When the Hebrews left Egypt and slavery behind, nobody said, you can come only if you can walk for endless miles.  Or see the path.   Everyone who wished to go, went.

When they came to the Red Sea, every last traveller got across safely.  Including those who couldn’t understand the directions.

At Mount Sinai, each and every person there experienced the Revelation.  Even being born wasn’t a prerequisite.

So here we are in Parashat Ki Tisa.  Moses has been on the top of the fire-covered mountain for over a month and some of the Hebrews think he’s never coming back.  They compel Aaron not to replace God, but to replace Moses.

When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who shall go before us, for that man Moses, who brought us from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has happened to him.”

Exodus 32:1

Most translations say “make us a God.”  The words in Hebrew are עֲשֵׂה־לָ֣נוּ אֱלֹהִ֗ים (ahsay lanu elohim), literally, “make for us Gods.”  (God often being in the plural in Torah.)  But some commentators interpret it as “make us a judge.”  A judge to take Moses’ place.  A new intermediary between the people and God.

Why did they need an intermediary at all?  In part, because God was terrifying.  Direct communication physically hurt.  Also because of new laws where the consequences for getting them wrong could be fatal.  The Hebrews started learning these laws at Marah, the first stop after the Red Sea, but the Revelation brought hundreds more.

At first Moses was the one to guide people through the laws, but then he set up a court system.  Extended family units handled the simple questions and disputes.  Then judges at various levels took more difficult ones.  Anything that required God to weigh in went through Moses.   Except now he was unreachable.  Or maybe dead.

Moses left his brother Aaron and nephew Hur in charge of the courts, but it wasn’t the same.  As the weeks went on, the people wondered if, without Moses, God would leave them.  Or destroy them.  Out of desperation, they rioted until Aaron agreed to help.

They asked Aaron for a human intermediary but Aaron instead made a statue.  An untalking, unfeeling, unhelpful hunk of gold shaped like a calf.  From gold jewelry he told the people to take from their own ears.  Aaron hoped to stall them long enough for Moses to return and he almost succeeded.  But I keep wondering, why a calf?  Why a statue at all?

The popular fiction is that Aaron made an idol, a false God for the people to worship.  But Jewish commentators don’t believe that.  Some people did go on to worship the calf, but that was not the intent of the Hebrews or of Aaron. 

According to the 18^th century Moroccan Rabbi known as Or HaChaim:

[The people] wished to construct some symbol of a celestial force which would remind them of G’d in Heaven. The people who initiated the golden calf did not deny for a single moment either the primacy of G’d or the fact that He had made heaven and earth. They merely wanted a go-between them and G’d [similar to when all the people had asked Moses to be their go-between during the revelation at Mount Sinai. Ed.]

Or HaChaim on Exodus 32:1:3

Egypt had many cow gods, including Hathor and Apis, and a tradition of gods using bulls as mounts.  I can imagine the Hebrews thought of the golden calf as an invitation.  Yah, we’ve got your cozy seat right here.  Come and hang with us.

This isn’t so absurd.  At the very moment that Aaron was forging the calf, God was up on the mountain with Moses giving him instructions for the mishkan, including how to make two gold cherubim on the cover of the Ark. 

God tells Moses:

There I will meet with you, and I will impart to you—from above the cover, from between the two cherubim that are on top of the Ark of the Pact—all that I will command you concerning the Israelite people.

Exodus 25:22

What’s the difference between God sitting on a calf and God appearing between two angels?  The angels were hidden inside a tent, where only Moses and a few select others could go.  The calf was out in the open, for anyone to see.  In a place where anyone could come to listen to God.

The tale of the Golden Calf isn’t about disability.  But it is about accessibility.  About gatekeepers and privilege.  Judaism isn’t a religion that requires intermediaries; we’re each encouraged to have our own personal relationship with God.  As too are the Israelites.  The intermediary—the go-between—that they need is to subdue the firehose of conversation with God.

I can’t help but think of disability issues though, about how so many of us have had intermediaries forced upon us.  Helpers we don’t want or need.  Or that we need less often than others think.  Sometimes we do need someone to speak for us or to listen and remember.  Or an interpreter, a buffer, assistance with a task.   If we rely on someone and suddenly they’re not there, what do we do?

It didn’t go so well with the Golden Calf.  The Hebrews’ violence and hedonism aren’t excusable.  But their actions began as fear, as an attempt to find what was missing.  They needed Moses to interpret between them and God.  But they didn’t need for God to be hidden away where only priests had access.  They may not have known that that was the plan when they confronted Aaron, but what they asked for, what they built, was something open to all, just like the rest of the Exodus had been so far.  For everyone.

(With thanks to Dr. Jeffrey Tigay and his article The Golden Calf at My Jewish Learning.)

by Cyndi Norwitz

If you were on Zoom for Shabbat last week, you heard Rabbi Irwin tell us that, while all Shabbatot are special, that one—Shabbat HaGadol, the Shabbat before the start of Passover—is extra special.  This week, the Shabbat in the middle of Passover—is special too.  Because in lieu of our usual Torah readings in order, for these two Shabbatot, we instead go to some out-of-order (out of seder) readings.

But first, let’s set the stage.  Last week Shabbat happened to fall one day before Passover.  That’s the last normal night the Israelites in Egypt spent together, to the extent that you can call being a slave normal.  They knew they were leaving; they’d known for two weeks, since the new moon of the 1st of Nissan.  But they’d been told they were leaving before and each time Pharaoh changed his mind.  This time they packed up, but they weren’t yet sure if they were unpacking again soon.

Now it all seemed more real though.  On the 10^th of Nissan, each household went and chose a lamb, lambs that now stayed nearby baaing and waiting.  As night fell on Shabbat last week, we entered the 14^th of Nissan.  For the Israelites, that was the last uninterrupted sleep they were going to get for a while.  Rabbi Irwin told us Shabbat HaGadol was called the “Terrible Night,” because of the terrors that were to come.

