Temple

A vision of a people comes to mind. Descending upon a cloud of glory, the Holy Temple, fully rebuilt, alights on the central hill. The people, with dusty faces and tired eyes, wipe away the tears from their faces. At long last, the dreadful sound has ended. The harmony of the paradox has comes to a climax and is a sweet sound to the listener. The sweet nectar drips from the fruit-sweet roof. 

Where have we been for so long? What is this dry feeling in our throats? What is that desert behind us? It is naught but an illusion. Something we have been living in for too long. As if we awoke from a bad dream, we come to. All the fear and worry that was clouding our mind is away. What remains is nothing but the truth. 

The enemy is no longer hostile.

The pain is no longer felt. 

The anger dissipates.

The people break down and burst into tears of joy. The tear ducts swell to the brim and squeeze out pure delight. We have awoken from a terrible confusion, a wrenching mirage, we have awoken from that to a clear paradise. Life could be this good. Life is this good. 

Suddenly, one elderly woman points her finger, with awe at a man’s chest. He looks down in wonder and the people crowd around. A purple light emits from under his shirt. A crystal-like feeling of inner-tranquility shimmers within him. He pulls back the cover to reveal something beautiful inside. A visage of the Temple, at the core of this shimmering light, floats within him. A voice passes through the wind ‘And they will make for me a Sanctuary, and I will dwell within them.’

Do not be afraid. Do not lose hope. Do not let the dryness of your throat drive you to insanity. The water will come. Your thirst will be quenched. Do not despair. The fire in your heart does yet burn. No rain can dampen the flame within. There is no lack of fuel. You take a deep breath in and the light blazes. 

The night is light and bright with laughter. The mind is no longer plagued with unspoken fears and unknown darkness. The Essence wrestles playfully with itself in a million different ways, and then some more. Within each world exist another trillion. And so on, ad infinitum. Infinite recursion of fractal complexity, which is, at its core, one simple thing. 

We eat, we feast, we drink, we cackle with true joy of life. We have no shame in our delight. We have no pity for the other, for no one lacks. Everyone celebrates their lot and connects with each other. There is no greater height. Until there is, and then it is reached. And further, a higher peak. 

The temple within each and every one of us exists in ultimate glory. The walls may be stripped down, the chamber may be dismantled, the altar disgraced, but the foundation remains. From that foundation, anything can be built. ‘Turn it over, turn it over, for all is in it.’ These words echo through the halls of our empty vessels, waiting to be filled with water. Turn over that stone, adn then the other one. The grand plan is being orchestrated by a Great Manager. Your job is singular: one brick and then another, and when you look up, the project is built. There is no undue stress on you. Only a passion, burning within, that will not let up until the job is done. ‘If not now, when? If not I, then who?’ Take these words to heart and place them deep inside, these true words. ‘Not upon you is the work alone, nor are you exempt from it. If you have learned much Torah, you will be rewarded greatly.’ But we’re not in it for the cheese, are we? No, there is something much greater than mere recognition and prizes. There is quality, there is joy, there is life, fresh as the water that flows from the mountain spring to be drunk freely. Dripping down from your chin, you drunkenly exclaim, ‘Hodu Lashem Ki Tov, Ki Le’olam Chasdo!’

Humility, Pt. 2

When the Mitteler Rebbe was young, he would spend time in the shul where the chassidim would daven. Being that he was well-versed in chassidic banter, when he saw a middle-aged man davening in haste and without proper concentration, he berated him for not davening with proper kavana. It seems that this was meant to be a constructive remark, however, it affected the worshipper deeply. 

“What do you know of the difficulties of my divine service?” the chassid asked the young prodigy. “Do you know what I have to do everyday to make a living? First, I must arise well before dawn to gather all the bundles of wheat from my stockpile, and load them up on my wagon. Then, I must journey several miles on rough country road to reach my first customer. All of my customers are local farmers, and you know how much they love to drink in this country. No farmer will speak to a word of business unless we have both downed a cup of vodka. Only after that can we strike a deal. I have to do this five or six times, and travel the rocky roads between each one. Only many hours later, after I have sold all my stock, am I able to turn to the beis midrash and devote some time to tefila. And that is besides for the fact that I do not know how to read and translate ivra well. I never had the opportunity to study the Torah in-depth because my father was poor and could not afford to pay the melamed to teach me.”
The imploring chassid did not stop there. “And you young rebbe, for you, it is all so easy. You are surrounded by holiness, you were taught the ways of chassidus from when you were first born. You do not need to work hard in order to make a living, for you subsist off the funds of the kollel.

