BAGELS

 

WHAT IS THE DEFINING CHARACTERISTIC OF THE ASHKENAZI JEW?

 IT COULD BE  COMPASSION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE OR MAYBE NOT?

 

While ridding the household of all chametz in preparation for the Passover holiday, my thoughts turn to the ultimate source of chametz, namely and without reservation, bread.

In Parshat Tzav, Hashem instructs Moshe that as part of Aaron’s inauguration process that he should bring a special grain offering which will be burnt in its entirety on the Altar (6:14).

“On a griddle it shall be made with oil, scalded shall you bring it; a  repeatedly baked meal offering you shall bring it in broken pieces that you will offer it…”

עַל-מַחֲבַת, בַּשֶּׁמֶן תֵּעָשֶׂה--מֻרְבֶּכֶת תְּבִיאֶנָּה; תֻּפִינֵי מִנְחַת פִּתִּים, תַּקְרִיב

I’m thinking, what distinguishes this offering is that it is scalded or boiled before baking.  After very sober serious contemplation, it is my belief that this method of bread preparation, albeit altered by time and geography, has come down to us as part of our esteemed Ashkenazi Jewish heritage.

It is my sincere belief that this bread preparation is what my Yeshivish friends might call the “Ikar” (עִקָר) or essence of who or what we are or have come to be.  What I am referring to is the Bagel.

This ethnic bread preparation first surfaced in Jewish Poland during the 17th century.  Indisputably we are as much the “People of the Bagel” as we are the “People of the Book”.

Bagels for the untutored or if you know, are boiled or steamed before baking. And its circular shape perhaps represents out unending connection to Hashem and that all Jews of whatever affiliation or ethnicity must be included.  Of course, the hole in the middle is a metaphor for our "holiness".

I rest my case.😉