For the Hebrews, nothing was the same afterwards.  When they awoke on the day of the 14^th of Nissan, they got right to work.  The waiting lambs met their fate and went to roast for dinner.  Their blood painted on the doorways, top and sides, outsides and insides too.  By the end of that day, before the sun set, every Hebrew was indoors with their lamb and bitter herbs, not allowed to venture outside for any reason.

The 15^th of Nissan began at sunset, with everyone cooped up.  Soon they were uncomfortably full, the remains of a huge meal around them.  Perhaps they tried to sleep.  At midnight, the 10^th plague began.  By morning, every firstborn child born to a mother—whether a human mother or an animal one—was dead, except for those inside the blood-stained huts.

When the Hebrews left Rameses on the morning of the 15^th of Nissan, they ran to Succoth.  Only then did they sit down to plan the rest of their route.  And that brings us to this week’s out-of-order Torah portion, beginning with Exodus 13:17-18.

Now when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer; for God said, “The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt.”

So God led the people round about, by way of the wilderness at the Sea of Reeds. Now the Israelites went up armed out of the land of Egypt.

Exodus 13:17-18

The Way of the Philistines maybe sounds like a metaphor.  But it’s actually a road.  An ancient trading route that was quite active during the time period when the Exodus supposedly took place.  The Romans—who came much later—called it Via Maris, or Way of the Sea.

Now is the time to break out the visual aids. 

Looking at the closeup map photos below, on the left is the eastern side of Egypt proper.  With the Nile flowing north into the Mediterranean, up top.  The Nile Delta is just before the sea and the eastern side of it is said to be where Rameses was, where the Hebrews lived. 

In the upper right is Canaan, or what is today Israel and Palestine.  The shortest path between them is along the coast, the Way of the Philistines. This route would be around 250 miles.  At the bottom is the Red Sea, with two narrow horns which cut off much of the Sinai Peninsula from the surrounding lands. (Please note that from the town of Suez at the top of the Gulf, leading up north to the Mediterranean Sea, is a waterway in the satellite photo, but the Suez Canal did not in fact exist in Biblical times.)

What most people may not realize is that, all of this is Egypt.  At the supposed time of the Exodus, Egypt controlled the Sinai Peninsula itself, which contained at least two copper and turquoise mines, and miles of well-maintained roads.  Egypt also occupied Canaan and surrounding areas.  For the Hebrews to go from slavery to the promised land was in reality moving from one part of Egypt to another.  So they needed to exit Egypt altogether and wait for regime change.  Which took perhaps as long as 40 years.

The Hebrews did not go the Way of the Philistines because it was filled with Egyptian soldiers.  Soldiers who wouldn’t just take their word for it that Pharaoh had let them go without changing his mind.  If they went on the coastal road, they’d have to fight.

Through the middle of the Sinai Peninsula and on into West Asia—from Africa to Mesopotamia—is another popular trade route, the King’s Highway.  Parts of this road are mentioned in Torah, in Numbers.  Through Sinai, it was a more difficult mountainous route.

Instead, the Hebrews went around by way of the wilderness, which could only mean south.  The coastal path is wide and flat all the way down to the southern tip, and for a short time after heading back up the other side.  Then it’s mountains.  This is quite controversial, but some people, myself included, say this is where the Hebrews turned around and then crossed the Red Sea.

Three different paths.  Three different ways to escape slavery.  Three different approaches to dealing with a cruel and capricious ruler. 

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer; for God said, “The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt.”

I hear this and think about what it takes to stand up for what is right in an unjust society, like our very own is quickly becoming.  It’s terrifying when we hear of people being disappeared, ending up in what basically amounts to concentration camps, for as little as leading a demonstration or writing an editorial or having a tattoo.  We who are citizens have a bit more protection for now but, ultimately, we just don’t.  Without the ability to challenge an arrest, to be able to prove who we are, we are potentially as helpless as those without papers at all.

It’s so much easier to keep my head down and stay silent.  I don’t want war.  I don’t want to go it alone, to stand out, to be a target.  The faster and more direct path comes with greater dangers.  How many of us look at that and have a change of heart? 

Certainly, the universities have capitulated (though that is changing, go Harvard!).  Federal agencies have changed policies fast enough to give us all whiplash.  Leaders of other counties are in many cases backing down and making concessions.  Majorities in Congress and courts roll over and show their bellies.  Everyone hoping to keep their funding, their people, their jobs.  Or they focus on saving a single prisoner instead of challenging the legitimacy of the new system.  They “see war” and are retreating to the modern equivalent of Egypt, a place they feel safe, though they are far from secure.

The Way of the Philistines is scary.  What am I marching into?  Will I have the courage to take this path?  To stay the path?  I don’t know.

So God led the people round about, by way of the wilderness at the Sea of Reeds.  Now the Israelites went up armed out of the land of Egypt.

Somehow this seems more doable, though it’s a longer and arguably harder path.  Marching with my compatriots.  Armed with law and reason and tactics and righteousness.  In it for the long haul. 

We need to take the long way around, through the wilderness, outside of Egypt entirely, away from its influence.  I don’t know what analogy that gives us in our modern resistance, but it will become clearer as the days pass.  None of this is easy.  None of this is without risk.  But together we can stay true to our hearts.

Note: for more information on my fantasy novel, The Boat Children, set during the Exodus, check out my other blog, Barberry Lake.

by Cyndi Norwitz.

A few days ago, we celebrated Simchat Torah, marking the cycle of our sacred book from the end all the way forward to the beginning.  We unrolled the Torah scroll, creating a circle of holy words around us.  Then we rolled it back up again to start our year afresh.

Tonight, we begin the first Torah portion of the year: Bereshit.  It’s a long parashah, running from the creation of the universe all the way through to Noah.  Now you might have heard a story about Noah and a boat.  But that’s for next week. 

This week Noah breaks a curse.  Which curse you might ask?  There are so many in Bereshit.  Eve is cursed.  The snake from the Garden of Eden is cursed.  But this one is the curse of Adam.