“This is the reason why my prayers are not on the highest level,” the chassid concluded. The young Dov Ber was stunned into silence, and walked away contemplating what he had just heard.

Some time passed. The abovementioned chassid came into the Alter Rebbe for chassidus at his allotted time, for everyone had an allotted time to have yechidus with the Rebbe. When the chassid entered, the Alter Rebbe stood up and greeted this chassid very warmly. “Reb Yid, I must thank you personally. You have done what I could not do. You have made my Berele into a chassid.”

This story helps illustrate the fundamental aspect for us of our understanding of our place in life. It is common for one to feel ‘above’ or ‘superior’ based on their personal accomplishments. This feeling is the ego, inflated. It is the binding of identity with the outside, a not-ism, something that is not truly part of the person’s self. It is external to one’s core. Yes, it does celebrate a certain revelation of potential into action, but it does not warrant the ability to look down upon others who did not do the same. And perhaps more importantly, it does not give us the right to look down at ourselves if we feel that we do not live up to the ideal that we have set for ourselves. This can cause one to fall down a slippery slope, something which will be explained elsewhere.

By incorporating this understanding into our perception, we can learn an invaluable lesson. Moshe Rabbeinu himself had integrated this awareness so deeply that it became his nature. The gemara explains the Moshe was humble before even the strange idol-worshipper. Moshe was able to feel the same humility before every person. He attributed his tremendous spiritual powess to the fact that he had received an inheritance in his DNA from his ancestors. Thanks to their spiritual service, Avraham, Itzchak, and Yaakov were able to pass down through nature and education, a supreme awareness of Hashem to their children. Moshe understood this and realized that he had a step up on everyone else. That is why his accomplishments did not make him haughty or superior in his own eyes. And that is how we too, can be sure to remain humble and lowly — in a healthy manner! — in our own eyes as well.

Humility, Pt. 1

A story is told of the Arizal, where his students asked him how he merited to Ruach HaKodesh and the ability to see Eliyahu HaNavi. The holy Mystic responded, “by way of joy in performing my mitzvos”. According to his response, we can deduce that by way of experiencing true joy in the performance of mitzvos, we too can achieve a high level of holiness. However, this does not seem like a complete answer. Because other tzaddikim have also experienced simcha shel mitzva, yet they did not reach such high levels as the Arizal. It seems like there was something more that the Arizal did not say. 

The Mitteler Rebbe explains that the Arizal did not give the full answer to his students. The true answer is also the reason why he did not express it. How is that? What the Arizal HaKadosh did not mention is, is that the Arizal himself possessed within a spark of Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu was known as the ultimate anav — “And the man Moshe was extremely humble, more than any man on the face of the earth”. His humility was so great, that even before a gentile who served idolatry, Moshe considered himself lowly. That spark existed within the Arizal, and that spark is what endowed the Arizal with Ruach HaKodesh.

But what is this humility about which we speak? What did Moshe Rabbeinu and the Arizal possess that made them so great? And perhaps most importantly, how does the characteristic of ‘humility’, that is, being low before all others, lead to humility? 

To answer these questions, we must take a deeper look at the nature of humility. True humility. True humility does not mean that one looks upon themselves and sees only fault. It does not mean that one picks out all the ba in one’s self and brings it to the forefront for viewing pleasure and wallow in miserable self-loathing. No, that is not humility. That is something else. That is lowliness. That is negativity. Whatever the exact term is, it’s not humility. Humility is something else. Humility is something holy. Through true humility, one can reach the greatest heights. 

True humility — anava — is a lack of self-consciousness. Instead of identifying with achievements, traits, possessions, or anything else that is outside the self, the anav identifies with truth. In one’s own soul, no one is lowly. No being or entity is bad; fault does not exist. Or if it does, it exists in such a fundamental way as to not matter. No reference here is being made to one’s mistakes or the reasons why one might be considered bad. Rather, the focus lies on the true aspects of one’s life. The pure goodness, the will to do good, the desire for connection. So now, if an anav has people’s attention, the anav does not consider ‘I am cool. I get people’s attention. People love me. I am worthy. I am amazing!’. The anav is aware only of the purpose why people are attentive. If it be words of wisdom, the anav respects the wisdom flowing from his mouth. Be it music, the anav appreciated the groove of the moment. Is it something else? The anav appreciates those qualities, but does not identify their self-worth with that. Their self-worth comes from something far deeper. It comes exactly where it should be coming from: the worth of the self comes from the self itself. Nothing else. 

