ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
Assistant Editor
T
he key is in the
planning and or-
ganizing. An inven-
tory early in the week.
Detailed lists. Easy recipes.
Another list. Disposable
Just before Shabbat
pans. More lists.
begins, Michael
Baila Jacobovitz is the
Traison arrives home
mother of seven, active at
with flowers for his
Machon L'Torah and
wife, Datia.
regularly feeds an army
every Shabbat. Twenty, 30
guests are not unusual.
Michael and Datia
Traison of West Bloomfield
both work full-time. He is a
lawyer; she is a teacher.
They have three children.
Their Shabbat prepara-
tions are as organized as an
automobile assembly line.
She does the grocery shopp-
ing. He goes to the bakery.
She does the cooking. He
sets the table.
Goldie Silverstein is co-
principal of the elementary
division at Bais Yaakov
and the mother of six. Her
Shabbat preparations
begin on Monday and
sometimes mean getting
up in the middle of the
night.
Every week, Jewish
families throughout
Detroit sit down to Shabbat
meals. For the Silversteins,
the Jacobovitzes and the
Traisons, it is the nicest
time of the week.
"It is the one day every-
body in the family is
together, when we know
nothing will interrupt,"
Mrs. Traison said. "It's our
island in the week."
But first, the grit.
Shabbat means a great
deal of preparation because
Halachah (Jewish law) for-
': bids cooking or cleaning
sP-c that day. There's no get-
ting up Saturday morning
and fixing a kugel, no last-
if- minute vacuuming before
II
company comes. Every-
thing must be done in ad-
vance. That can be a
challenge for parents with
full-time jobs, with chil-
dren, with numerous vol-
unteer obligations.
For Mrs. Traison, the
first step is planning the
menus. A Friday night
regular is chicken, usually
cooked in sauce to keep it
moist.
"One quick and simple
recipe is to marinate
chicken breasts overnight
in soy sauce, then cover
them with syrup — yes,
Mrs. Traison also
prepares plenty of
salads "with
everything except
celery because
nobody likes celery
in salads."
pancake syrup — and coat
them with sesame seeds.
Cook them at 350 degrees
for an hour."
"Delicious," her husband
says.
Another Traison family
favorite: chicken coated
with a paste of water, ins-
tant chicken soup mix,
paprika and garlic, also
cooked for an hour at 350
degrees.
"And I do a lot of gar-
nishes: olives, parsley,
mandarin orange slices. A
good presentation is as im-
portant as good taste,"
Mrs. Traison says.
Mrs. Traison also
prepares plenty of salads
"with everything except
celery because nobody likes
celery in salads," and a
kugel of medium noodles,
eggs, brown sugar, white
raisins, applesauce and
cinnamon. On the rare oc-
casions the family has a
milchig meal — Mr.
Traison is definitely a
fleishig man — she fixes a
"sinful kugel with every
fattening cheese you can
think of."
After the planning comes
the grocery shopping, then
the cooking, which Mrs=.
Traison does on Thursday
night in the winter (when
Shabbat can start as early
as 4:44 p.m.) and on Friday
afternoon in the summer.
She makes everything
from scratch: chicken soup,
kugels, salads, brownies.
"But oh, all right, I
sometimes use gefilte fish
from the jar," she admits.
She also sticks with fa-
miliar dishes because "my
family loves consistency.
Every now and then I'll try
something new, but I'm
always told when I get too
adventurous."
All that's left for Friday
evening is warming up the
food and burning it to an
appropriate degree.
"My husband likes his
food like k orb anot
(sacrifices in the Temple) —
almost burnt," Mrs.
Triason explains.
Mr. Traison's work,
meanwhile, begins on
Thursday evening, when
he sets the dining room
table, which is never
covered with one of those
plastic tablecloth protec-
tors. Mrs. Triason winces
at the very thought.
"No plastic, no paper
plates," she says. "We use
the china and cloth
napkins on Shabbat. But I
do use disposable pans, es-
pecially for things in the
oven. I don't know if I could
live without those."