L ifestyle /C ulture
Local Author Pens Book on Jewish Festivals
B OOKS
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
RONIT TREATMAN, a local
writer and the former president
of the Philadelphia Jewish Voice,
published a book intended to
explain Jewish festivals to people
who may be connecting to their
Jewish ancestry for the first time.

“Hands-On Jewish Holidays”
is available in English, and trans-
lations of the nearly 300-page
self-published book will be
available in Russian, Spanish,
Portuguese and Hebrew in the
near future. All versions will be
accessible in both paperback and
as an e-book, via Amazon.

To Treatman, the multi-
lingual daughter of Israeli
diplomats, “Hands-On Jewish
Holidays” is the culmination of
two years of writing, an expres-
sion of her long-held values and
a practical solution for newly
conscious Jews.

“This is kind of a mash-up of
a parenting book and a Jewish
traditions book, built on the
holidays,” she said. “We are our
children’s first teachers, all of us.”
Treatman, 53, grew up in
Israel, Ethiopia and Venezuela,
and lives in Center City with
her family. She served in the
Israel Defense Forces, working
in the Liaison Unit to Foreign
Forces and studied at Hebrew
University and
Temple University, earning a degree in
international business.

She’s has long been interested
in transmitting Jewish ideas
April 11th - 25th
Celebrate our Jewish culture together in virtual space; Israel, Music, Food, Film and Community!
For more information and to register for each event, go to: www.jewishphilly.org/bucks
Sunday, April 11th; 10:00AM - Concert Tour of Jerusalem with Yonina
Yoni and Nina Tokayer, also known as "Yonina", are an Israeli musical duo acclaimed for their weekly home
videos which have reached millions of viewers around the globe. Visit Jerusalem from your living room
with Yonina while enjoying their positive music and soft harmonies; Jewish, Israeli and International music.

Sunday, April 18th, 12noon - Baking with Chana
Celebrate baking and check out the kitchen situation with Chana Weinstein of Newtown, PA! Her “Sitch in
the Kitch” program is the perfect opportunity for kids who love cooking and baking and also like to cook
along or watch! Learn how to make zebra cookies!! After registering you will get the ingredient list in case
you want to bake along with Chana!
Sunday, April 18th, 1:00pm - Rabbi Pickle, of the Kosher Pickle Factory on Pickles; get ready to make pickles!
Rabbi Pickle will lead a hands-on demonstration on making pickles using the same method as the original
pickle masters of the famed Lower East Side of New York. Participants will learn the history behind the art
of pickle making, the method, learn about and gain insight to the deeper meaning of many of the
ingredients and make your very own container of pickles. After registering you will get a list of ingredients.

Saturday, April 24th, 9:00pm - Film and Discussion, Let Yourself Go
Watch this entertaining and humorous Jewish film at your leisure and come together on Saturday evening
the 24th for a discussion about the film!
"A comedy about a self-involved psychoanalyst's (played by Tony Servillo) tightly ordered world is thrown for a loop
by two women: Claudia, a high-spirited fitness instructor, and Giovanna, his ex-wife who lives next door and still does
his laundry." Registrants will receive the link for the film by April 20th.

Sunday, April 25th, 7:00pm - Evening of Muzika around Bucks County
Musicians from our Bucks County Kehillah synagogues and the community will play their specialties. Get
ready to dance, and sing along from home! Come for your favorite and stay for all! You will not be disappointed.

For more information about the event, please contact Carrie at buckscounty@kehillah.jewishphilly.org
22 APRIL 8, 2021
JEWISH EXPONENT
and practices through holidays
and recipes, whether through
her blog or the Philadelphia
Jewish Voice; “Hands-On Jewish
Holidays,” named after her
long-running blog, marries that
interest to her passion for the
Bnei Anousim — the millions
of people around the world who
trace their Jewish ancestry back
to forcibly converted Spanish
and Portuguese Jews.

For the last eight years,
Treatman has been involved
with Reconectar, an Israeli
group that seeks to serve those
Bnei Anousim as they try to
make sense of their connec-
tion to Judaism. Founded in
2015 by Ashley Perry, director
general of the Knesset Caucus
for the Reconnection with the
Descendants of Spanish and
Portuguese Communities, the
organization is inundated with
questions about Jewish customs,
practices and festivals.

About two years ago,
Treatman, who was faced with
the same flood of queries, started
researching and writing ideas,
and didn’t stop until recently.

Writing in simple language
intended for those encountering
Jewish customs and festivals
for the first time, “Hands-On
Jewish Holidays” covers every-
thing from the basics of Shabbat
to instructions for crafting a
model of the Beit HaMikdash
on Tisha B’Av, and even features
a lengthy bibliography, courtesy
of Treatman’s son, David.