This concept can be further expounded in many different areas to provide a more comprehensive understanding. But for now, just this nugget suffices; it explains the core of the concept. From here, we can extrapolate and deduce, learn and derive. The ikkar is to take it to heart and employ it in our action.

Good Shabbos.   

Pinchas

Pinchas. What an enigmatic character. Enigmatic, in the sense that he defied definition. Enigmatic, meaning that there is more to know about him than what the Torah explicitly states. Much has been passed down, through tradition, from generation to generation regarding Pinchas. And yet still, so little is known about him. So little is known about his true character, the man that lived behind the spear. The man that existed before slaying Zimri. The man that lived according to his principles. 

The first thing to note about Pinchas is his story, that short excerpt that appears briefly in the Torah, making his name known and remembered everafter. He took the spear in his hand, entered the tent of Zimri ben Salu, and slew him in the midst of his relation with Cuzbi bas Tzur. “And he took a spear in his hand” — these are the six words [of Shema Yisrael] (Zohar). Standing in the face of a young nation, a multitude born of chaos, half of whom feared G-d, while the other half seemed to have completely forgotten His Law, Pinchas was bound in his mind with the unity of G-d and feared nothing besides for Him. He took the spear in his hand and drove it through Zimri’s manhood, reaching straight to Cuzbi’s womb. Gruesome, for sure. Which makes one wonder: was Pinchas a bloodthirsty killer? Did he enjoy the opportunity to murder two individuals in the name of G-d and get away with it? 

Chas v’Sholom to say so. “And the L-rd spoke to Moshe, saying: Pinchas will be anointed as a priest before me, for he has saved my People by avenging my vengeance, and I will give him my covenant of peace” (paraphrased). The parsha that is named Pinchas, that is, the portion of Torah that is symbolized by Pinchas’ spiritual soul-root — for we know that all the names of the parshiyos in Torah came about meticulously by the Creator Himself (Shaloh) — does not talk about his act of vengeance, but rather about his character. The abovementioned incident was recorded in last week’s portion — Balak — a treacherous and twisted man. It was an unfortunate reality that Pinchas had to do what he did, but what he did was the right thing — although it might seem lotherwise. But this week’s parsha talks about what G-d saw. “For man sees to the eye; and G-d sees the inner heart” (Samuel I, somewhere). What G-d saw was “his covenant of peace”. Pinchas did what he had to do to keep and maintain the peace, for the sake of the people, and for the sake of the continuity of creation.We are living in turbulent times, there is no doubt about that. I lean away from political rhetoric and reject violence. The lesson from Pinchas does not mean that we have the right to maim, injure, or kill, G-d forbid. We must trust in G-d that all will be well. We have been promised, that if we do what is right in G-d’s eyes, then we will only receive good from him. What’s important for us to take away here, is that sometimes we have to step up to the plate when no one else will. When all the people are confounded and confused, lost and insecure, we must take the stand and act on what is right. Even Moshe Rabbeinu himself was at a loss to the situation at hand. Pinchas had a flash of inspiration and his leader told him  to run with it. We all have our Pinchas moments, moments when we know what is right to do, yet we are afraid to act out of fear of an uncertain backlash. Yet we can all take a spear in our hands — Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad. All outside conclusions will then dissipate, and only the truth will remain.

Sugar

Darius I, Persian Emperor

510 BCE

Over the past few months, our military campaigns have taken us deeper and deeper into the Vedic states which reside in these valleys.  The Indus valley is indeed a beautiful country. Along with this territorial prize, a wonderful discovery has been made. Some of my men have found a plant which produces something which when applied onto food, makes them sweet! It is amazing. We have found honey without the bees. But I shall make sure to keep the secret of this substance carefully kept. It will be exported and sold at a very high price. This way, the Empire can gain great profit from its discovery.

Muslim Caliph

642 CE

Now that G0d has aided us in our fight and helped to conquer the land of Persia, we have found something nice. The Persians have been growing a plant which produces a sweet substance in the form of white powder. This ingredient is used in many foods instead of honey as a sweetener. This is much easier and should be of use for all of those whom Allah has given to us to care for under our rulership. Indeed, it is being produced in all Muslim lands currently.

