Thanksgiving, first at WAMU-FM, the local public radio station where I did my earliest air work, and later at NPR for the immediate nation to enjoy.”
(Years after she had begun sharing it, Stamberg learned the recipe had been clipped from the New York Times by her mother-in-law’s sister-in-law Marie Salinger. When, on the air, Stamberg told Times food editor Craig Claiborne about mis-attributing his recipe to her mother-in-law, Claiborne said, “I’ve gotten more mileage out of that recipe through NPR than I have since it was first published in the Times in 1959!”)
Here, with Stamberg’s footnotes, npr.org offers two recipes –- the on-air classic, and another dish that Stamberg confesses is her “truly favorite cranberry side dish.”
Mama Stamberg’s Cranberry Relish
2 cups whole raw cranberries, washed
1 small onion
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons horseradish from a jar (“red is a bit milder than white”)
Grind the raw berries and onion together. (“I use an old-fashioned meat grinder,” says Stamberg. “I’m sure there’s a setting on the food processor that will give you a chunky grind — not a puree.”)
Add everything else and mix.
Put in a plastic container and freeze.
Early Thanksgiving morning, move it from freezer to refrigerator compartment to thaw. (“It should still have some little icy slivers left.”)
The relish will be thick, creamy, and shocking pink. (“OK, Pepto Bismol pink. It has a tangy taste that cuts through and perks up whatever you put it on.”)
Makes 1-1/2 pints.
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Garlicky Cranberry Chutney
Susan Stamberg calls this recipe “my truly favorite cranberry side dish.” It’s from Madhur Jaffrey’s cookbook East/West Menus for Family and Friends (Harper & Row, 1987).
1-inch piece fresh ginger
3 cloves finely chopped garlic
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
4 tablespoons sugar
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1-pound can cranberry sauce with berries
1/2 teaspoon salt (or less)
ground black pepper
Cut ginger into paperthin slices, stack them together and cut into really thin slivers.
Combine ginger, garlic, vinegar, sugar and cayenne in a small pot. Bring to a simmer, simmer on medium flame about 15 minutes or until there are about four tablespoons of liquid left.
Add can of cranberry sauce, salt and pepper. Mix and bring to a simmer. Lumps are ok. Simmer on a gentle heat for about 10 minutes.
Cool, store and refrigerate. (“It will keep for several days, if you don’t finish it all after first taste!”)
CELEBRATING THANKSGIVUKKAH:THREE OF THE BEST YOUTUBE VIDEOS ON THE SUBJECT
Best enjoy this because it will not happen again until 79,811 CE and that is longer than Wonder Bread takes to get hard.
Celebrating: Thanksgivukkah, videos you do not want to miss!
Contributed by Jerry Weissman
The confluence of Thanksgiving and Chanukkah by Rabbi Gerald L. Zelizer
Note: Gerald L. Zelizer is the rabbi of Congregation Neve Shalom in Metuchen, N.J.
American Jews shouldn’t fret too much at this year’s awkward overlap of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving. Sure, it may require some culinary dexterity at Thanksgiving dinner. But thematically, Hanukkah and Thanksgiving are an even more perfect fit than Hanukkah and Christmas.
This year’s confluence is a once-in-about-2,000-lifetimes experience. Hanukkah and Thanksgiving on the same day last happened in 1861, except that Thanksgiving wasn’t established until 1868! And the next time the first day of Hanukkah will happen on Thanksgiving – Thursday, November 28 – will be in the year 79,811. Who can plan that far in advance? So let’s enjoy this solar and lunar overlap and celebrate all that Hanukkah and Thanksgiving have in common. Religiously, there is a direct line connecting Thanksgiving, Sukkot and Hanukkah. Here’s how it works.
American Thanksgiving had a close affinity to biblical Sukkot. Both holidays included the theme of giving thanks for a bountiful harvest. It’s likely that the pilgrims who linked their migration and experience with the ancient Israelites learned to thank God for their harvest from the stories they read in what they called the “Old Testament”.