To Adam [God] said, “Because you did as your wife said and ate of the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’
Cursed be the ground because of you;
By hard labor shall you eat of it
All the days of your life:

Thorns and thistles shall it sprout for you.
But your food shall be the grasses of the field;

By the sweat of your brow
Shall you get bread to eat,
Until you return to the ground—
For from it you were taken.
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”

Genesis 3:17-19

There’s a bit of history here.  When humans became self-aware, they expanded to geographies where nourishment required more than reaching into a tree for fruit and grubs.  They invented agriculture and cooking and—in Biblical lands at least—the staple of their diet was bread. 

After spending months researching the process for my novel, I can tell you, breadmaking is a task that envelopes a community.  Breaking the soil, sowing, tending, reaping the grain.  Then threshing, dehulling, and grinding.  All that only gives you flour.  You then have to build and maintain ovens, find sources of fuel, create your leaven, mix, proof, knead, shape, and bake the loaves.  Only in community can we eat bread.

The commentators speak of different elements of the curse.  One is about agricultural tools.  Some say Noah was the innovator of the plow and other tools and that, before he came, humans got grain from the grasses of the field using their hands.

The second is the thorns and thistles.  While Rashi and others interpret this to mean ancient Hebrews were eating artichokes and cardoon, I suspect the line has more to do with the grain itself.  Ancient forms of wheat had a sharp and spiky extra covering, one that had to be removed in an extra step of dehulling (whereas modern wheat only needs to be threshed).

Most important though is the line from the curse: All the days of your life.  Because this was not a curse for all time, but a curse only for Adam’s lifetime.  All humans suffered from his curse, but only for one generation.  Granted, the supernatural 930 years of Adam’s life made for a very long generation.  But the curse died with him.  In Torah, the first person born after Adam’s death is his descendent Noah.

So much can happen in a single generation.  At Simchat Torah last Sunday, Rabbi Irwin Keller pointed out a bit of Torah that even the sofers could not help illuminating.  In the story of Jacob and his brother Esau, we have twin brothers who hated each other.  Jacob tricked Esau out of his birthright and their father’s blessing and Esau nearly murdered Jacob for it.  They went their separate ways for 25 years—one normal human generation—before seeing each other again. 

What would their reunion bring?  Frozen hearts?  Pillage?  Death?  Instead of all that, it brought kisses.  They fell upon each other in love.  Neither forgot the fear and loss, but their brotherhood was more powerful than their years of wrongdoings.

In Torah, the nations surrounding the Israelites are mostly descended from siblings who went their separate ways: Esau, Cain, Jabal, Ham, Japheth, and of course Ishmael.  To live in peace it takes more than getting along.  It’s about seeing all others as equals deserving of everything we want for ourselves.

Today, as we end a week of war that follows decades of oppression, let us take the opportunity to start a new cycle.  On this Sabbath eve, the first of our Biblical year, may we see our siblings’ pain.  May we feel the anguish that leads people to unconscionable choices.  May we start the difficult work of sitting down together to break our bread.

Teasing Out Census Entries

For those of you who have searched for families in the Census records on Ancestry or FamilySearch or elsewhere, you know that often the person you’re looking for pops right up in the search feature and sometimes you have to finagle it a bit.

People use different names at times or different spellings or nicknames. Sometimes the transcription, which is the only thing the search engine can use to search on, is pretty far off. Other times there’s an error right on the document itself.

One intermediate level feature is manual searching, and you need an address for that. Head to Steve Morse’s excellent (indispensable) site and choose the Unified Census ED Finder. Pick the year from the dropdown menu, then the state, county, and town. Then put in the street name (the number doesn’t do anything, at least not for the times I’ve tried it). You’ll get one or more ED aka Enumeration District. The census files are by ED and that is the only way to search. Add cross streets (use Google Maps for this) until you narrow it down to one ED (or more if you have no choice) and start going through them page by page.

What if you have the right page in the right ED file and you still can’t find the person?

One of my family lines is through Max Hassan, a Polish Jew born with the name Mendel Hasensprung who is almost certainly my great grandmother’s brother (I already know he’s closely related). I’ve been fleshing out him and his wife and kids with as many documents as I can find.

The one document I was missing was the 1940 Census. I just couldn’t find them. Then I got lucky and found Max in the 1950 Census along with two of his three kids, Gerald and Annette. The census had him as widowed so then I was able to find a death index with several choices that could be Bella Hassan, his wife (in New York City between 1930 and 1950). After a few dead ends, I found a likely one from 1943, which is a year you can get full death certificates online for free. Bingo.

The cool part was that the address on the death certificate was 894 Beck Street, The Bronx, NY. The same address where they were in the 1930 census (the 1950 address was different). This meant they were there in 1940. It took me two tries to find the right ED (sometimes the same cross streets are in multiple ones) but I got it.

Unless you choose “exact,” the genealogy search engines don’t care about vowels or double letters (and they’re pretty good about alternate spellings where the names sound the same). “Hassen” (or “Hasen”) and “Hassan” might as well be the same name. But an “m” instead of an “n”? That’s a problem. No wonder I couldn’t find them with searching. And in this case, the error isn’t the transcriber’s, it’s the enumerator’s.

But wait, Max and Bella had three kids. I already had the 1940 Census for the eldest child, Ysaye, living with his wife elsewhere in New York (at the same address mentioned in his mother’s death certificate since he was the informant). But where is the baby, Gerald? He was only 12 in 1940 so there was no way he was off on his own.

894 Beck Street is a huge apartment building with dozens of families, and I checked those pages to see if he was mistakenly put with another family (maybe a relation). Nope. My searches weren’t bearing fruit. So it was time for another tactic.

Check the End!

One little trick is that sometimes a household gets missed and the enumerator adds them to the end of the ED file. If the family you’re looking for isn’t at the address you expect, check the last couple of pages. Sometimes they’re added to the end of the block, for EDs with multiple blocks (a block being the rectangle (etc) defined by 4 (or so) streets and the houses touching it.

Max, Bella, and Annette are on page 4 of the 28 pages that make up ED 3-367. Page 27 is where the extra people begin. To my surprise, the enumerator didn’t just have extra families, she had extra people within families that were already listed in the correct spots earlier on. And there was Gerald, listed as Jerold Hassem.

In fact, there are four extra people from 894 Beck Street, none of which are complete families (none of the relations say “head”). For some reason, there are also no apartment numbers. So who goes with which family from pages 1-4 (all the families in the main listing from 894 Beck Street)?