“This book wrote itself with
children in mind, specifically my
children,” Treatman writes in
the introduction. “When I was a
new mother I needed to step up
to the challenge of transmitting
Judaism to my kids. Much of
what I found around me was not
very inspiring. I needed to come
up with creative ways to engage
them. Here is a compilation of
how we immersed ourselves in
the Jewish holidays. We are all
children at heart. I hope this
book inspires you to engage with
the Jewish holidays in a creative
and meaningful way.”
Ronit Treatman wrote “Hands-On
Jewish Holidays” over two years.

 Courtesy of Ronit Treatman
Since its March 14 publi-
cation, Reconectar has touted
“Hands-On Jewish Holidays” as
a resource to its Portuguese- and
Spanish-speaking constituen-
cies. Treatman’s book, according
Perry, is a perfect encapsulation
of its mission.

“There is such a thirst for
Judaism and to understand
Jewish traditions amongst
the Bnei Anousim and other
emerging communities, so
it is so important that there is
easy to understand and acces-
sible content for those who were
not raised in a formal Jewish
community,” Perry said in a press
release. “It is so important for us
in the formative Jewish commu-
nity and in Israel to help these
people reconnect, because their
story is one of centuries-long
survival against the odds and
it is the greatest challenge and
opportunity for our generation.”
Though the impetus for
the book was her work with
Reconectar, Treatman saw
the obvious fungibility of the
idea for other emerging Jewish
communities. Treatman trans-
lated the book into Spanish on
her own, and hired translators
for the forthcoming Russian,
Portuguese and
Hebrew versions.

All of Treatman’s efforts were
volunteered. “I get a lot of satisfaction from
this work,” she said. l
jbernstein@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



T orah P ortion
Look Both Ways Before You Cross
BY RABBI DAVID ACKERMAN
PARSHAT SH’MINI
“LOOK BOTH WAYS before
you cross!” That’s guidance
we’ve all heard, likely drilled
into us as children. The deep
story of Pesach, I suggest, is a
tale of looking both ways before
crossing. Pesach’s last days commem-
orate the crossing of the Red/
Reed Sea, in many ways the
climactic moment of the
Exodus. The liturgy of the
seventh (biblically, the last) day
of Pesach centers on the reading
of shirat haYam — the trium-
phal “song of the sea” after they
crossed through, completing
the first stage of their journey
from slavery to freedom. And
the medieval prayer book added
dozens of piyyutim — liturgical
poems that became part of
the worship service in many
communities — that riffed on
the themes and the very words
of the Bible’s original song.

One piyyut — a 12th-cen-
tury composition written by
Yekutiel bar Yosef — utilizes
the Torah’s words to lay out the
look both ways idea with great
power. He calls the crossing
of the sea Pesach Mitzrai —
the actual historical moment
of redemption recounted
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in the Bible.

The companion to the
Torah’s Exodus is something
that our poet calls Pesach le-Atid
— the anticipated great redemp-
tion of the future. As the note
in Siddur Lev Shalem (where a
portion of the piyyut appears
on p. 360) puts it: “throughout
the generations Pesach was not
only a commemoration of a
historical event but a signal of
a future redeemed world.” In
other words, look both ways
before you cross.

Rabbi Yitz Greenberg beauti-
fully captures Pesach’s look both
ways dynamic: “What it did was
set up an alternative concep-
tion of life. Were it not for the
Exodus, those humans would
have reconciled themselves
to the evils that exist in the
world. The Exodus reestab-
lishes the dream of perfection
and thereby creates the tension
that must exist until reality is
redeemed. This orienting event
has not yet become our perma-
nent reality … But it points
the way to the end goal toward
which all life and history must
go. Every generation comes
to grips with its own reality:
it is something to be lived in,
and also to be challenged and
overcome.” (The Jewish Way, p.

36, emphasis added)
This Shabbat we encounter
Parshat Sh’mini, often read on
the Shabbat immediately after
Pesach. In less dramatic, but
more quotidian and arguably
more realistic fashion, Sh’mini
too presents to us the challenge
and necessity of looking both
ways before we cross. Professor
Tamar Kamionkowski’s
summary (taken from her
beautiful and elegant Leviticus
commentary on p. 75, emphasis
added) of the passage I have in
mind sets the stage.

“The final verses of Leviticus
10 describe an argument
between Moses and Aaron.

Although the text is somewhat
elusive, it seems that Moses
becomes angry because he
notes that while the grain
and well-being offerings were
consumed by the priests, the
meat of the purification offering
had not been consumed as
instructed in Leviticus 6:26.

Moses rebukes Aaron’s sons
and claims that YHVH would
not accept the purification
offering on behalf of the people.

