Shabbat dinners are no easy task for the Shirit family of seven, which will include Roz and I from Friday until Monday morning. This past Friday morning Roz and I were sitting at the kitchen table and almost immediately Roni’s mother, Sari, began putting together the ingredients for her Shabbat stew. Chicken, eggs, onions, and beans will cook together in a broth for 24 hours.
After arriving home from swimming in the river later that afternoon, Sari explained their Shabbat tradition: start out with schnitzel for lunch, then begin to prepare the rest of the food for dinner. Roni, my host sister, explained that they make too much food, but it’s still delicious. I can concur that the schnitzel was in fact great! At my home in Cleveland we’ll make schnitzel for Shabbat on occasion, however, Sari did it differently from the way I’m used to my mother making it. This made it yet another new experience and introduction to Israeli culture through food! Many recipes Sari and her husband Tzion use to create their meals consist of melanges between their culture and an Israeli one. Both Tzion and Sari are like one of our speakers, Vadim Blumin, as a Generation 1.5 type of Israeli citizen. Tzion is the child of Moroccan immigrants; he spent his whole life here. The fish dish Sari prepared, she explained, is seasoned with Moroccan style spices but prepared with Israeli beans. Sari is the daughter of Romanian immigrants to Israel, inspiring her chicken dish for the night which Roz and I helped to prepare as well. Like the fish, the main spices and flavors were Romanian, but the rest of the ingredients, such as hard boiled eggs, beans, and light vegetables, were more Israeli. Seeing and assisting in the Shabbat dinner process really opened my eyes to how much of a melting pot Israel is, both literally and figuratively!
Being able to experience a more conservatively kept Shabbat in Israel is something that will resonate with me, and I can use it as a tool to both learn more myself and educate others about cultural and ethnic differences within the country.