And Sukkot, in turn, was very much linked to Hanukkah. In fact, Hanukkah may have actually been Sukkot. The Second Book of Maccabees records that after the Maccabees cleansed and rededicated the Temple, “the sanctuary was purified on the twenty-fifth of Kislev (Hanukkah). The joyful celebration lasted for eight days. It was like Sukkot, for they recalled how only a short time before they had kept the festival while living like animals in the mountains, they observed the joyful celebration, which lasted for eight days. And so they carried lulavim and etrogim and they chanted hymns to God, who had so triumphantly led them to the purification of the Temple.”
So Hanukkah was probably a delayed Sukkot, with its theme of Thanksgiving spilling over from the harvest into the cleansed and rededicated Temple. The overlap of American Thanksgiving with the Sukkot/Hanukkah Thanksgiving, then, is not a calender oddity, but a calender tour de force.
We are accustomed to Hanukkah’s proximity to Christmas and to the influence of that holiday on some of the cultural celebrations of Hanukkah. In reality, Christmas and Hanukkah are thematically opposite. Hanukkah celebrates the affirmation of Torah through both a war against the Syrians and a civil war. Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, whom Paul and the early church fathers understood as replacing the authority of the Torah. On the other hand, Thanksgiving, Sukkot and Hanukkah all share a theme of giving thanks: in the first two, for the harvest; in the last, for the rededication of the Temple.
So here’s to giving thanks for this unusual but perfect confluence. It’s not just the culinary ease of substituting latkes for sweet potatoes with the turkey. There is a core message that links them together beautifully.
Contributed by Jerry Weissman
A New Way To Look At Fulfilling the Laws of the Torah
Two Laws in the Torah were fulfilled on the same day.
For those who haven’t heard, Washington State passed two landmark laws: “Gay marriage” and the “Legalization of marijuana”.
The fact that gay marriage and marijuana were legalized on the same day makes perfect biblical sense because Leviticus 20:13 says: “If a man lies with another man they should be stoned.”
We just hadn’t interpreted it correctly!
CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS
Please mark your calendars to remind you of these upcoming events.
- Wednesday, 11/27/2013—Thursday, 12/05/2013: Chanukkah.
- Wednesday evening, 11/27/2013, 5:30 P.M.: Erev Chanukah. Lighting the first candle of the Diane Kaplan Memorial Chanukkiah at the Civic Center. If you come at 5:30.30, you’ll probably miss it, especially if it is cold. We will light each successive candle on each successive night of Chanukah at precisely 5:30 P.M.
- Thursday, 11/28/2013: Thanksgiving, and the first day of Chanukah. We will light the second candle at precisely 5:30 P.M.
- Sunday, 12/01/2013, 2:30 P.M.: Thanksgivukkah party at the home of Stuart and Hilary Lewin, concluding with the 5:30 lighting of the fifth candle of the Diane Kaplan Memorial Channukiah at the Civic Center.
- Monday, 12/02/2013, 12:00 noon: MAJCO Candle lighting at the State Capitol in Helena.
PHILIPPINES DISASTER RELIEF
In the early morning hours of November 9, 2013, Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in the Philippines. Thousands of lives were lost and hundreds of thousands impacted when the storm hit. Authorities and aid groups are struggling to deliver safe drinking water, food, and life-saving supplies to disaster zones.
The URJ General Disaster Relief Fund is collecting donations that will be distributed to aid groups working in affected areas.
MAX’S BAR MITZVAH IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER!
Can you believe it has been over 2 years since Sarah’s bat mitzvah? Max’s bar mitzvah is just around the corner – December 28th, 2013. You should have received your invitation in the mail by now. If not, please call or e-mail Wendy (wendy@weissman.com or 727-4098). We will need to know what events you are coming to so that we can give counts to the caterers.
As his community service project, Max will be collecting canned food and making baskets out of them to use as table decorations at the luncheon for his bar mitzvah. After the lunch, the baskets will be donated to the East Middle School food pantry.
