Did You Know...

• The first act of the first government
of Israel (the Provisional Council of
State) was to annul any restrictions
on Jewish immigration. In less than
12 months, 203,000 Jews from 42
countries settled in the state.

• Eliezer Ben-Yehudah, the
man responsible for mak-
ing modem Hebrew Israel's
national language, com-
posed a 17-volume He-
brew dictionary with 8,000 pages.

f

• Theodor Herzl wrote
that he worked on his pam-
w phlet DerJudenstaat (The
* Jewish State) while "walk
ing, standing, lying in the
street, at meals, at night,
when it drove me out of
sleep..." Upon its comple-,
tion, he sent a copy to a
friend who pleaded with
* him not to publish it. After
reading DerJudenstaat the
friend feared Herzl had gone
insane.

THE APPLETREE

• Thanks to President Harry Tru-
man, the United States recognized
the State of Israel 11 minutes after
its declaration of independence, be-
coming the first country to do so.
(Interestingly, the State Department
was vehemently opposed to the
president's decision). One year lat-
er, the chief rabbi of Israel visited
Truman and told him, "God put
you in your mother's womb so that
you could be the instrument to
bring about the rebirth of Is-
rael
after 2,000 years" -- a
• Soon after Israel declared indepen-
statement that moved the
dence, a young woman named Golda
president
to tears.
Meir disguised herself as an Arab and
snuck into Transjordan. Her mission
was to meet with King Abdul-
lah and learn whether he
• Because of Chaim Weizmann,
would keep his promise not to
Britain became the first country to en-
attack Israel. The king did not;
dorse Zionism, in the now-famous
days after Meir's visit, Tran-
Balfour Declaration. In addition to be-
sjordan joined with other Arab
ing a tireless worker on behalf of the
nations in their effort to destroy
Jewish state, Weizmann was a man
the new state.
with a sense of humot To be a Zion-

on

LU

ist it is not absolutely necessary to be
mad," he said. "But it helps."

• The words to "Hatikvah," Israel's national anthem, were writ-
ten by Naphtali Herz Imber in the late 1870s. The original lyrics
read, "Our hope is not yet lost; the age-old hope. To return to the
land of our fathers, to the city where David dwelt." Today they
say, "Our hope is not yet lost; the hope of 2,000 years. To be a
free people in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem." The ear-
best version of the song was published in Germany in 1895.

Make Your Cake
And Eat It, Too

CAKE OF
MILK AND HONEY

surface; add a bit more flour if necessary.
Knead until smooth and elastic (5-10 min-
utes). Rinse the bowl with warm water;
dry and grease it Place the dough in the
greased bowl, turning to grease all the sur-
faces. Cover with a damp cloth and let it
rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk
(about one hour).
Punch the dough down and turn it out
onto a lightly floured surface. Form it into a

Dough:
1/4 cup milk
114 cup sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
114 stick margarine or butter
114 cup warm water
1 packet (1 /4 ounce) active dry yeast
1 egg, beaten
2 114 cups flour, unsifted
Here'sa

Glaze:
1/8 cup sugar
114 cup honey
1 Tbsp. margarine

Filling:
1 pkg. vanilla pudding
(not instant)
1 cup milk
114 cup heavy cream,
whipped
11 8 tsp. almond extract
11 3 cup slivered toasted
almonds,
plus 12-18
whole
almonds
for
decoration

B rea recipe
reci
pe f or a

special treat perfect for

Israel Independence Day.

It comes from artist and

author Mae Rockland Tupa.

First prepare the dough.
Scald the milk; remove it
from the heat and stir in the sug-
ar, salt and margarine. Sprinkle the
yeast into warm water in a large
warm bowl. When the milk mixture
has cooled to lukewarm, stir it into the
yeast. Add the egg and half the flour. Beat
well until smooth. Stir in the rest of the
flour to make a stiff dough.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured

smooth ball and place it in a
greased 9-inch layer-cake pan.
Spread evenly. Cover
and let it rise again in a
warm place until dou-
bled in bulk (about
one hour).
While the
cake is rising for
the second time,
make and cool the fill-
ing. Combine pudding and
milk in a saucepan (it's half the
amount called for on the package).
Cook over medium heat, stirring con-
stantly, until the pudding begins to bub-
ble. Remove from heat; cool. Fold the
whipped cream, almond extract and al-
monds into the cooled pudding.
To make the glaze, combine the sugar,
honey and margarine in a saucepan. Bring

This recipe first appeared in The Jewish Party Book (Schocken, 1978). Reprinted with permis-
sion. Mae Rockland Tupa is principal of Metatron Designs, an art/craft/design studio that
produces fabric-art pieces. Her other books include The New Work of Our Hands: Contem-
porary Needlework and Quilts, The New Jewish Yellow Pages and The Hanukkah Book