I was pretty sure that Jerold Hassem was the missing son Gerold Hassan, but what about the next one, Irving Glesser, brother-in-law to someone? Glasser is Bella Hassan’s maiden name and this family often had relatives living with them. Is Irving Bella’s brother? Or just a coincidence?

What Are Those Pencil Marks?

Take a look more closely at those notations on the far left of the page. “61” in the circle is the sheet number (a number that is always in the top right corner of the page). The dark dates, April 5 and April 8, are the dates the enumerator added the names. The bulk of the ED was enumerated on April 3rd. But what’s unusual is the light pencil marks you can barely see. “3-68”? why that means sheet 3, line 68. That’s the family that entry goes with.

Jerold’s name has a “2-53” next to it. Sheet 2 covers pages 3 and 4 within the Ancestry document (computer file page numbers aren’t always the same as document page numbers, and besides, the document sheet numbers aren’t in order anyway). Sheet 2 line 53 is, surprise, Max Hassan, the head of the Hassan family. That’s where Jerold/Gerald belongs.

If you look carefully, you’ll see that there is a penciled line from the “2-53” notation that points to Jerold and another one that points to Irving. Hooray! Now I know they both live with Max and Bella.

But wait. Take another look at the main entry for the family. To the left of Max’s name is a notation “61-5.” Sheet 61, line 5 goes straight to Jerold’s entry on page 27 (which is sheet 61). Just another little confirmation.

All this makes me wonder…are there other families in the various censuses who have been broken up over multiple pages within an ED? Do those pencil marks exist on other EDs or is this just one disorganized enumerator? Once you hit the 1950 census you get missing families added the end so often it can be half the families on a page. But before that the enumerators took the time to organize their paperwork before writing up the final census documents and extra families still exist but aren’t as common.

What about you?

Have you seen this before in any Census from 1940 or earlier? Leave a comment with your experience.

I never assume someone is who I think they are until I’ve absolutely confirmed it through documents or other evidence. One mistake can easily snowball into 50 and ruin an entire branch of your tree.

The Verification Trail

Here’s an example from my husband’s tree that I did today.

Since the 1950 Census records became publicly available this year, I’ve been going through my tree to add it in. My husband’s father had an aunt named Annie Nitowitz who married Morris Kushner. They had three children, all of whom were my father-in-law’s first cousins. I found the couple and their two youngest children in Washington DC in the 1950 census. Easy peasy.

But where is their eldest, Louis Herbert Kushner who appears in earlier census records? He’s 30 years old in 1950 so chances are good he’s married, but I have no record of his wife or any children. There is one person with that name in DC in 1950, so maybe it’s him, but I don’t really know.

If this is him, then his wife is Irene (we even get the bonus of her maiden name, Weinstein, since her never married sister lives with them) and his eldest child is Allen.

I need more information than this. Yes, Louis’s age and location match (and even the middle initial) but his occupation is different from what it was in 1940 (not a big deal, but not a clue either) and there are no other pieces of evidence I can use from the census document to match them up. Under normal circumstances I might ask family members, but everyone I know from the relevant generations is gone.

So what do I know about Louis? Well, he was born in DC on 19 Sep 1919 and he died on 03 Dec 2006. I know this for sure because of the Social Security Applications and Claims Index which gives not only the dates but his parents’ names. It’s definitely the right Louis Kushner. (Note that I always use scans of original documents when available, but a lot of records online don’t have images, just transcriptions, which can be wrong or incomplete, but they’re the best we’ve got.)

Next, I found the DC marriage index. Louis Herbert Kushner to Irene Weinstein. This is the couple from the 1950 Census. Louis’ middle name also matches the Social Security Applications and Claims Index one. But it’s still not a slam dunk. The full certificate isn’t available so I can’t see Louis’ parents’ names. I’m reasonably sure it’s him at this point, but I still can’t be 100% sure. And I need to be 100% sure; I’ve seen too many mistakes at this level of certainty.

Next, I found the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File. At first glance it looks like there’s nothing extra that’s useful. It just confirms Louis’ birth and death dates and tells us he served in the Navy during World War II. But hey, there’s a social security number.

The Social Security Death Index matches the social security number and other info and tells us he lived in Florida before his death. But it doesn’t help us figure out if Irene is his wife.

Bingo!

I found a few other docs that confirmed things we already knew but didn’t bring us any closer to figuring this out. But wait, what’s this? A transcription of his obituary. This comes from Newspapers.com, an expensive online newspaper clipping service that doesn’t have library editions (they have free days a couple times a year, very worth doing).

Without all the previous work I did, I might guess this was the same Louis and Irene (especially with the same child’s name, Alan) from the 1950 census, but I wouldn’t know if it was my Louis. But look, his date of death matches. We already established he’d moved to Florida. And here’s the bonus: his two siblings, Harvey and Marilyn, match up too.

Don’t assume, verify

And that’s how you work a verification trail. And how you add a new branch (and a new set of second cousins for my husband) to the family tree.

Just like she did, I used store bought phyllo dough. Because my God who on earth would make it by hand? My grandmother Manci, that’s who. I never did eat her version because she lived across the country and passed away when I was nine. So I’ll name this recipe after my mother, Marty.

I discovered I was allergic to dairy several decades ago and this butter-filled strudel fell by the wayside. I made it a couple times with margarine but it didn’t come out quite right, even when I reduced the amount to tone down the extra greasy taste.

This Thanksgiving I chose to cook the meal for my extended family. My 16 year old asked for apple pie, made with spiced apples. That jogged my memory and I realized my daughter (born long after my mother was gone) had never tasted strudel. It was time to make it again.

Ingredients

Filling (make ahead of time)

• Apples, 4 lbs of something with good texture and tartness (I used Gala)
• Sugar, 1 cup
• Walnuts (raw), 2 cups chopped
• Raisins (golden preferred), 1 cup
• Cinnamon, 2 tablespoons
• Cardamon, 2 tablespoons
• Nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon
• Clove powder, 1/8 teaspoon
• Salt, 1/2 teaspoon

Strudel

• Phyllo dough. 1 package. I used Phyllo Factory organic with 18+ sheets (ideally you want 21 sheets but some packages have more than stated).
• Butter. I used Miyoko’s vegan butter. Amount is a guess, about 1 stick. Unsalted is best but I accidentally used salted and it still came out fine.

