Jewish High Holy Days start Wednesday

Galveston’s Shlomo Hamo speaks at least eight languages, not counting food. And though good cooking isn’t the heart of the matter during important religious holidays, it often plays a strong supporting role.

Hamo will be teaching Sephardic cooking classes on the island in preparation for the start of the Jewish High Holy Days, which begin Wednesday evening and extend to the end of this month.

Though they involve tradition, ritual and teaching, the High Holy Days have evolved to include special foods, which reflect both religious joy and local cultures. Sephardic recipes reflect a range of Jewish cultures, which flourished in an arc beginning in the Middle East and extending to Spain.

Spicy peppers, including jalapeños, are kosher and common in Hamo’s cuisine.

“The food includes a lot of spices,” Hamo said. “We use lots and lots and lots of garlic. We also use plenty of onions, jalapeños, cilantro and turmeric. Every Friday (during the Holy Days) we start fish, like grouper or flounder, in a red sauce, as part of a three-course meal.”

Hamo was born in Israel, emigrated to the U.S. and has been cooking professionally in Galveston for more than 20 years.

Carla Wills-Brandon, who attends Galveston’s Congregation Beth Jacob, would be the first to tell you the annual observance is about God, but she has formed bonds with her kitchen during a lifetime of kosher cooking.

“I love to cook for this,” said Wills-Brandon, whose great-grandparents on both sides escaped from Russia during the pogroms against the Jews, bringing with them little except their family recipes. “This is my annual excuse to make the berrocks, pies stuffed with savory cabbage, meat, onions and spices, that I grew up on, for my family.”

Also on her menu are a host of other flavorful delicacies, including a traditional sweet yeast dough filled with cream cheese or fruit; hand-cut egg noodle soup; and raisin and apple kugels (a baked pudding).

“It all leaves me feeling very close to my relatives who came to this country to start their new life.”

Max Sukiennik, president of Beth Jacob, didn’t offer to cook, but he did have memories.

“When I was growing up, my mom was always cooking,” Sukiennik said. “She had five children, plus a number of neighborhood children who seemed to spend the day at our house eating.”

He said, even as a child, he could always tell when Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, was nigh.

“Mom’s already-busy kitchen really kicked into gear, with the stove and oven on all the time,” he said. “They were loaded with pots and pans of everything from chicken soup, gefilte fish, roasted chicken and potatoes, and borscht. Everything was made from scratch.”

Rick Cousins can be reached at ourfaith(at)galvnews.com.

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Cooking Class

For details, call 409-762-4545.

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High Holy Days Recipe

Sweet, baked apples

Preheat oven to 350.

Prepare 5 or 6 apples cored in a baking dish, sprayed liberally with a cooking spray.

Mix together the following ingredients and stuff into the cored apples:

3/4 cup brown sugar

5 tablespoons of butter (or if watching your cholesterol, a canola oil based cooking margarine)

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

A pinch of salt

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon of clove

Bake 15 to 20 minutes.

Cool and drizzle with a touch of honey before serving.

SOURCE: Carla Wills-Brandon, Congregation Beth Jacob

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Schedule For 2010

Rosh Hashana begins Wednesday at sundown: It also is known as the Jewish New Year and the Day of Judgment and continues through Friday.

Yom Kippur begins at sundown Sept. 17 and lasts under sundown the next day. It also is known as the Day of Atonement.

Sukkot begins Sept. 23 and continues for seven days. It also is known as the Festival of Booths or the Festival of Tabernacles.