We are asking, if you are able and willing, to donate food and/or baskets, bows, ribbon and wrapping. We also will need help assembling the baskets. Assembly will be at the Washington School at 4 PM on Monday, December 23rd. Please call or e-mail Wendy (wendy@weissman.com or 727-4098) to donate items or to help. We will be serving pizza during the assembly of the baskets so please let me know if you are coming so that we have enough food.
We look forward to seeing you all at the bar mitzvah!
In the meantime, Happy Hanukkah!
Wendy
CHRISTMAS AT THE MERCY HOME
There is snow on the ground, Thanksgiving (and Hanukkah) are next week, and that means Christmas is right around the corner! The Mercy Home (Women’s Domestic Violence Shelter) has already contacted me about covering the Mercy Home during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We have done this for many years as it allows the staff at this 24 hour facility the day to spend with their families.
Note that men can volunteer as long as there is a female volunteer also. No experience is necessary. If you are new, please e-mail or call Wendy (info below) for the location and details on how to volunteer.
If you can help out, please e-mail Wendy (wendy@weissman.com) or call 727-4098. The shifts available are:
12/24 2-5 PM Nadyne & Jerry Weissman
12/24 5-8 PM Meriam Nagel
12/24 8-11 PM
overnight from 11 PM to 8 AM (Wendy will cover this one unless someone else wants to)
12/25 8-11 AM
12/25 11 AM to 2 PM
12/25 2-5 PM
We thank you in advance for helping!
ISRAEL: MUCH MORE THAN JUST GOOD WEAPONS
Israeli ingenuity is responsible for some of the world’s most amazing medical advances.
Whether they’re futuristic, such as Given Imaging’s PillCam capsule endoscopy or Itamar Medical’s fingertip monitors for sleep disorders and cardiac issues — or cleverly simple, such as First Care Products’ Emergency Bandage – blue-and-white inventions are changing the face of healthcare in hospitals, doctors’ offices, homes and even battlefields worldwide.
About 1,000 Israeli companies are in healthcare or life-science products, including 700 in medical devices. Mergers and acquisitions involving Israeli healthcare companies totaled around $1 billion in the past year.
Just 12 of the newer Israeli medical innovations:
1. ApiFix system to correct severe curvature of the spine (scoliosis) minimizes risks, scar size, complications, recovery time and cost. The miniature ratchet mechanism has successfully been implanted in 15 patients so far.
2. Argo Medical Technologies’ Rewalk robotic exoskeleton from was featured on the hit TV show “Glee” and enabled paraplegic runners in London and Tel Aviv to complete marathons. The ReWalk Rehabilitation model currently is used by patients in rehab centers from New York to Dusseldorf. ReWalk Personal, for everyday home use, is available throughout Europe and awaiting FDA clearance in the United States.
3. Gamida Cell is developing stem-cell therapy products to treat blood cancers, solid tumors, non-malignant blood diseases such as sickle-cell anemia, autoimmune diseases and genetic metabolic diseases. On Sept. 9, the first patient was successfully transplanted at Duke University Medical Center (North Carolina) in the second Phase I/II study of NiCord, Gamida’s experimental treatment for blood cancers.
4. GI View Aer-O-Scope disposable colorectal cancer screening device, now in US trials, will make lifesaving colonoscopy screenings cheaper, safer and more accessible worldwide. The self-navigating, flexible Aer-O-Scope removes the risk of perforating the colon, provides superior imaging and can be used by a trained nurse or technician so a gastroenterologist does not have to be present.
5. IceCure Medical’s IceSense3 has been used by US doctors since 2011 to remove benign breast lumps in a 10-minute ultrasound-guided procedure that penetrates the tumor and engulfs it with ice. The system is being clinically tested over the next few years against small malignant breast tumors as well. The procedure is done in a doctor’s office, clinic or breast center, and the patient can get up and leave afterward with no recovery .