Tools

• Pot for making filling
• Baking sheets to fit 3 large rolls
• Parchment paper
• Small pan to melt butter
• Pastry brush (this is a must)
• Set your oven to 350F

Recipe

Filling

• Wash apples, cut into quarters, remove core. Do not peel.
• Slice each apple piece into thin pieces. There’s a range of thickness that works but I like them maybe 1/4″ thick.
• Put a little bit of water into your pot and turn up the heat to medium (the water is there to keep the apples from burning before they start releasing their own water).
• Cook the apples, stirring gently every couple of minutes, until they start to soften.
• Add the sugar, stir well and continue to cook.
• Add the walnuts, raisins, salt, and spices. Stir them in, taking care not to break up the apples too much.
• The mixture is done when the apples are soft and translucent but not mush.

Putting it all together

• Defrost your phyllo according to the package directions. This may include an additional stretch at room temperature. Make sure you plan for this. You can not use phyllo that is the wrong temperature, it will break.
• Get out your filling. It can be anything from room temperature to warm. You want it to be easy to spread around without damaging the dough. Divide into 3 even parts.
• Melt your butter but don’t boil it.
• Now you can unwrap the phyllo dough. But keep a damp tea towel over it whenever you’re not taking some out. It will dry up fast and then it crumbles.
• Put 3 sheets of phyllo on a completely flat surface.
• Brush lightly with melted butter, making sure to get the edges. This should be very quick, maybe 5 seconds.
• Take 1/3 of the filling from one of your 3 divisions (that means 1/9 of the total filling) and spread on the dough. You will not get even coverage and that’s fine.
• Put 2 sheets of phyllo on top and brush with butter.
• Use another 1/3 of the filling on top. Aim to even out the strudel so that this bit of filling goes in the holes left by the last layer.
• Now put another 2 sheets over this and brush with butter then add the rest of the filling, taking care to make the entire product as even as possible.
• Start to roll up your strudel the short way (the final product will be shorter and thicker than if you rolled it the other way).
• As you roll it, brush with more butter. Put extra butter on the end so it will seal.
• Put the roll seam-side down on to parchment paper on the baking sheet.
• Add more butter on top and on the ends.
• Use your second division of filling to make your second strudel. Then do the third.
• Bake at 350°F until the outer layers are brown and crispy. The inside should be fully cooked but can be chewy.

Notes:

• Strudel does not keep well. Eat it fresh from the oven. If you plan on needing to reheat it, don’t cook it all the way before storing.
• The phyllo dough packages from 30 years ago had 21 sheets, which was perfect. The one I got this time around said it had 18 sheets. I put 2 sheets as the bottom layer and that was a mistake. For one, the box actually had 20 sheets. Two, the outer layer cracked. It would be better to put 3 sheets on the bottom and take away sheets if needed from other layers.

I also have a knife drawer and various other drawers I recently cleaned out and sorted. Now all “things that cut” are together. More or less. While some are ones I bought, most are things I inherited from my mother.

Some of the knives I use regularly or at least once in a while. Some are duplicates of ones I use (and I’ll get rid of them). Some I know what they are but don’t need them. Others are a mystery. Then there are the ones that scare me.

Let’s start easy.

Butter knifes. Fancier than the basic flatware ones I have. Designed for spreading things on to bread or crackers. Nothing weird.

This one’s a little weird. It cuts and it spreads. But I can deal.

These are butter knives/spreaders with pointy tips. Why? I guess to cut a piece of cheese and pick it up?

I use the pizza cutter. I used to use the cheese cutters when I ate cheese. The cake cutter I bought but it didn’t cut my cake at all. Must be for some type of cake I don’t eat. [Edit: the “cake cutter” is actually a cake leveler; the one my friend showed me has two parallel wires not the one mine does.]

These cut cake. And pie. And tarts and quiche and so forth. Nice normal stuff, most of which I actually use.

Steak knives. I grew up with the set on the left and they’re still usable. I mean I don’t eat steak but they’re great for slicing tomatoes and for teaching children how to cut.

Paring knives. Nice and easy. I just have better ones now. Sorry knives. [Edit: The longer ones on the left are called utility knives.]

I love my cleaver. I got it decades ago when I took a Chinese cooking class. The 3 chefs knives I used before I got married. I don’t understand what the one with the dark handle is for with that funny shape. Raw meat maybe? [Edit: Yes.] I used to have 3 extra bread knives but I gave one to my synagogue’s kitchen after I hosted a meal with 4 dozen bagels that all had to be cut without a bread knife.

Now we’re getting into the weird territory. We start with a grapefruit knife. I doubt my kid has a clue what it is, but I recognize it, even if I never use it. Next could be another grapefruit knife, or for segmenting oranges or lemons or I don’t know.

The next ones just scare me. I mean I guess they’re for preparing or carving meat…but why do we have all this three-sided pointiness? Why is there a knife too flimsy to cut anything but long and curved and sharp?

[Edit: the sharp forked tips are for picking stuff up (cheese, meat, tomato slices). The knife on the far right is a saw and raker blade, a heavy-duty knife used for cutting frozen foods. I have no idea why it has a fork on the end.]

I saved the best for last. Okay, it starts normal. A nice honer and a useless manual sharpener. A tiny paring knife. Two cheese knives. Or at least I assume that’s what that elegant pokey thing is with the double spikes. [Edit the one with a fork at the tip is indeed a cheese knife. But the one just to its left, with the flange to protect your hands, appears to be an oyster knife.]

Then we have the large version of the 3-sided knife. A chopper that rocks as you use it but looks like something from Star Trek.

And then there is the cleaver. Not a lovely balanced rectangular cleaver like the one I use all the time. Nope. This one looks like a mini throwing axe. And then it has the cutouts on the other side. Is that for bonking? It’s not a tenderizer or a serrated blade or even useful for cutting twine. What is it?

