70 REVISTA DE ETNOLOGIE ŞI CULTUROLOGIE Volumul XVI

Irina SHIHOVA

JEWISH FOOD TRADITIONS IN BESSARABIA

Traditional cuisine is a very important part of the 613 mitzvot (commandments, taken from Torah, Jewish self-identiication. It feeded the Jewish people beginning with the First one: Be Fruitful And Multi- not only literally, but symbolically as well, separating ply, Gen. 1:28), talmudic and rabbinic laws and com- it from their neighbours. mentaries, and the customs and traditions compiled Speaking about traditional Bessarabian Jewish in “Shulchan Aruch”, Code of Jewish Law. meal, we should understand few basic things. First Generally, implies dividing everything of all, Bessarabian Jewish cuisine, as any traditional edible to prohibited and non-prohibited. Strictly for- Jewish cuisine, combines general food requirements, bidden are, for example, pork, shellish etc. he di- common for all over the world, and regional viding to permitted and non-permitted is biological- speciics of the local food customs. ly, “taxonomically” justiied: for example, allowed are Jewish food requirements, known as kashrut, mammals, that both chew the cud and have cloven are rather simple generally, but complicated in de- hooves. hus, pork is restricted, as pigs don’t chew tails. Kashrut is an important part of halakha, a col- the cud (while having cloven hooves). Between birds lective body of Jewish religious laws derived from are restricted birds of prey and scavengers; between the Written Torah (Scriptures itself) and Oral To- water animals – those that do not have both ins and rah (corpus of commentaries), a kind of Jewish cus- scales; reptiles, amphibians and insects are all forbid- tomary law, but much more strictly codiicated and den, except a particular type of locust and bee honey. mostly recorded in writing. It includes, irst of all, In its turn, allowed is allowed conditionally. All ЖУРНАЛ ЭТНОЛОГИИ И КУЛЬТУРОЛОГИИ Том XVI 71 permitted food is divided into three larger classes: and pickles are all German foods eaten by the Jews of basar (meat), halav (milk) and pareve (everything Germany and passed on to later generations in East- else: ish, vegetables, bread, eggs etc.). he general ern Europe. law is not to mix meat and milk (nor their products) Once the Jews arrived in Poland and Russia, they nor in eating, neither in the process of cooking. built upon this German foundation and adopted local he most complicated laws are devoted to meat food customs. Because of the harsh winter climate of meal (that’s why a Jew, who keeps Kosher, that found this area, Polish and Russian Jews ate a lot of grains, himself outside of the Jewish community with institu- root vegetables, and stews. Fruit was readily available, tions, providing kosher meal, has to become vegetar- and it was used in almost everything, including soups ian – that ensures at least “kosher style”). First of all, and sauces. Perhaps the most famous “Jewish” food the animal (the requirement applies to allowed mam- of all, , also originated in Poland. he Jews of mals and birds) should be slaughtered according to a Poland had a communal sweet tooth, and they added process known as shechita by a special person, called sugar to vegetable dishes and ish. Sweet geilte ish shochet (or shoychet in Yiddish pronunciation). with beet-sweetened horseradish, chrain, originated hen, the meat meal shouldn’t contain any traces of in Poland. Whereas the Polish Jews used a lot of sugar, blood (this is explained with symbolical relationship the Russian Jews opted for peppered and sour foods. between blood and life spirit). By the way, this item is he Jews of medieval Europe were active mer- the most powerful argument against blood libel: the chants, and they oten came into contact with Jews meal, even ordinary, becomes uncosher with at least from other regions. hrough these meetings, foreign a drop of blood – not speaking about Pessakh (Pass- elements entered Jewish cooking. , though over) meal, that implies special requires to Kashrut, not widely eaten in the general German population, and about human sacriice, that is forbidden in Jew- became a staple of German Jewish cooking ater be- ish law from Bible times (in fact, the biblical story ing introduced by German Jewish merchants who of Akeda, sacriice of Isaac, is the story of the pro- had traveled to Italy. hibition of human sacriice for all further times). In In the Middles Ages, Jewish dietary laws were order to deprive meat of any blood traces, it has to be strictly observed, re-enforced by logistics and com- thoroughly soaked, salted out and roasted. munal pressure. Most shtetl Jews did not have private In reality, keeping Kashrut difers from commu- cooking facilities. Each community had a communal nity to community: the required time between eat- cooking house, baking house, and slaughterhouse. ing basar and halav may vary from 2 to 6 hours; the he cooking and baking areas had separate sections most orthodox Jews don’t eat meat together with ish, for meat and dairy. he dietary laws were also respon- while conservatives do, and so on. sible for pushing Jews into the food trade. Jews had On the other hand, we should keep in mind, that to produce their own foods