John Lenone, British Citizen, Resident of London

1099 CE

It has been some months since the pilgrims of the First Crusade have returned victorious from the Holy City of Jerusalem. Along with them they have brought a happily received item from the East. In my walking through the market streets I have been seeing notices for this new product. “Sugar: White Gold of the East.” Everybody prefers it to honey, but since it is expensive,and consumed only as a luxury.

Colombus

1493

We have imported sugar cane to the “New World” and it has been growing amazingly. The tropical climate of these lands has allowed a substantial amount of crops to grow. It seems that here in this primitive side of the world there are at home!

Government Press Release

1990

Sugar is now everywhere. We have lifted the tax on red sugar. We have reached earth. We wonder why we’re here.

 

 

A Day in the Wild

Through the tall grass of the Savannah plains, brown forms can be spotted. A pack of hyenas are on the prowl. Food has eluded them for days, and they are very hungry. Ahead of them a herd of gazelle is grazing. The pack moves closer, with the females in the lead. Suddenly, one leaps forward. All of the gazelle scatter. But the pack flanks one of the backtracking gazelle and bring it down by grabbing it by its hindquarters. Excitedly, the pack begins to feast. After several moments of joyful victory, one the feeding hyenas perks his ears. Danger is approaching. A lion nears. No, not a lion. nOt now, they all think. They tense up because they are afraid. One lion means more lions and lions are bad. But the pack has a tactic: they run about yipping and yapping circling the lion. Hopefully, the lion will flee and never return. Fortunately, it worked this time. With a yelp, the lion runs away, and the pack can continue feasting on their prey in peace.

Wheat, Now Also GMO

Mendel Groner

Professor Sassone

ENG 101

8 December, 2015
On Monday, the 7th of December, Monsanto announced their newest in the line of genetically modified organisms: wheat.

Titled MON 1738, this new category of wheat opens a plethora of options. The company can take out glutens from the wheat, making it much easier to produce gluten-free wheat products. Gluten free bread from before was grown with gluten, but is extracted from the flour. The company can also modify the nutritional content of the food, raising the protein level, or he amount of fiber. Many Americans do not get enough fiber and this could very much supplement one’s diet.

The company has been testing GMO wheat for the past decade and has been approved by the FDA over a decade ago, in 2004, but has refrained from publishing the product. Now, the company says, it is confident that the newly released organism will be widely received by laypeople and experts alike.

There has been obvious resistance to the company’s announcement. Groups of protesters stood outside Monsanto’s headquarters, in Missouri. They desire an “end to chemical poisoning” and “treacherous treating of plants.”

A conspiracy developed in the 80’s, when the company monopolized the genetically modified crop industry that Monsanto is part of a New World Order which will subdue and oporess people’s independency and free will through slowly and sneakily inserting long-acting chemicals into their bodies through their various chemical engineering techniques. No investigation after such claims has been made by any official group. As Monsanto continues to modify more and more staple foods, regular soccer moms are beginning to worry and find validation in these theories.

“I feed it to my children. It’s nutritious and tasty, and they love it,”  says Mary Granderson, mother of three in White Lake, Michigan. “But it worries me that these scientists are putting God knows what into these foods. Who even are they? Are they human? I don’t know. What they’re doing is extraordinary, so they may not be.”

Meanwhile Obama is allowing the country to wallow in confusion. “The FDA has approved the food; there is no reason to worry about extraterrestrial conspiracies,” said a White House spokesman in a press release this morning which was in response to growing public worry.

Although it seems outlandish, it is an illustration of the fact that people don’t know what is in their food and want to have clear answers.

 

Goodbye, Cereal

Dear Cereal,

Hello. How are you? It has been so long since we last saw each other. I used to pull you out of the cabinet at any time throughout the day and you were there to comfort me. I enjoyed so much your sweet sugary delight and wheat substance all awash in cold white milk. It would hit the spot, you know. But alas, the times have changed.

When I awake in the morning, I immediately set about preparing the making of an omelet. For some reason, only warm, hot food could satiate my hunger now. It is strange, but I feel that my innards have shifted and can no longer tolerate that which they could have some time ago.

How have you been faring? In the arms of whom have you been consoled in the event of my absence? Are there those who still eat you, cereal?