If you can tell me more about any of these knives and similar tools, please leave a comment. I love funny kitchen tools. Even when they scare me.

In the meantime, here’s a great article showing different knives.

This is the cemetery walking distance from my house and its hilly paths and century and a half of burials make it an enjoyable walk when parks are closed or crowded.

Cypress Hill Memorial Park Cemetery, Petaluma, California.

We have a family plot, something common in this cemetery and elsewhere. Each grave is labeled only with a family moniker and then there is a single plaque to list names and dates.

The graves are (from left to right): Father, 1st Wife, Mother, Sister, Brother.

The plaque reads:

BRESCIANI

Father Frank 1885-1933
Mother Margarite 1891-1939
Sister Frances 1917-1926
Brother Louis U.S.A. 1922-1944
Frank Bresciani’s 1st Wife

So many questions!

Did they really expect anyone would believe that the family would bury a woman but not know her name or the year she died (which is presumably the same year they buried her)?

If the family hated her this much, why not buy her a separate plot?

When did she die? Were she and Frank divorced then she died after his death, so he could not be the one to bury her properly? Or did she die young then the family carried out Frank’s deathbed command to re-inter her in the family plot, but did so in the meanest way possible?

Was the social cut by Margarite? Or by her son Louis? Or was it some other family member (they had other sons)? The graves are not in order by year of death and the plaque would have been made after they all passed away (since the brother died as a young man, presumably a soldier in World War II based on his age, the year, and the “USA” note).

If she was re-interred, her old grave would have had her name and dates of death and probably birth. If there was no stone or the stone was faded, the cemetery records would have had these things (how could they have found her grave without her name?).

A quick search gives us Frank’s obituary.

Frank Bresciani, well known Chileno Valley rancher, who had been ill for less than a week, passed away Sunday morning at the Petaluma General Hospital. Death was caused from a throat infection.

Friends learned with regret of the sudden death of the well known rancher who was apparently recovering when he took a change for the worse.

The late Mr. Bresciani, because of his genuine worth and affable nature won a high place in the regard of his friends. He worked hard in operation of his ranch. In Chileno Valley where he had resided for many years, his death bringing sorrow to his friends on the neighboring ranches.

Born in Italy, he was only 48 years of age when he died. He was the beloved husband of Mrs. Margaret Bresciani and loving father of James, Frank Jr., Louis and William Bresciani, and devoted brother of Peter Bresciani. He leaves a mother, brother and sister, residing in Italy.

Since his arrival in the state 31 years ago, he had been engaged in the dairy business in Sonoma and Marin counties.

The funeral will take place from the Blackburn & Sorensen funeral chapel Tuesday morning at 9:30 o’clock, thence to St. Vincent’s church where a requiem mass will be celebrated for the repose of his soul commencing at 9:45 o’clock. The interment will be in Calvary cemetery.

Petaluma Argus-Courier, Petaluma, California, 22 May 1933, Mon  •  Page 7

Frank’s second wife, Margaret Bresciani, died in a car accident August 20, 1939. Her maiden name was Cadera and she was also an Italian immigrant.

In the 1910 Census, Frank was a hired man working on a dairy ranch in the town of Sonoma (same county as Petaluma). He was 24 and single and had immigrated from Italy in 1903 (it’s common for dates to be off in the census so don’t rely on them to be exact).

In the 1920 Census, Frank and Margaret were living in San Antonio, in Marin County just south of Petaluma, where he owned a dairy ranch. With their children Frances and James and Frank’s brother Pete. Frank was 36, and was in the process of establishing citizenship after immigrating from Italy in 1902. Margaret was 24 and had immigrated from Switzerland in 1913 (both her parents were also Swiss but they all spoke Italian as their native tongue).

In the 1930 Census, Frank and Margaret were still in San Antonio on Chilano Valley Road, on the border of Petaluma, so it may be where they lived when he died, as he still owned his dairy farm. They had been married for 13 years at that point (so 1917). He was 44 and a US citizen, having immigrated from Italy in 1905. Margaret was 33 and an naturalized, Italian-speaking, 1913 immigrant from Switzerland. They lived with their children James, Frank Jr., Louis, and William, plus Frank’s brother Petro and a boarder.

I couldn’t find marriage records for Frank and Margaret and there is no mention of the elusive first wife, nor of any children that might have come from her.

Perhaps someone with more knowledge will share the background for this mystery but, at this point, I can only speculate.

A social cut so deep that it’s literally etched in stone for all to see.

Instructions

• Save trimmings for the stock pot in freezer
• Dump trimmings in Instant Pot (or stovetop pot)
• Add seasoning or extra veggies
• Cover with drinking water
• Pressure cook for 40 minutes with natural release (or simmer on stove for a couple hours)
• Strain and squeeze out veggies
• Pour into storage containers and freeze

Ingredients to Freeze

I keep a couple zipper bags in my freezer so, when I’m prepping veggies for meals, I can just toss in the trimmings. While there are animal products you can use for stock, I’m only going to cover the vegan choices here.

DO USE: Onion/garlic skins, tough ends of leeks, carrot and other veggie ends that are dried or misshapen, cores and outer leaves of cabbage, mushroom stems that are too tough to eat, carrot tops, peels that are edible but you’ve chosen to remove them (carrot, beet, potato), root veggies that are still edible but got woody or tough.

Extra fresh herbs (I toss in herb stems as well, like basil or rosemary or sage). Ginger pieces I discarded because they were all skin or dried out. Asparagus ends. Broccoli stems and cauliflower cores.

DO NOT USE: Anything that is dirty or moldy, parts you’ve removed because they’re not healthy (potato eyes), peels from waxed produce (cucumber). Most hard peels (winter squash is okay). Previously cooked foods or grains.

Fruit. There are exceptions (I like an occasional unwaxed lemon peel) but, in general, stock doesn’t really benefit from banana peels or apple cores.

BALANCE YOUR FLAVORS: When I got some carrot tops I washed and rough chopped them and put them into their own freezer bag so I could dole them out over several stockmaking sessions. Otherwise it would be too much. Some people warn about too much onion/etc, but I haven’t found that to be a problem. I do find that too much cabbage family items throws the flavor off.

