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Harvard Row Mall Southfield, Ml 48076 Hours: Mon.-Sat. 10-5 Free Professional Measure at No Obligation Free in Home Design Consulting New Rochester Hills 651-5009 352-8622 EL ei : j , , • Call The Sales Department (810) 354-7123 Ext. 209 Advertise in our new Entertainment Section! DETROIT THE JEWISH NEWS Q: As a child I was madly in love with the Bowery Boys, also known as the Dead End Kids. I always thought that Huntz Hall was Jew- ish, but a friend told me that's not the case. Surely at least one of them was Jewish, or at least had a Jewish connection? A: Yes, thank goodness, there is indeed a Jewish con- nection to the Kids. Though your friend was right — it has nothing to do with Huntz Hall. The Dead End Kids, who ap- peared in several films before going on to become the Bowery Boys of TV fame, included Leo Gorcey, Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Gabriel Dell and Bernard Punsley. The tough-talking Gorcey, who starred as "Spit" with the Dead End Kids and as "Slip Ma- hone? with the Bowery Boys, was the son of a gentile moth- er and a Jewish father, Bernard Gorcey. Gorcey senior was a comedian who appeared as "Louis Dombrowski" in a number of the Bowery Boys films. Leo Gorcey died in 1969. Q: Perhaps you can clear up a debate I had with a friend regard- ing Jewish foods. She contends that the traditional foods we eat were brought to various countries by Jews and then mainstreamed by the general population — for example, sour cream and borscht in Russia. My contention is that when we left the Middle East and settled throughout the world, we adapted by adopting foods which eventually came to be viewed as traditionally Jewish. From a purist's point of view, wouldn't Middle Eastern food be what Jews ate before leaving Egypt, as opposed to gefilte fish? From reader B.G. in Farming- ton Hills A: You are ab- solutely right to point out that despite the popularity of gefilte fish and bagels, Jewish food originally was Middle Eastern, because that's where the Jew- ish people started out. The rest of your question is more difficult to answer. There's no doubt that Jews brought their own style of cooking and food preferences with them when they went into exile. But it would be im- possible to say exactly which dishes Jews invented because, of course, no ancient cookbooks are around today, if they ever existed in the first place. The Talmud and other Jew- ish writings of the time men- tion food only in passing — except as the subject of dietary laws. Because of kashrut, we know that Jews had foods and methods of preparing food that were peculiar to them. Probably the most famous Jewish food is matzah, the bread of Pesach which is noth- ing more than flour and water. Does the fact that unleavened bread also is known among other peoples, primarily pas- toral nomads, mean that it did not originate with Jews? There is no reason why unleavened bread could not have developed independently in separate cul- tures. Another famous Jewish food is cholent, a dish unique to Jews because of the laws re garding cooking on - Shabbat. (Non-Ashkenazi Jews call it chamin.) In this case, also, there are other peoples who use methods of slow cooking, and it seems likely that vari- ous groups came up with the concept independently. You mention sour cream and borsht (the most common type is made from beets). Sour cream is an extremely popular food in Eastern Europe. At the same time, we know that many peoples throughout the world have some native type of soured or cultured milk product. The Torah, in parashat Vayera (Genesis 18:8), mentions such a food. The beet is the cultivated form of the plant Beta vulgaris, a native of Mediter- ran.ean. lands. Did the Jews bring sour cream and bor- sht to Eastern Europe, or did we learn this dish from the Russians? Without con- clusive archaeological evi- dence, it is impossible to say. We know that Jews have adapted some foods. For ex- ample, noodle kugel did not originate in ancient Israel. Noodles did not come to be known, at least in Europe, un- til the 1300s. Apparently, pas- ta was invented in China and brought to the attention of the West by the 13th-century trav- eler Marco Polo. Likewise, potato kugel could not have come into being had not the voyages of Christopher Columbus in the 16th century brought back to Europe sam- ples of the native American tu- ber. Q: I know that Brian Epstein was most famous as manager of the Beatles, but was that the only group whose rise to fame he helped engineer? A: In fact, Epstein managed a number of performers, most of whom never found real suc- cess (does anyone remember Billy J. Kramer and the Dako- tas or Cilia Black?). But he was behind two popular groups from the '50s and '60s, Gerry and the Pacemakers and the Zombies (remember "Time of the Season"?). Epstein ended his own life with an overdose of sleeping pills in August 1967. - Q: If a nursing mother consumes treife, does that make her breast milk treife, too? From reader M.D. in Baltimore A: At first glance you might wonder, could this actually be it, the one question the rabbis nev- er debated, never even thought of? The answer, in a word: No. In fact, you'll find halachic opinions on both sides of the is- sue, though Rabbi Steven Weil of Young Israel says this is not one of those topics on which minori- ty opinion carries much weight. So, if you eat something that's not kosher does that mean your breast milk is affected? "The prevalent opinion is ab- solutely not," Rabbi Weil said. In fact, he cited an incident in your own home town in which a num- ber of Jewish women learned they had inadvertently consumed treife food, then turned to the city's rabbis to inquire whether this meant they should stop nurs- ing their children. The rabbis agreed unanimously they should Send questions to Tell Me Why, The Jewish News, 27676 Franklin Road, Southfield, MI 48034, or fax to (810) 354-6069. All letters must be signed and in- clude the writer's address. Ques- tions answered in the column will feature only the writer's initials and city of residence.