It feels so strange talking to you as a stranger; when in fact our bond was (I thought) eternal. It felt that way then. Indeed, the times have changed.

Perhaps its best that we leave things as they are. I’m sorry  for disrupting the silence which hath lain between us.

I wish you the best,

Mendel

Burnt: A Comparative Review

Mendel Groner

Professor Sassone

ENG 101

November 2015

The Passion of the Cuisine

The movie Burnt is about a highly-skilled but terribly tormented man who feels that he is not adding enough to the table. His redemption comes when he realizes that not only does he add to the table, but the table is set because of him. He sees how so many other people need him to sustain their inspiration and continue with their passion and lust for perfect cuisine. When he finds that out, he feels at peace with himself and others. He begin to see the value — nay, necessity — of teamwork in the kitchen, and in all monstrously difficult achievements, including drug addiction.

Bradley Cooper acts as Adam Jones, a harsh, perfectionist, short-tempered chef who has ruined his career due to drug use and destructive behavior. He appears ten years later in the city of London, aiming to open a restaurant which will attain three michelin stars — one of the highest forms of regard a restaurant can achieve. He recruits a team and a sponsor to open his restaurant, Adam Jones: The Langham. Some of his team are acquaintances from Paris, where he worked before his ten year interlude. Some are new fresh faces. One of them is Helene (Sienna Miller), a single mother in whom Adam saw true skill. Over the course of the story, a romance between the two blossoms.

First thing, I’d like to say which was most prominent of the movie’s flaws: too much screen time was invested in the relationship between Adam and Helene. It was unnecessary, because Jones’ liberation came about completely regardless of her presence. It feels like it was just put in the movie because the director thought it would be boring without a significant romance involved, or because the main plot isn’t substantial enough. The character’s distress had not begun with her and she didn’t end it; it began ten years earlier with his original kitchen crew, all under the supervision of master chef John Luke, Adam’s mentor and father figure. Adam has felt like he failed John by not acting ethically. John, who was everything to him, was — in his eyes — disapproving of him. That is not immediately clear in the beginning of the movie. It is gradually unraveled by the plot that that is the source of his current drive to make a new restaurant and keep away from drugs. But, when at a pivotal point in the film, he believes (wrongly) that he has failed at his mission, he relapses. This is showing that up until now, he was only suppressing his inclination to get high, because he still didn’t feel at peace; something was missing in his conscious and heart that was pushing him over the edge. Two events occur which radically change this. One, is that after his relapse, he ends up at the restaurant of his rival, Reece (Matthew Rhys). In seeing Adam’s plight, Reece explains how Adam is truly a much better chef than his peers, and he is the one who kept the spirit going when they were under John Luke. Shortly afterwards, Luke’s daughter, Anne Marie (Lily James) presents Adam with her father set of knives. She says, “He sharpened them before he died. He said, ‘Adam likes everything perfect.’” With this, Adam realizes how much he meant to the person who meant the most to him. He is calm in the kitchen now, and enjoys when the kitchen works as a team rather than in a oppressive frenzy. This entire development is very believable. In any case, one can see how the romance has nothing to do with Adam’s personal journey to redemption.

I have recently read Marcus Sammuelson’s autobiography titled “Yes, Chef.” In it, Sammuelson chronicles his journey from Ethiopia to France to New York and everything in between. One attempts to draw parallels between these two stories of two great chefs, one fictitious, and one real. Such an individual may find it difficult. In certain fundamental ways, the two perhaps share mutual ideas, but in character and behavior and even taste, Adam and Marcus differ. First, let’s start with the passion for the cuisine. In this, they are both equally ambitious. In one of the beginning scenes, Jones remarks “When I was 16, I took all the money I had in savings and spent it on a one-way ticket to Paris” (Burnt). He went to Paris to work in a restaurant for none or very little pay. Marcus early steps follow a similar path. He went from place to place, always with just enough money to get where he was headed.

Work ethic. Both marcus and Adams are hard workers. It seems that that is an inseparable part of being a chef. Too long hours, high pressure. But the two people deal with it in different ways. While Marcus says that no matter how high the pressure was, “I was always working with a sense of urgency, not panic” (189). Marcus mentions how, for years, he would vomit every day because of the pressure. He seemed, however, to deal with it in a very mature and admirable way. Jones, on the other hand, when in the kitchen is the angriest chef in the world. Practically every third word coming out of his mouth while directing the kitchen was a curse word. He is constantly worried and throwing finished dishes at the wall because he doesn’t believe that they’re good enough. He also had a serious drug problem in his former years. It is implied that this was due to the amount of pressure he felt to perform. In fact, at the culmination of the movie, when Adam is redeemed, he is calm and patient as chef.

