| A Thanksgiving Day Story |
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One of the hardest things for me to give up when moving to Israel from The States, was not Sunday, but rather Thanksgiving (we have a six day week here, though now we are moving towards a five day week with Friday as the non Shabbat ‘off day'), Growing up in Manhattan meant waking up VERY early on Thanksgiving Day and watching the participants dress in their costumes and blow up the giant -five story- balloons at the New York Planetarium. Then we would go to a service at Congregation Shearith Israel or The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue (known by members as The S & P) commemorating the day (the first members of the congregation arrived in New Amsterdam in 1654, so this is SERIOUS American Jewish history). After we saw The Parade on Central Park West, we had THE MEAL of turkey, chestnut stuffing and cranberry sauce._option_option_option_option I am third generation Yankee, my husband's family has the first Ketuba (Jewish marriage contract) registered at The S & P in the late 1750's. So Thanksgiving was not only a National holiday, but a special family one too, where the family who lived not-in-walking-distance, could join together. Here is my Thanksgiving story. We came to Israel during the post Six Day War ‘Great American Aliya'. It was 1972; I was pregnant and had uneasiness that I couldn't explain which started after the Chagim (September/October). I can only explain it as ‘cravings' for specific food, day and night! Now you have to understand, I had NEVER had ‘cravings' in any previous pregnancy and thought it was a lot of malarkey, until then! Since then I know that although that there is no widely accepted explanation for food cravings, almost two-thirds of all pregnant women have them. A more serious type of craving, called pica, in which women crave nonfood items, like dirt or laundry starch, can be dangerous and even fatal. Several theories have been proposed as to what causes pica, from a deficiency of calcium or iron, to the ability of certain nonfood items to quell nausea and vomiting. However, there has never been any medical reason determined. Needless to say, cravings of this nature are not to be indulged. As I said, my craving was very specific. I was dreaming, during the day and at night, about turkey, chestnut stuffing and cranberry sauce. Israel then was a different place. If you wanted to make chocolate chip cookies, you had to cut the chocolate into chips, brown sugar was made by adding molasses to white sugar and the main dietary stables were eggplant and oranges (apples were just beginning to be available, having grown in the Golan, 1972 was two years after ‘orlah', the three years (from 1967) when new fruit is not eaten). As I was dreaming day and night, I was also working out ways to solve my problem--by then my husband's problem too! Turkey was no problem, chestnuts though very expensive, could be found, but not the cranberry sauce. I called the American PX (canteen/store for US military and consulate workers) and after finding out that they had cranberry sauce (with a ‘hasgacha' from the States), I begged to be allowed to buy it. Nope, if neither you or nor your husband are ‘in the Service', you cannot. By early November, the Dan Hotel in Haifa advertised a 'complete' American Thanksgiving Day Dinner. That was in Haifa, we were in Jerusalem! No problem, there was the Sherut (jitney) service, that delivers packages, and after hearing my tale of woe, the hotel agreed to prepare ‘take-out' and give it to the Sherut driver. Two weeks before Thanksgiving, the Tel Aviv Hilton had a similar offer. I canceled my order in Haifa, and got the Tel Aviv Hotel and Sherut to do the same process, and started to relax. A week before Thanksgiving, a Jerusalem Hotel offered the same deal. Canceled Tel Aviv and booked Jerusalem. We would go out for THE DINNER. It was Thursday night; we went out, had the dinner with all the ‘trimmings' on our plate in front of us. I saw it on the plate, took a deep breath-- my poor husband smiled and wearily thought ‘Well we were finally going to be done with this!' whereupon I bolted from the table to the Ladies Room. Yup, couldn't eat a thing, the smell was even too rich for me!! This week we were already at a Pre-Thanksgiving dinner Sunday evening at friends, we are B"H invited to a wedding on Thursday and Sheva Berachot (one of the seven meals of the bride and groom after the wedding) Friday night, where the menu will be, you guessed it, Turkey, Chestnut Stuffing and Cranberry Sauce. Just in case though, my freezer always has a ready supply of frozen whole cranberries we ‘schlep' back from trips to the US (you still can't get them in Israel). Chag Sameach.
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