Ingredients to Add

• Bay leaf (I use 3 leaves per batch)
• Lemongrass (fresh sliced in half or rough cut dried)
• Dried peppers (just one or two)
• Whole spices (but go easy on things like peppercorn)
• Ginger root (if not already in the frozen pile)
• Any fresh vegetables you want to balance what you have frozen (carrot, celery, onion, garlic, cabbage, etc). This is a good time to cull old produce from your fridge, as long as it’s not moldy
• Salt is optional! I was salting my stock but then I stopped so I could have more control over the salt levels in the finished soup.

Cooking the Stock

In a 6 quart Instant Pot, I loosely added frozen vegetables to the max line (I’d do less if I packed stuff in) and added 3 quarts of filtered water.

Use the pressure cooker setting on high for 40 minutes and let the pressure release naturally. Cool to a safe temp before straining.

Straining the Stock

When cool enough to handle, pour the stock into a collander that is inside a large bowl.

Squeeze the liquid out of one handful of vegetables at a time and discard (compost loves it).

Storing the Stock

I use 3 quarts of water in my stock because that gives me “4 quarts” of stock. In quotes because it’s really 3 quarts but I use mason jars and you need to under-fill quart ones or they can break as they freeze. If you use plastic or metal containers, then the amount you end up with doesn’t matter. Though I’ve found that 3 quarts is about the right amount to get the pot to just under the max line, since the vegetables will take up the rest of the space.

Using Stock

I generally use 2 quarts (remember, they’re under-filled) of stock for a pot of soup that ends up being 4-6 quarts. If my soup is going to be mostly broth, I may throw in another pint or quart.

Defrost in the fridge the day before you need it. Or remove the lids and defrost in the microwave. The stock can go into the soup pot frozen. You just need to defrost it enough to get it out of the jars.

Recipes

Bean Soup from the Pantry

I’ve been making soup stock and a variety of vegan soups with my Instant Pot for a while now. Some have come out better than others, but mostly it’s been a great experience. Because me and carbs are often not on speaking terms, I don’t make bean soups very often, which is a shame, because I love them. Here is a bean soup that helped clear my pantry and came out exceptionally well.

I used Black Calypso heirloom beans because I bought two bags of them last year at the Heirloom festival from Community Grains. Turns out, they’re amazing in soup. They cook down to a rich thick broth while at the same time maintaining their shape and some of their color.

This is a post though about using what’s in your pantry and fridge so any dried bean that works in soup will work here. The size of the bean matters, because you may need to adjust your cooking. The first time I made this soup, I soaked the beans a couple hours then put everything in at once and pressure cooked for 40 minutes with natural release. The beans were ever so slightly undercooked. A couple hours on the slow cook setting took care of that, but then the vegetables were a bit overcooked.

This time I soaked the beans overnight (you can skip this step with a pressure cooker but it may change your cook time and there are some other reasons to soak), drained the beans and pressure cooked them with fresh water for 20 minutes on manual release. Then I added the other ingredients and pressure cooked on natural release for 40 minutes.

Smaller beans (like turtle aka black beans) won’t need the extra cook. Very large beans might need more. Also, you can cook the beans in water or in stock. I used water because I didn’t want to lose all the stock flavors with that extra cook, but I ended up with more ingredients than would fit in the pot under the max line and the flavor of the finished product wasn’t as intense. I removed 2 cups of liquid to add back after the cook.

The other ingredient that makes amazing soup and goes well with beans is shiitake mushroom. I had a big bag of dried ones that had sat in my pantry for years after buying them at an Asian market.

Soak the mushrooms for around 10 minutes in water to loosen them enough so you can wash off any dirt left from before they were dried. Discard that water and put them back to soak in fresh drinking water. Warm or hot water works great but cold is just fine. Let them sit (I put a plate over the bowl to keep them submerged) for a couple of hours.

Drain and squeeze them but keep the liquid. Now remove the stems (they’re too hard to eat) and discard or throw into your stock bag (vegetable bits in the freezer to make soup stock with).

Slice the remaining mushrooms thinly. Too thick still tastes good but it makes the soup a bit more chewy than you might like. I started off with 5-6 cups of whole dried mushrooms and ended up with 3 cups of deep brown soaking water and 2 cups of sliced rehydrated mushrooms.

Last time I added a cup of caramelized onions to the pot (I make them in bulk and freeze them in half pint jars) and some chopped carrots. This time I had the carrots but no precooked onions. But I did have some daikon radish we used as a substitute for the missing horseradish at last week’s Passover seder.

It all went into the pot along with several grinder twists of salt (don’t add if your broth has salt and go easy, you can always add more salt later). For good measure, I tossed in the leftover sage I’d picked to cook with the seder’s main course.

Ingredients

• Dried beans, 1 lb (2 cups)
• Shiitake mushroom, 5+ cups whole dried or 2 cups fresh/reconstituted sliced
• 2-3 cups root vegetables (carrot, daikon radish, onion, garlic, leek, potato, parsnip, etc)
• 2 quarts broth (I use homemade vegetable broth but you can use any kind you like)
• Enough liquid to cover, up to the max line in the pressure cooker (6 quarts total on mine). I used the mushroom soaking water and plain water
• Salt to taste (unless broth has salt)
• Herbs if desired (if you are using water instead of broth, add some bay leaf and other easy to fish out herbs to add flavor to the soup and/or things like onion, garlic cloves, ginger root, lemongrass, etc)

Instructions

• Night before, soak your beans (can shorten or skip) and set your stock to defrost (if frozen)
• A few hours before, soak dried mushrooms for 10 minutes to remove dirt, then soak for a couple hours in fresh drinking water
• Drain beans, put in Instant Pot with enough liquid to cover
• Pressure cook 20 minutes then immediately release the pressure
• While beans are cooking, drain and squeeze mushrooms, save liquid
• Remove stems from mushrooms, discard
• Slice mushrooms thin
• Chop/prep vegetables and any other ingredients you wish
• Add all ingredients to the cooked beans still in the Instant Pot
• Pressure cook 40 minutes with natural release

This soup lasts several days in the fridge or you can freeze it. Makes 6 quarts.