 One of the emphases in Marcus’ ideas about food is the diversity of it. He wishes to veer from the traditional dishes and french ways of making certain foods, and wants to blend all the amazing flavors of all the different ethnicities which he’s seen and come to know. He wants to make something that has many cultures speaking in it as one. While the movie does not stress this idea about Jones’, it seems that this is what he wants too. There is a montage where he is travelling through different areas of London, tasting different exotic ingredients and foods and asking about them, reminiscent of Marcus’ travels through New York City. He also mentions how he “wants to make people have a culinary orgasm” (Burnt) and goes on to explain how he wants his food to blow people away. From all this it is derived that he too wishes to introduce something new to the history of fine dining, even while still retaining the tradition he had learnt in Paris years ago.

Overall, the tale of Adam Jones is very different from Marcus Samuelson’s story. Adam Jones is a broken man looking to be fixed, while Marcus is a hard worker who wants to prove his worth to himself and his loved ones. But the underlying current of the two is the passion of the cuisine. Like religious zealotry, it cannot be waived as unrelatable and ambitious blindness to outsiders attempting to understand the way of the Crusaders. This tenet is a unifying chain which is perhaps stronger than the distinctive individual plights of these two great chefs. So, in a way, “Yes, Chef” and “Burnt” are two in a series of “the passion of the cuisine”, and in another way, they are two separate stories about two separate quandaries which one can find his or herself trapped in.

 

Works Cited

Burnt. Dir. John Wells. Perf. Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller. The Weinstein Company, 2015. Film.

Samuelsson, Marcus. Yes, Chef: A Memoir. New York: Random House, 2012. Print.

 

Passover Pastime

Matzo Brie (pronounced bry).

The holiday of Passover lasts for eight days. Many strictly observant jews will not mix their matzo bread with water at all during the first seven days. The reason for this is because there is a collective worry that there may be some flour inside the small tiny bubbles of the matzo with which the water might mix. If that mix is put in the oven and bakes, the person will accidently have baked chametz — any dough and water baked together to the point where the dough rises — which is a tremendous transgession for a religious Jew on Passover. The eighth day of Passover is the day which G-d split the Red Sea for the Hebrews who had an angry horde of charioted and mounted Egyptians chasing them on their heels. Since on this day there was such a great revelation of G-d in this natural world by miraculously intervening, it is believed by modern-day Jews that on this day G-d will not allow there to be a Jew who makes chametz by mistake. Therefore, many Jews make a point to make dishes which mix matzo and water.

I hope that was clear and understandable.

One of the most famous ashkenazaic dishes which is made on that day is matzo brie. Matzo brie comes out as a pie with a moist and inflated texture. It is made by soaking matzo in water in the morning. The you drain it and add other ingredients — whether it be onions or sugar, to be explained shortly — and formed and put into the oven. When it comes out, people just can’t get enough of it. It’s delicious. I’m having a hard time describing to you what the food looks and tastes like.

In my house, matzo brie is served in two distinct ways. Sweet and salty. The sweet recipe comes from my maternal grandmother who is of Hungarian origin. In school, whenever cole slaw served, on of my friends would put on sugar. He explained that that is how his grandmother would make cole slaw — with a lot of sugar — and she comes from Hungary. I derived from this that Hungarian cuisine tends to stress thee sweet tooth.

The salty recipe comes from my father’s mother, who is Ukranian. A prominent part of Russian and Ukranian cuisine can definitely be said to be salt. This is an insight into the influences of different ethnic origins and national tastes, which were in turn influenced by the abundant produce of the country.

This is one of those dishes that will only taste good if it was made on the day which it is supposed to be made. Meaning, if in middle of December time, one were to make this dish, not only would it not as satisfactory, but it may not even be appealing. That doesn’t mean that the dish isn’t good, it’s just that is the way the world works. Some things only work in the right setting with the right people. That’s the beauty of the holidays. It provides a utopia of the right setting with the right people in middle of the year which is generally mundane, and for some more than others it can be the wrong setting with the wrong people more often than not. Holidays — one of the best ideas G-d gave us.