Rabbi's Week in Review
With time away, and with the Joseph story taking center stage in our Torah beginning last week, I have been thinking about family. Fay and I celebrated the b’nai mitzvah of her cousin’s twin sons in Pittsburgh. We then headed out to the Los Angeles area for our annual Thanksgiving-week sojourn with Fay’s brother and family.
The Joseph story is the last piece of a long narrative taking up most of the book of Bereishit/Genesis. It is the story of what is arguably ... Click here to read the rest of Rabbi Doug's blog post.
This Week's Torah Portion
This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Miketz (Bereishit/Genesis 41:1-44:17). We read about Joseph managing the challenges of famine in Egypt. While he begins this process by interpreting Pharoah’s dream, he ultimately relies on the best information available, science and competent administration to lead people through what otherwise would have been catastrophic circumstances.
Worship Events of the Week
Friday, December 3, at All Souls, is a big night for Kol Ami. We have our annual in-person Shabbat Hanukkah celebration, combined with Family Shabbat.
Our Family Experience starts the festivities at 6 p.m., with dreidel and learning about Hanukkah. All ages are invited and encouraged to attend. (Please bring your activity-book donations for children of migrant farmworkers — see “Kol Ami Event” section below for details about the drive.)
At 6:45 p.m., we hold our Shabbat Hanukkah service. Everyone: Bring your Hanukkah menorah, and we will light them together, creating a beautiful scene. At the Oneg, enjoy Dan and Lara Steinel’s latkes and Hanukkah sugar cookies.
On Saturday, December 4, at 10:30 a.m. at All Souls and on livestream, we celebrate the bat mitzvah of Matylda Breinin, daughter of Louis and Christy Breinin, and granddaughter of Rick and Marion Breinin. Join us as we welcome Matylda into our adult Jewish community, always a special time for our Kol Ami family. For the livestream, click here.
Weekly Feature
The Fave Fried Foods of Hanukkah
(With a Bit of Jewish History, Too)
By Wynne Begun
Ah, jelly doughnuts. Once a year, those round greasy pastries filled with overly sweet “jelly” are served at my home as we celebrate Hanukkah. I personally am not a jelly-doughnut fan, but it is with great pride that I share a few facts about the major Jewish contributors to doughnut history.
Do you remember when Dunkin’® first came to Kansas City? It was not quite like the Whataburger phenomenon, but folks lined up to get theirs. William Rosenburg, the creator of Dunkin’ Donuts, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1916. The son of Jewish German immigrants from Prussia, he began the doughnut business to survive the Great Depression. His small business grew into Dunkin’ Donuts in 1950.
Adolph Levitt, a Russian Jew who immigrated to New York City at the turn of the last century, opened one of the first doughnut shops in NYC. In 1920, he invented a machine that automated production, ensuring the creation of identical doughnuts. He also developed a standard doughnut mix that was soon adopted by other bakeries across the country.
Another innovator was Stan Berman, a Jewish baker who brought what is now known as the iconic glazed doughnut to Los Angeles. Over the course of its 50-plus years in business, his shop became a hot spot in Los Angeles for such celebrities as Fred Astaire, Michael Caine and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
And finally, we return to the doughnut called sufganiyot in Israel. These are fried spheres filled with fruit jam and liberally sprinkled with confectioners’ sugar. The Israeli Labor Federation declared sufganiyot the official food of Hanukkah in 1920.
The traditional food I most appreciate at Hanukkah, however, is the basic potato pancake. Foodies have developed riffs on the traditional potato version, but being a basic kind of consumer, I still favor the original version with lots of applesauce and sour cream. Here is a link to a good old basic latke.
Chag sameach!
Kol Ami Event
Donating Activity Books
At the Family Experience Hanukkah program Friday, December 3, we are collecting children’s activity books for the Migrant Farmworkers Assistance Fund. Every year, many farmworker families remain in Missouri, with no activities for their children over winter break. We are creating packets for the kids (items for each child must fit in a gallon-size Ziploc bag).
Items needed for varying ages — preschool through high school:
• counting books
• coloring books
• small packages of crayons or washable markers
• dot to dot or similar small activity book
• mad libs, word searches, crosswords, etc.
• stickers, small packets of blank paper for stickers and for drawing
• color pencils, gel pens
• journal or notepad with prompts.
Items can be donated at the Hanukkah celebration or by emailing me for
pick-up/drop-off alternatives at office@kolamikc.org.
— Erica Clinton