The specific content of Aaron’s
response is difficult to under-
stand, but it is clear that Aaron
is claiming the authority to
interpret the law and that Moses
submits to Aaron’s authority
regarding ritual law.”
What makes this a look both
ways moment is that, according
to the Talmud (Bavli Kiddushin
30a) the opening words of this
passage — in Hebrew darosh
darash (inquired emphatically
or explored deeply) — are the
middle words of the Torah! The
ancients (lacking streaming and
social media and the like) spent
a lot of time with holy writings
and knew the words inside and
out. The Talmud tells us that
one group of early sages were
called sofrim — usually trans-
lated as “scribes” — because
they counted (lispor) the words,
verses, even letters of Scripture
and tabulated them. Say the
sofrim (on Leviticus 10:16):
”The midpoint of the Torah
according to words; darosh
from here, darash from here.”
A technical point perhaps,
but consider what that phrase
darosh darash really means.

Something like “inquire
deeply” or “explore intently” or
“pursue meaning” or “interpret
and interpret.” And following
the directional guidance of
the sofrim all of that is to be
engaged by looking both ways,
forward and back, or from more
than one perspective, at the
same time.

As one 16th-17th century
commentator, R Shmuel Edels
(Maharsha) expresses it: “Every
word has meaning in the
direction of purity and in the
direction of impurity ... the two
are one ... they are (the) two
aspects of the Torah.”
The ancient rabbis surely
knew something
about the Roman god Janus, the
god of doorways, thresh-
olds and crossings, who was
often depicted with two faces
oriented in opposing directions.

The rabbinic version of looking
both ways belongs to us, regular
people, and not just the gods.

While often elusive and
unclear, we’re called upon to
live in the tension created by
looking back into our history
and forward toward our future,
simultaneously seeing the
impurity that exists today and
the purity that may yet come to
be tomorrow. l
and the center is firm. Sprinkle
grated cheddar cheese, if using, on
half of the omelet. Fold the other
side of the omelet over the cheese.

Fry it until the bottom browns.

Flip over the omelet. Fry it until
the cheese melts and the omelet is
an appealing crispy brown. Serve
immediately. a time until the dirt nestling
between the leaves is rinsed out.

Dry them on paper towels.

Cut off the dark green part
of the leaves and discard.

Slice the white and light green
parts into thin circles. Peel the
potatoes and dice fine. Reserve.

In a large pot, heat the oil
and margarine over a medium
flame. Add the leeks, shallot
and a pinch of salt. Sauté them
until wilting and fragrant, about
5 minutes. Add the potatoes,
garlic, rosemary and cumin.

Sauté it for 5 minutes on a low
Cut the leeks in half length- flame. Add the chicken broth,
wise. Under cold running water, bay leaves and white pepper.

fan open the leek halves one at
Raise the flame to medium,
until the broth comes to a
low simmer. Add more salt, if
needed. Simmer for 20 minutes
or until the potatoes soften in
the center.

Move the pot from the flame.

With a slotted spoon, remove
the bay leaves and discard.

Pour in the lemon juice and
coconut milk, including the
cream at the top.

Fit the immersion blender
with the cutting blade, and
whip until pureed. Warm the
soup briefly over a medium
flame. Serve immediately in a
tureen or in bowls. Top with
chives, if using. This recipe can
be refrigerated or frozen. l
sprinkle with salt. Sauté for
1-2 minutes, until sweating.

Remove the pan from the flame
for 3-5 minutes so the vegeta-
bles don’t overcook.

Meanwhile, crack the egg
whites into a medium-sized GARLICKY POTATO LEEK
bowl. Using the cutting blade SOUP | MEAT
of the immersion blender, whip Serves 8
them until foamy.

Return the pan to a
3 large leeks
medium-low flame. If the pan is
4 large potatoes
dry, add more olive oil at any time.

1½ tablespoons olive oil
Pour the whipped egg whites into
1 tablespoon margarine
the pan. Fry until the edges brown
1 shallot, chopped
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM CAN DL E L IGHTIN G
Kosher salt to taste
5 cloves of garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon dried rosemary,
crushed ½ teaspoon cumin
5 cups of chicken broth
2 bay leaves
Pinch of white pepper
1 tablespoon fresh lemon
juice 1 (13.5-ounce can) coconut
milk Optional garnish: 3
tablespoons minced
chives JEWISH EXPONENT
Rabbi David Ackerman is the
spiritual leader of Congregation
Beth Am Israel in Penn Valley.

The Board of Rabbis of Greater
Philadelphia is proud to provide
diverse perspectives on Torah
commentary for the Jewish
Exponent. The opinions expressed
in this column are the author’s own
and do not reflect the view of the
Board of Rabbis.

APRIL 8, 2021
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