Hey
Kids!
shawl) on me. This was not tradi-
tional, but clearly it was the welcome
of Sephardi hospitality. I was there
to learn. And so they would help me
word-by-word to read the siddur
[Hebrew prayer book], and the kids
got to know me, and I started teach-
ing and then they took me to the
mikvah — it was beautiful. I got the
candy thrown at me, the rosewater,
the whole deal at the age of 25. And,
in the process, I learned a lot about
Sephardi and Mizrachi food traditions
— in addition to what I already knew
about traditional European food.”
ON MAKING HUMMUS
AND PEACE IN ISRAEL
“If you really want to make peace,
never make your own hummus with
Israelis and Palestinians. Because they
are going to argue with you about
their own recipe every step of the
way!”
Twitty added, “I held a cooking class
at Abraham Hostel and it was very
funny: I had on one side of the room
Israeli Arabs and Palestinians and on
the other side Jews! Israeli Jews.
“I look at them, and I see they’re
ready for me to start something.
And so, Orthodox Jewish guy and
Palestinian guy both get up at the
exact same time and ask the exact
same question: ‘Tell me, who does
hummus belong to?’
“So I look around the room. I wait;
10 seconds go by. There were people
in the hospitals at the other side of
Jerusalem, waiting to see HaShem —
their ears are burning in anticipation
for what I am about to say! There
are people on the other side of east
Jerusalem — they have sounded the
horns at the mosques to hear what
I’m about to say. The entire Kotel has
stopped praying … because they all
want to hear the answer. Who owns
hummus?
“And I look at the anxious faces
in the room and I say, ‘Is hummus
Jewish?’
‘Yes!’
“And half the room grumbles.
“Is hummus Arab?
‘Yes!’
“There’s a yay and more grumbles
from the other half of the room.
“Does hummus belong to either of
you?
“Yes!”
‘Huh?’
“And no!
“I say to them, ‘No. Hummus
belongs to a Mesopotamian woman
— neither Jewish, nor Muslim —
who had hungry kids. And she had
some chickpeas and some garlic. She
Sponsored by
Get your art supplies out and
gather your favorite colors.
It's the annual
Chanukah
Cover
Art Contest!
“You know the
stupidest thing
you could
ever do? Go to
Jerusalem and
try to teach
Israelis and
Palestinians
how you make
hummus!”
— Michael Twitty
mashed them together and said, here,
eat!’
“‘That’s how hummus started. And
because you are her children — you
are her mishpachah [family] — hum-
mus brings you together more than it
separates you. That’s how this works.’
“And with that, I got a round of
applause. And then, there was quiet
and, in peaceful accord, they started
mingling, sitting with each other.
That taught me something else about
hummus: If you really want to make
peace, never make your own hummus
with Israelis and Palestinians. Because
they are going to argue with you about
their own recipe every step of the
way!”
*
For more on Michael Twitty, visit
onlineafroculinaria.com and
theweiserkitchen.com; Michael W.
Twitty on Facebook or @Koshersoul on
Twitter.
Vivian Henoch is editor of My Jewish Detroit,
where this story first appeared.
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November 10 • 2016 35