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01. 1,
for openers
o ve Guid e A,
Something All My
Own: Eggplant
y
ou know what's exciting? When
the next one says, "That's supposed to
you discover you really like
be square? I'll just even it out;" and the
a new food you've previously
next one comes along and says, "That's
never even bothered tasting and then
not even! Here, I'll help."
— even better! — it turns out you're
Between their "help" and the oth-
the only one in your house who actually
ers who "just pick at the crumbs," by
likes it!
the time you come back, the
It's wonderful. You buy a large
pan is completely empty and
container of, in my case, baba
there's just a faint whiff of
ganoush, and ta-da — it's there
chocolate in the air that leaves
every time you open the fridge,
you with a longing that no
just sitting there, smiling at you.
amount of eggplant can satisfy.
My teenage son says eggplant
You see, you can't just leave
is overrated. I say the only thing
chocolate-anything out and
that's overrated is eating too
about, not if you ever want to
Roche I Burstyn
much. (If you didn't get that,
see it again. If you have a fam-
read it aloud, slower this time ...
ily of chocoholics, you learn
over-ated is eating too much. Oh,
to come up with clever hiding
dear. Corny. But there ya go!)
spots. One idea, for example,
Anyhow, really, it's uncanny; I can
is to hide your favorite ice cream in a
never find any other object — shoes,
scrunched up grocery bag and give it an
keys, pens — but the eggplant is always
unappealing label before you tuck it in
exactly where it's supposed to be.
the freezer behind the frozen chicken.
It's so different from the freshly baked "Twice reheated meatloaf leftovers" or
brownies you might leave cooling on
"slimy old fish with the eyeball still in
the counter. One hungry person comes
it, which, by the way, is totally staring
along and has just one teeny-tiny piece,
at you"
and then the next one comes along and
But you have to be careful. Some
says, "Oh, look, someone cut a corner;
labels will just make the person rum-
I'll just make the cake square." Then
maging in the freezer curious. "Oooh
.')
an eyeball? Maybe I could put it on my
brother's pillow." And then that's the end
of your evening bonding session with
your favorite Ben & Jerry's.
Every family has its favorite foods,
the tried-and-true recipes, the weird
foodie habits and stories. I know a
mother who was horrified to dis-
cover a hard little lump on her young
daughter's shoulder. She rushed her to
the doctor, who solemnly studied the
lump with a magnifying glass, prod-
ded it and then, with much ceremony,
removed the stale chewing gum.
Pastafarians take the cake though.
They celebrate Pastover and Ramendan
and have customs up their sieves like
wearing pasta strainers on their heads
in their legal ID pictures. (Imagine
what happens when they get pulled
over. The cop says, "Drinking and driv-
ing? I mean, use your noodle!")
With a month of Jewish holidays
coming up, many of us are thinking
about food — what to cook, what to
freeze, how to please so many differ-
ent palates, how to not gain too much
weight and how to keep costs down. I
say: Let them eat eggplant. *
I was very happy the IN carried an
article by Darrien Sherman about Camp
Ramah Yahad/Ukraine and the won-
derful group of Ramah U.S. counselors
working there this summer ("Ramah
Magic:' Sept. 8, page 34).
The most significant funder of this
camp for the past 24 years has been the
Ben Teitel Charitable Trust, whose trust-
ee is Jerry Cook of Farmington Hills.
We are incredibly grateful to Jerry for
all that he has done for Camp Ramah
Yachad/Ukraine in memory of his
dear uncle and aunt Ben and Harriett
(Mendelson) Teitel.
The 135 Ukrainian Jewish camp-
ers this summer came from Kiev,
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letters
Camp In Ukraine
Inspires Judaism
FIGHT
Chernowitz, Berdichev, Kharkov,
Odessa, Uzhgorod, Chust and
Munkatch. Some had recently fled
homes in and near Donetsk due to the
invasion by Russian troops.
More than 1,000 children and parents
from Camp Ramah Yahad and our other
programs in Ukraine have made aliyah
and are living in Israel. It is clear that our
programs, which emphasize Hebrew and
Zionism, inspired them to make aliyah.
We need financial help to continue
the camp as is. With enough funding,
we could extend the camp from its lim-
ited session of 10 days, accommodate
more campers (we turn away campers
every summer) and expand the Ramah
Family Camp for parents and younger
children.
You can donate via Paypal at www.
schechter.edu or mail a tax-deductible
check to the Schechter Institutes Inc.,
P.O. Box 8500, Philadelphia, PA 19178-
3566.
Please earmark your gift for "Camp
Ramah Ukraine"
Rabbi Professor David Golinkin, president
The Schechter Institutes, Inc.
Jerusalem
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