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10 HASHALOM March
2017
March 2017
HASHALOM
11
Do you bant? Half the world seems to be doing it at the moment.
This trend – recently popularized by SA’s very own Tim Noakes
but first conceived in 1861 by London surgeon William Harvey and
his patient William Banting, from whom the diet got its name – has
taken modern society by storm. Low carb, high fat “banting-friendly”
products are popping up in major stores and cafes (many sporting
a kosher stamp).
People are shunning bread and carbs like the last leper who missed
the boat to the colony. But I’m not jumping on the bant-wagon. To
me there seems something distinctly irregular about the whole
approach – it goes against the grain, if you will.
Perhaps it’s my ethnic heritage that protests too much, methinks.
How can a Jew refuse bagels
shmeered
with cream cheese? Or
warm pita enfolding crispy falafel? Or (the authoress of this column
notes pointedly)
bubkes
? Perhaps most astonishingly, how can a
Jew eschew sweet, fluffy, mouth-watering challah? How can you
have
Shabbat
or
Yom Tov
without it?
Let’s quickly get one thing out of
the way: those with actual medical
conditions are not required to eat
bread or anything else that will make
them ill (so Coeliacs, Crohn’s cases
and other gluten-intolerants, you’re
off the hook). That aside, though,
Jews traditionally eat bread on
Shabbat, chaggim
and festive
occasions – it’s what elevates a meal from a purely physical act of
sustenance to a
seudah
, a joyful feast that feeds the soul as well
as the body.
But how did bread come to have this status? It doesn’t even come
from God, but from mere mortal hands. Before the advent of bread,
Hashem
provided us ample food: not just the grapes, figs, dates
and pomegranates of the bible, but depending on your locale, you
could simply grab an apple, a tomato or cucumber, banana, sweet
pepper or mango. A salad is certainly a less complicated affair than
making bread.
And yet someone once looked at stalks of wheat growing in a
field and said, “You know, that doesn’t look so appetizing. But
maybe if we pull off the little bits on the top, peel them, dry them
out, grind them into a powder, mix it with water and perhaps
some yeast and salt, knead it, leave it alone for a few hours to
rise and then stick it on the fire – now
that
could be yummy!”
But I oversimplify. (Sorry.) Of course there’s more to it. It wasn’t
some clever-clogs agricultural scientist of yore who just decided
to experiment with the roadside crop. The concept of bread comes
directly from heaven. No sooner had
Hashem
created man and
woman and they had exhibited their infamous naughtiness with
the forbidden fruit, did He condemn them to mortal connection
with the earth. In the same verse (Genesis 3:19), He makes the
first mention of bread in the Torah: “By the sweat of your brow shall
you eat bread until you return to the ground from which you were
taken.” (Presumably, between verses, He gave them the recipe.)
So what’s the
chup
? You ate from the wrong tree, so now you will
work hard, you’ll eat bread, and you’ll die. Sounds kind of punitive,
but there’s a divine logic to it, especially when you examine the
role of the bread in all this.
Hashem
is perfect. The angels are perfect. When
Mashiach
comes, the world will be perfect. But we’re not. And while we’re
living in this imperfect world, it’s our spiritual duty to try to improve
it. In this, God’s giving us the chance to elevate ourselves back to
the level of Eden (or pretty close).
As long as we are mortal, we will toil and eat bread. And it’s the
toiling that’s involved that makes bread so special. You see,
we’re not just relying on
Hashem
(like we did with manna in the
desert, and like we do to a certain extent even today with fruits
and vegetables), but using His gifts to partner with him in creation.
We have to work “by the sweat of our brow” to plant, harvest,
grind, knead and bake the wheat,
but we can’t do it without
Hashem’s
blessing (Drought? Poor soil?
Bug plagues? A modest natural
disaster? Pray, baby, pray!)
Makingbread, even in itssimplest form
(think:
matzah)
, is about performing a
divine transformation. Yes, there are other modern culinary innovations
that may rival that creative complexity, but “
hamotzi
chocolate
min
ha
’factory” just doesn’t have the same spiritual jive. As such, making
bread comes with its own rituals and
mitzvot.
First, Jewish bakers both commercial and domestic separate a
portion of their bread dough for the
kohanim
(priests). Centuries
after the destruction of our temple and the suspension of priestly
obligations, we still do this to commemorate the mitzvah (today we
burn it, as it cannot be used in temple duties).
Bread also requires its own special blessings, both before and after
we eat it. Our grace after meals (and bread is what constitutes a
meal) praises “He who gives bread to all flesh, for… through His
great goodness never have we lacked and never will we lack food.”
We’re talking here about both physical and spiritual nourishment,
because we were created as more than walking, talking stomachs.
Through the practice of making, breaking and blessing bread (or, if
your bread comes from Pick’n’Pay, by association with this creative
process),
Hashem
helps us to nourish our spirits. Bread is food for
body and soul.
Bread represents our special connection with Hashem while we are
on this earth. It’s what separates us from animals, that eat fruit and
vegetables (or each other) without thought. And that’s why bread will
never be ‘bant’ from my table.
