Winter - United Synagogue Youth

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The Best of Both Worlds Growing up in an Ashkenazi and Sephardic family by Adam Zarek, ECRUSY D’varim When I explore my roots, I get the best of both worlds. My dad’s side of the family is Ashkenazi and my mom’s side is Sephardic. It gives me a different perspective to two different sets of cultures and traditions (read: food). When I was younger my family used to bend the rules a little bit and pretend to be Sephardic on Pesach, even though you are supposed to follow your father’s customs. Over Pesach we used to eat rice and other Sephardic treats while the Ashkenazi side of the family would look at us in contempt. We were all quite dismayed to find out that our tradition swapping wasn’t the most “kosher” thing to do, so we had to say goodbye to rice. Throughout the year my family would pay a visit to my maternal grandparents for a Sephardic meal. The food they served was the best, but a little different. It isn’t too often that you get served a grey, jello-like dessert that wiggles whenever you attack it with your fork, not to mention that no one can pronounce the names of these foods. Some of the food served would sound quite nauseating, but whether or not it was the Sephardic traditions or the way my grandmother cooked, it would be a rare occurrence when I wouldn’t return for a second helping of the random, unpronounceable food. My grandparents always claimed to have an impressive Sephardic history, which they used to explain the many different food types they served at their table. Who would have known that you made a different type of soup if you lived in Syria, compared to a Sephardic Jew living in North Africa But no matter what the soup was that we were served at my grandparents, it was never chicken soup. My grandmother had never even heard of chicken soup until my parents got married and she was introduced to Ashkenazi cooking. Only in the past few years, when my siblings and I begged for chicken soup, did my grandmother call up a friend and get a recipe for the Ashkenazi style. Another classic Jewish staple food, gefilte fish, has never been eaten at my grandparent’s house. But they have something better: belahut, the Sephardic version of gefilte fish. No one has any idea what it really is except for fish rolled into logs and then cooked. Nothing could taste better on Pesach or Rosh Hashana then eating belahut and then snacking on the gefilte fish my paternal grandparents snuck into the meal. Since I have been able to see what sits on my plate I have gotten the best of both worlds, Sephardic cooking on one side and the traditional Ashkenazic staples on the other side. Now if I could only find a way to eat rice on Pesach again... Adam Zarek is the 2003-2004 Executive/Israel Affairs Vice President of ECRUSY. 10 • ACHSHAV! WINTER 2003
USY Runs in the Family How my mother’s experiences influenced my own by Navah Kogen, Hagalil c"qyz sxeg !eiykr • 11 Several Sundays ago, I returned home from a regional convention, exhausted as usual. Propelling myself into the family room, I flopped onto the couch and shut my eyes. Moments later, my mom entered the room. I braced myself, ready for her to tell me to pull myself together and start in on my homework. Instead, she slumped onto the couch beside me, sighing, “What a long weekend.” Why was my mom so exhausted Unlike most Hagalil parents, who had spent Shabbat in a kid-less house, my mom had been with me at convention, leading kitot, doing shmira, and doing all those other things that staff members do as well. For the past ten years, my mom has been working for Hagalil USY in various capacities, and has rarely missed a convention. Because of this, my USY involvement started early. I attended Encampment for the first time in 1995, when I was entering third grade. I spent the week running errands for the staff, sitting in on as many programs as possible, and wondering if I would ever be as old as the USYers seemed to be. But although my involvement with Hagalil began at that Encampment nine years ago, my mom’s began much earlier. Long before she worked for Hagalil, my mom was a USYer. The reason my mom came back to staff in Hagalil after so many years away Two generations on Hagalil Regional Board: Navah (above, second from left) and the 2003-2004 board, and her mother Linda (below, bottom of pyramid) and the 1969-1970 board. isn’t because she wants to be a USYer again. Trust me, she doesn’t relish late nights spent chaperoning dances. She came back because she believes in USY’s goal to give Jewish teens a place to hang out and be Jewish with their friends. That’s why she took me to Encampment when I was so young. She wanted me to see all that USY had to offer, and to look up to kids who have a strong Jewish identity. Often, my mom shows me pictures from conventions, and tells me stories about her time in USY. Many things have changed since then. For instance, my mom served on regional board as “Education/Programming Vice President”. Find me a region today that has an EP VP. But for all that’s changed over the years, the fundamentals of USY have remained the same. My mom’s memories of conventions and events are vivid, and she’s still close with some of her friends from USY. The enthusiasm with which she remembers her USY years gives me hope that maybe I will be able to keep USY in my life after I graduate. And maybe someday, I’ll slump onto a couch next to my own daughter, ready to hear all about convention and share my memories of what USY was like way back when. Navah Kogen is the 2003-2004 Social Action/Tikun Olam Vice President of Hagalil. mixac
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Page 3 and 4: Winter 2003 c"qyz sxeg Volume 52, N
Page 5 and 6: Where Do You Come From Some thought
Page 7 and 8: c"qyz sxeg !eiykr • 7 Continued f
Page 9: Who Are the Romaniote Jews You’ve
Page 13 and 14: c"qyz sxeg !eiykr • 13 Jules Guti
Page 15 and 16: Mitzvah Clowning It’s not just ab

Winter - United Synagogue Youth

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