6. InSightec’s ExAblate OR uses MRI-guided focused ultrasound to destroy tumors and uterine fibroid cysts without surgery. The company has begun a Phase III trial of its next product, ExAblate Neuro, to cure essential tremor — a common movement disorder – using the same non-invasive technology to significantly lower risk of infection, hemorrhage and brain damage.
7. IonMed’s BioWeld 1 bonds surgical incisions using cold plasma — instead of painful stitches, staples or glue – within minutes, sealing and disinfecting the wound with minimal scarring and recovery time. The CE Mark is expected in October, with European sales and US FDA approval process starting in early 2014.
8. Nano Retina’s Bio-Retina, a tiny implantable device inserted into the retina in a 30-minute procedure, turns into an artificial retina that melds to the neurons in the eye. Activated by special eyeglasses, the device transforms natural light into an electrical impulse that stimulates neurons to send images to the brain. The prototype is advancing quickly through clinical trials.
9. NanoPass Technologies’ MicronJet is a unique, FDA-approved single-use needle for painless delivery of vaccines into the skin using semiconductor technology. The product has been proven to generate superior immune response with less vaccine, because it does not go past the skin level. Licensed last year to Janssen Pharmaceuticals, MicronJet is being used by the US Center of Disease Control (CDC) in a large trial of polio vaccine for infants in Southeast Asia.
10. OrSense’s NBM-200 non-invasive blood monitor is relied upon by blood donation centers in 40 countries for continuous and spot measuring of potential donors’ hemoglobin level (to check for anemia) and other blood parameters. This device eliminates the need for finger pricking as well as biologically hazardous equipment and waste. Studies show that donors screened this way are more likely to become repeat blood donors. OrSense recently completed successful trials using its technology to detect hemorrhage and anemia in pregnant women.
11. Surpass Medical’s NeuroEndoGraft flow diverters redirect blood flow from a brain aneurysm (a bulge in a weak artery wall), so that a stable clot can form and the potentially fatal aneurysm no longer is in danger of rupturing. The family of devices has the CE Mark and has been used successfully in dozens of patients. US medical device manufacturer Stryker acquired Surpass for $100 million in October 2012.
12. VitalGo Systems’ Total Lift is the world’s only hospital-grade bed that can elevate a patient from a lying to a fully standing position — and all points in between — for treatment and transfer with no lifting required of the caregiver. Two major companies are distributing Total Lift in the acute-care and home-care markets in the United States.
A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE
Contributed by Helen Cherry
Here are some excerpts from “The Optimist Sees the Bagel, the Pessimist sees the Hole”
If you can’t say something nice, say it in Yiddish
WASP’s leave and never say goodbye, Jews say goodbye and never leave.
Israel is the land of milk & honey; Florida is the land of milk of magnesia.
Where there’s smoke, there may be smoked salmon.
Never take a front-row seat at a bris.
No meal is complete without leftovers.
Laugh now, but one day you’ll be driving a big Cadillac & eating dinner at 4 in the
afternoon.
The roots of stand-up comedy can be found in the ‘shpil’, a skit performed at 16th century Purim festivities.
Classic Jewish Jokes:
A banker, who had converted to Christianity, was walking along the street with a hunchback when they passed a synagogue.
“You know, I used to be a Jew,” says the banker.
Replied his friend, “And I used to be a hunchback.”
A Jewish mother is at the beach with her 3 year old son when a giant wave sweeps the boy out to sea. The hysterical mother prays: “God, if you return my son I’ll keep a kosher home, go to temple every week & be a pious wife.”
A second giant wave sweeps in & deposits the boy at his mother’s feet. The mother looks up at the sky & exclaims: “He was wearing a hat!”
A skeleton walks into the doctor’s office. The doctor says, “NOW you come to see me!”
Izzy & Moe go to Hyman’s funeral. Izzy looks down at the coffin & says: “Doesn’t he look wonderful?”
“Why not”, says Moe, “He just came back from Miami.”
The Aitz Chaim Ram's Horn 