Until next time.
BUBKES
Bant ing About The Bush
By Lauren Shapiro
PAST TENSE
By Pundit
PAST TENSE
LETTER BOX
contained a sharp criticism by Adelaide Lichtenstein of
the manner of presentation of the Passion Play which Ms. Lichtenstein
described as “blatant anti-Semitism.” Her suggestion was that a public
symposium should be organised in which “Archbishop Hurley as well as
Jews like Mr. Ernst and Dr. Usdin are invited to express their views.”
I don’t think such a symposium ever occurred. Interesting that this,
apparently offensive, production took place so soon after “Nostra
Aetate” made such a fundamental difference to the Roman Catholic
Church’s attitude to Jews.
THE JEWISH PEOPLE IN THE 20TH CENTURY
headlined the
summary given at the CNJ AGM by Dr. Schneider, President of the Board
of Deputies, of speeches made by Dr. Nahum Goldman, President of
the World Jewish Congress (WJC) and Mr. Abba Eban, Foreign Minister
of Israel, at the WJC meeting he had attended as an observer.
LEON LEWIS HEADS CNJ
was the title given to a very positive
article by N.J.B. about Leon’s accession to the title of President of the
CNJ “at a remarkably tender age.” The last paragraph reads as follows:
“To this youthful and able new President of the C.N.J. we
wish a very successful term of office in full confidence that
the Jewish community will benefit from his wisdom, sincerity
and enthusiasm.”
And there was quite a good photo of Leon, too!!
THE LATE SOLOMON GOLDBERG
was an eloquent moving
epitaph written by Alex Levine about Grandpa Goldberg, who featured
in last month’s
PAST TENSE
.
Again there was no
IN TOWN AND OUT
, but there was something
called “Social Round-Up” written by somebody described as “Your
FRIENDLY Reporter”. He or she was a pretty lazy reporter, because
most of the two-page spread was taken up by a larger aerial photograph
of the Club and its grounds, including the Bowling Greens and eight
tennis courts, bounded as it then was by Brickhill Road, Old Fort Road,
Playfair Road and Molyneux Road. It looked huge. Never mind. In 2017
we have the Durban Holocaust Centre and the Circle Cafe.
HASHOLOM – March 1942 Extracts
EDITORIAL – entitled FACTS TO BE FACED
pointed out that one
of the biggest problems involved in post-war reconstruction would be
“the re-education of the German nation” to counteract the poison of
the Nazi propaganda and education which for ten years had “drummed
their foul theories into the German people.” In the Union the process of
purification would not be easy because those who had paid attention to
developments in S.A. would know “how thoroughly the Nazi poison had
entered our national blood stream”. Only the Board of Deputies could
shoulder this onerous task.
PURIM, FEASTOF LOTS
by Lily Tobias told the Purim story at some length.
ROLL OF HONOUR
headed the list of South African Jewish casualties
as issued by the Board of Deputies – a full page with rank, names and
numbers in very small print.
STRIKING CONTRASTS IN PALESTINE
was the title of an article by
Major T. Williams who had visited Palestine in the course of his military
service. “Some of the great minds of the world have been driven from
their countries” said the Major, “and are now gathered in Palestine; and
they are working out experiments in living which may well profoundly
influence the future of many lands.” How prophetic.
THE PLEDGE OF THE GOOD SOUTH AFRICAN
by Professor T.
J. Haarhoff (described as “an ardent disciple of racial co-operation in
South Africa”) consisted of “four main principles and eight subsidiary and
supplementary pledges.” The third main pledge, which I suppose may
have been regarded as quite progressive (with a small “p”) in 1942 related
an intention “to be humane and just to the Bantu and Coloured groups,
not hampering them in their legitimate development...”
IN TOWN AND OUT
congratulated
• Lieut. and Mrs. Ralph Behrman (nee Muriel Brown) and Dr. and Mrs.
Aaron Porter (nee Jocelyn Gevisser) on the birth of daughters.
• Capt. and Mrs. H. Hellman on the birth of a son.
• The President of the C.N.J, Major E.S. Henochsberg, on his
promotion to field rank.
• Lilith Liebowitz on her engagement to S/Sgt. Jack Klass of
Johannesburg.
• Mr. and Mrs. B Hoffenberg on the occasion of their Silver Wedding.
And how about a full-page advert for the show “SPEEDING ALONG”
to be presented on the Club Stage on Monday 30th March at 8.15p.m.?
The Producer - Lt. Frank Rogaly. The Cast - “The Troopadours” (Union
Defence Force No. 5. Concert Party). Price of a Ticket - 3/- (three
shillings to you).
HASHALOM – March 1967 Extracts
EDITORIAL – FACING THE FACTS
– dealt with some of the issues
which had been raised at a well-attended AGM of the CNJ, which was fully
reported elsewhere in HASHALOM. The main fact to be faced was the
vital need to raise more money for the UCF and, more particularly, its main
beneficiary, the Natal Hebrew Schools Association for Carmel College.