because the preparation so called “Jewish traditional cuisine” had taken shape of kosher food must be supervised by Jews. In addi- in the two thousand years long process of Galut – tion, wine produced by gentiles was also of-limits to Jewish Diaspora. hus, there is no “Jewish cuisine” as Jews, and so Jews had their own vineyards. Some lo- a single staf, there is a complex of sub-ethnical meal cal governments encouraged these food production traditions – just as, more generally, there is no single and trading activities. Many Jews living in the Polish “Jewish culture”, but a complex of sub-ethnical cul- provinces managed the agricultural lands of the Pol- tures, with their relationship, interdependencies and ish nobility. In exchange, the Jews were given lour mutual inluences. mills, dairy production facilities, and exclusive rights For the most part, the Jews of Eastern Europe to produce certain alcoholic beverages. were poor, and so the Jews who lived in the shtetls of he Jews of Eastern Europe had special eating this region ate peasant food. habits for Friday night and Saturday, the Shabbath he exact type of peasant food relected a num- (Shabes, Shobes). he Friday night meal was the ber of factors: geography and geographical shits, the most luxurious of the week. A typical meal might unique international nature of the Jewish commu- include sweet and sour ish, chopped goose liver, nity, and, of course, the Jewish dietary laws. pickled meat, and (a sweet pudding). Early in the Middle Ages, most Jews living on Braided bread would be served as well. On the European continent lived in Western Europe, Saturday, – a slow-cooked meal made from particularly in Germany. In the thirteenth century, meats, grains, and beans – would be served along however, the Germans became more antagonistic to with cold let-overs from the night before. the Jews, and many Jews headed eastward to Poland Emancipation changed the social and economic and Russia. he foods of Polish and Russian Jewry position of European Jewry, and that afected Jewish relect this German base. Horseradish, rye bread, eating as well. Ashkenazi food, which had until this 72 REVISTA DE ETNOLOGIE ŞI CULTUROLOGIE Volumul XVI point been peasant food, became more reined in cer- (melted goose or chicken fat with fried onion); tzimes tain places. Austria-Hungary, with its large assimilat- (sweet dish based on steamed vegetables and honey), ed, middle-class Jewish population, developed a range shtrudl (sweet roll); and, at the same time, is famous of well-made doughy products and pastries, and the with its salads and stewed vegetables. Jews there began cooking with wine and paprika. he Bessarabian Jewish cuisine represents a Literature southern sub-type of traditional for European Jewry Shulchan Aruch, Yorekh De’ah. Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906. Article “Dietary Laws” Ashkenazi cuisine. he hearty cuisine of Ashkenazi (quoted ater http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/ Jews was based on centuries of living in the cold cli- articles/5191-dietary-laws). mate of Central and Eastern Europe, whereas the Похлебкин В. В. Национальные кухни наших на- lighter, “sunnier” cuisine of Sephardic Jews was af- родов. М.: Центрполиграф, 1978. fected by life in the Mediterranean region. he most “classical” Ashkenazi cuisine is pre- Rezumat Articolul dat este consacrat tradiţiilor de alimentare sented by Central-European Jewish cuisine: Ger- ale evreilor basarabeni, care au fost impuse de legea evre- man, Polish, Belorussian and so on. In comparison iască dietetică (kashrut) dar, în același timp, manifestă with this “classic” Ashkenazi cuisine, the Bessarabian specific local, manifestându-se ca varianta de Sud a buca- Jewish meal is in some case on half-way to Sephardic tariei Ashkenazi. one. hat can be explained either by typological rea- Cuvinte-cheie: evrei basarabeni, obiceiuri alimenta- sons (Moldova’s geographical position and climate re, kashrut, Ashkenazi. conditions determine the meal structure), or by Резюме Sephardic inluence (Sephardic communities were Статья посвящена бессарабским еврейским тра- rather powerful for centuries on this territory); and дициям питания, которые продиктованы соблюде- most likely – both. hus, Bessarabian Jewish cuisine нием кашрута и в то же время отличаются местной traditionally had such “northern” Ashkenazi dishes, спецификой, демонстрируя южный вариант традици- as forshmack (chopped hering with butter); lotkes онной ашкеназской культуры. Ключевые слова: бессарабские евреи, традиции (potato pancakes), youkh (chicken soup), usually питания, кашрут, ашкенази. with mondalekh (kroutons), kreplakh (dumplings) or kneidlakh (matsoballs); helzale (stufed chicken); Summary essig leish (meat in acid-sweet tomato sauce); geilte he article it devoted to the Bessarabian Jewish food ish (stufed ish); varnitchkes (pasta with buckwheat traditions, which grow from Jewish Dietary Law (kashrut) and at the same time demonstrate local speciics: South- and fried onion); kigel (pudding, e.g. motsekigel from ern variant of European traditional Ashkenazi cuisine. motsemehl); lokshn (noodles, home pasta); shmaltz Key words: Bessarabian Jewish, food, kashrut, Ashke- nazi.