There were some decent brands in the past, but he hasn’t had any luck lately. So I made some. It’s very easy but my version was a bit too sweet. He ate it though, and just ran out.

So today I made some more and it came out perfect. It also freezes beautifully. I use half pint mason jars with the plastic twist-on lids.

Recipe:

2 cups sugar
2 cups water
6 cups frozen blueberries

Put the sugar then water into a cooking pot. Heat on low and stir until the sugar dissolves.

Add the blueberries and cook until they’re soft and the mixture has gone down a bit.

Stick blend the pot until the consistency is smooth (or chunky if you prefer). If you don’t have a stick blender, you can pour it into a regular blender, though you may need to do it in stages.

Continue to cook on low heat until the water level goes down about an inch.

Let cool and put into containers.

Makes 7 half pints.

This is a private web page.  Please do not link to it (or to the links below) or share in groups.  You may pass along the web address to individuals you know well.  If not sure, ask us at family@norwitz.net

Video of the Service (2:00:34)

Up on Youtube.  Accessible only with this link.
https://youtu.be/w53jSA2SlCw

The first 20 minutes are so didn’t record.  But the rest is there.

Annotations are on the Youtube page.  Click on the times to go directly to that section.

Hava Nagila (1:54)

Up on Youtube.  Accessible only with this link.
https://youtu.be/oz8YupUfpXc

During the party, Miriam is lifted up in a chair by Michael Norwitz, Eric Norman, and Andrea Beach.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (3:55)

Up on Youtube.  Accessible only with this link.
https://youtu.be/tO2Is-0oXXE

Party: Miriam Norwitz and Maia Kramer sing karaoke version of I Know What You Did Last Summer by Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello.  Jordan Rupprecht background dancer.

I’m Yours (3:42)

Up on Youtube.  Accessible only with this link.
https://youtu.be/s9_ENJyrpBY

Party: Cyndi Norwitz and Stephanie Norman sing karaoke version of I’m Yours by Jason Mraz.

Chains (3:17)

Up on Youtube.  Accessible only with this link.
https://youtu.be/WTFmJwNUNeY

Party: Miriam Norwitz and Maia Kramer sing karaoke version of Chains by Nick Jonas.  Jordan Rupprecht background dancer.

Bat Mitzvah Photos

Dropbox link for Cyndi’s Camera’s photos
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/etdm0whtxzr2v29/AAD5DOo9tEMhPwxu1QDuUamMa?dl=0

Jewish Cemetery in Žilina, Slovakia
Sorted by Surname

I visited the very well-kept Žilina cemetery in May 2017.  At the entrance are two framed maps of the cemetery, painstakingly hand drawn to scale, each grave listed with the name found on the headstone.  This document is my transcription of these maps.

The cemetery is divided into 4 blocks and each block has multiple numbered rows.  Using the same orientation as the map, we have:

The first map shows blocks 2 and 1 and the second map shows blocks 4 and 3.  For the transcription, I’ve preserved the map order by block (2, 1, 4, 3).  Then I have done each row, which all go from front to rear (left to right).  Within the rows, the transcription goes from top to bottom.

There will be errors!!

I guarantee you there are errors.  First of all, as careful as the mapmaker was, there are errors in the documents.  Then there are my errors.  Some are ordinary mistakes but others come because the maps can be confusing.  Because the graves span a large period of time, there are differences in how names appear.  In some, women’s surnames have “ova” on the end.  In most, they do not.  Some graves give the maiden name for married women and these may or may not be on the map, but aren’t indicated as such, so I had to guess (many women may be listed with their maiden names).  Some women had no given names on the map (they may or may not be on the stones) but were “Pani” (“Mrs.”) with their husband’s names.

One common practice for stones made during or just after the Holocaust was to include the names of family members who died in the Shoah and could not be buried.  The map includes these but it’s unclear at times which name is that of the person buried there and also which surname belongs to which given name.  It’s clear on the graves but the map had limited space to work with.

Some of my photos have blurry parts and some of the handwriting on the maps is unclear (though most is impeccable).  Unfortunately, some of the graves are so old that the information on the stones is lost forever.  A large percentage of graves have “not given” for the surname and/or given name.  These were blank (or numbered) on the map.  In some cases, the grave was not used but, for most of these entries, the headstones are just so worn that there is nothing left to read.  I don’t know if the cemetery has this information in their books.

Yes I did walk the entire cemetery while I was there.  Mostly it’s easy to navigate with clear rows.  In some places the rows are narrow and crooked and it’s not always clear which row a grave belongs to (my choices from those sections may not always match what the mapmaker intended, or what the cemetery records show).  I took many photos, but only of graves with surnames from my family or those of my cousins who accompanied me on the trip.  I have not matched these photos with the information the maps.  My transcriptions are solely of the maps.

Žilina Cemetery Statistics
1420 — Individual names listed on headstones
480 — Graves that are missing a surname
Total Entries = 1900

Surnames with at least 10 entries:
ADLER 11
BAUMHORN 10
BOCK 10
BRAUN 24
BRICHTA 15
DONATH 12
GLASEL 32
GROSS 24 (including 6 for GROSZ)
HOFFMANN 20 (including 2 for HOFFMAN)
HOLZMANN 10
KLEIN 32
KOHN 37
LANGFELDER 13
LEIMDORFER 12
LOWY 11
MARMORSTEIN 12
MULLER 15
NEUMANN 22 (including 1 for NEUMAN)
PICK 12
POPPER 21
PORJES 15 (including 7 for PORGES)
ROTH 12
SCHLESINGER 21
SPITZER 15
STEIN 11
STEINER 17
TROSTLER 13 (including 2 for TROSZTLER)
WEIL 24 (including 2 for WEILL)
WEISS 15 (including 5 for WEISZ)

If you’d like my original Excel document, it is below.  Note the two sheets inside it, one for sorting by plot location, one for sorting by surname.

Zilina Cemetery Plots

Jewish Cemetery in Žilina, Slovakia
Sorted by Surname