H EADLINES
Latke Exclusive Women’s Apparel Boutique
Continued from Page 1
Chanukah started on Nov.

28 and will continue through
Dec. 6.

“This is the latke holiday,”
said Robin Foy, the cashier
coordinator at Murray’s Deli in
Bala Cynwyd.

It’s not the latke holiday
every night, though. Among
the eight nights of Chanukah,
the first two see the most potato
pancake orders, according to
Foy. Thomas said, regardless
of when they fall during the
holiday, the weekend evenings
see the most latke orders.

On those nights, families are
not just asking for individual
servings, either. They are
calling in party trays.

Murray’s customers ask
for between 20 and 25 latkes
during the Festival of Lights.

Manny’s patrons have called in
for stacks of 15, 24 and 32.

“Sometimes it’s for the
family. Sometimes it’s for big
parties,” Foy said. “This is a
holiday where we give them
quantities.” Like all Jewish traditions,
though, latkes are not just
something we do. They have an
origin, too.

Since potato pancakes are
cooked in oil, they symbolize
the miracle of Chanukah.

At the beginning of the
Maccabean revolt against King
Antiochus, Jews lit a candle
in the Second Temple. It only
had enough oil to burn for one
night, but it lasted for eight.

Local delis also have a
second-most-popular item
during Chanukah — sufganiyot
— and it has the same origin.

Jewish jelly donuts, like potato
pancakes, are fried in oil.

“Fried food symbolizes
Chanukah,” said Josh Bray, the
manager of The Kibitz Room in
Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

So, like many Jewish tradi-
tions, this one comes back to
food. But it’s not just food, Bray
said. It’s good food.

“People do the same thing
because it’s good,” he said.

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But on Chanukah, the
Jewish food tradition is a
little different than on other
holidays. Passover, Rosh
Hashanah, Yom Kippur and
even Shabbat are all based
around meals.

The Festival of Lights, on
the other hand, doesn’t have a
big meal at its core. Latkes and
sufganiyot are sides.

As Bray
explained, Chanukah is “not really a
dinner holiday.” It’s more of a
festival among family members
with games and gifts.

Hors d’oeuvres pair perfectly
with this environment, Bray
said. “Spin dreidel, eat jelly
donuts and potato latkes,” he
added. “Exchange gifts and eat
good food.”
This is not to say that
Chanukah parties do not have
main courses. They do.

Manny’s sells meat and
sandwich trays during Chanukah,
Thomas said. Murray’s and
Schlesinger’s get a lot of brisket
orders, Foy and Domb said.

Latkes and sufganiyot
are not the only popular
Chanukah hors d’oeuvres. Deli
owners mentioned matzah ball
soup, blintzes, hamentashen
and Jewish apple cake as other
common orders.

Latkes, in particular, are
not even just a Chanukah
delicacy. Local delis do pretty
well offering them year-round,
often as a side to meals.

But once a Jewish food
Courtesy of The Kibitz Room
ritual takes root, Jews cultivate
it for eternity.

Chanukah means latkes,
and latkes mean Chanukah.

Tradition! “It’s what we grew up
knowing throughout the
years,” Bray said. “It keeps
going and going.”
But, as Bray explained,
while Jews do love tradi-
tions, modern Jews are not
maintaining all of them. That’s
why it’s important to keep the
holiday food rituals, including
latkes on Chanukah, alive.

“A lot of Jewish things are
going away in this day and
age,” he said. “It’s nice to keep
some of the holiday traditions
going.” Early in this holiday season,
Domb, who is also a city
councilman, has noticed a new
vibrancy to the old Chanukah
tradition. In Schlesinger’s at
least, more people are both
ordering latkes out and dining
in than they did in 2020 when
the pandemic was raging.

So, Jews are not just ordering
Chanukah food or getting
together out of habit. In many
instances, they are getting
together after 21 months apart.

They also seem much happier
to do it than they did two years
ago, Domb said.

“Many grandparents lived
to see their grandchildren,” the
owner concluded. l
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