SC - Medieval Hanukah/Purim

[Seton1355 at aol.com]

Snip.....In the book "Eat and be Satisfied" by John Cooper
(ISBN0-87668-316-2), there is a whole chapter talking about Sabbath and
Festival food in the Middle
Ages.  This is what it says about Hanukah and Purim:

"In the 14th century the Maharil mentioned that it was the custom to eat a
honey cake on Purim, and a century later we have evidence that the Austrian
Jews ate kreplekh on Purim and kremzlekh on holidays such as Passover.
Hayyim Schauss, following Moritz Steinschneider, assumed that the German
Jews had borrowed the custom of eating kreplekh on Purim from their Gentile
neighbors, who celebrated Shrove Tuesday, which occurred at the same time of
the year, by consuming pancakes that were similar.  Schauss further pointed
out that the beating and noise made on Purim in the synagogue when Haman's
name was mentioned was originally connected with an attempt to frighten
evile spirits at this time of the year, when winter changed into spring.
Hence the custom of eating kreplekh, boiled dumplings stuffed with meat that
had been chopped and "beaten." Although the custom of eating cheese dishes
on Hanukkah can be traced to the story of Judith, an Israelite heroine in
the Apocrypha who gave the enemy general Holofernes milk to dreink before
assassinating him, this practice of eating cheese delicacies did not become
popular until the Middle Ages, when it was referred to with approval by
Rabbi Nissim ben Reuben in the 14th century.  Kalonymos ben Kalonymos
(1287-1377) also stated that special cakes were eaten on Hanukkah, and he
wrote a poem for the festival extolling the merits of eating pancakes that
wree fried in oil. Throughout Europe and the Middle East, Jews ate these
pancakes to commemorate the miracle of the lights that burned for eight days
in the Temple, although there was a supply of oil sufficient for only one
day"

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