Pesach in the Balkans as appeared in Hamodia magazine

Pesach in the Balkans

By Debbie Shapiro

Last erev Pesach, when Rabbi Yoel Kaplan, Chief Rabbi of Albania, and a rabbi in Thessaloniki (also known as Salonika), Greece, traveled throughout the Balkans to promote awareness of the upcoming holiday, he was both shocked at the rampant ignorance and awed at the incredible desire for growth that he encountered among the Jews who, at the sight of his black hat and beard, flocked to identify themselves as members of the tribe.

Rabbi Kaplan was appalled at their general lack of knowledge: "Why yes, of course we make a Seder each year," one man assured him. "We prepare a special sandwich from bread and lettuce, and eat it in memory G-d bringing the Jewish Nation out of Egypt."

"Of course we eat kosher," explained another Jew. "I always salt the meat, just the way my grandmother taught me. But why can't I purchase the meat at the local butcher shop?"

"Last year while visiting Tirana, the capital of Albania," Rabbi Kaplan relates, "I met a Jew from Los Angeles who had been living there for over thirty years. He had become involved with Jews for J, and was so estranged from Yiddishkeit that he had the gall to almost insist that he show me around his church! Of course I refused, and told him that he ought to be ashamed of himself. After that, I began teaching him the basic tenets of Judaism, starting with learning how to recite the Shema. Today, just one year later, this former member of a church is shomer Torah and mitzvos and eagerly preparing for our upcoming Seder!"

A BIT OF HISTORY

Located in Northern Greece, the port of Thessaloniki serves the entire Southeastern Europe, and is Greece's second major city. Although there has been a known Jewish presence in the city since the time of the destruction of the Beis Hamikdosh, our holy Temple -- the Jewish cemetery destroyed by the Nazis contained graves that were 2000 years old! –the Jewish community swelled tremendously in 1492 with the influx of refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, so much so that they nicknamed the city La Madre de Israel, A Mother in Israel. The Sefardi immigrants thrived.  Up until the late 1800s, the majority of the city's residents were Jewish, and, out of respect for the Jewish workers, the city's port was officially closed on Shabbos. Today, some 1,200 Jews live in the city, and almost all consider themselves Orthodox. "When I arrived here three years ago," says Rabbi Kaplan, "I discovered a thriving Jewish community, with several minyanim each day and a small day school. The community's rabbi, Rav Eliyahu Shitrit, is doing a tremendous job with the kehillah, and I work together with him to strengthen the Jewish community."

The Republic of Albania is located just north of Greece, just 45 miles across the Strait of Otronto from Italy. Although there has been a continual Jewish presence from the seventh century, the Jewish community there has always been small. Prior to World War II, there were only one hundred and sixty Jews in the entire country, mostly in the city of Tirana. To its eternal credit, Albania not only protected its Jews, it also offered shelter to Jewish refugees from Serbia, Austria and Greece, so that by the end of the War, its Jewish population had swelled to over two thousand.

During the country's sixty years of Communist rule, however, religion was banned, and Albania was declared the world's first atheist state. With the fall of Communism in 1992, most of the country's 2000 Jews left for Israel. Although officially some one hundred and sixty Jews presently reside in Albania, this number only includes those Jews who are affiliated with the Jewish community, and the real numbers are probably much higher.

The majority of Jews residing in South-Eastern Europe, in Northern Greece, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro – what's often referred to as the Balkan bloc – are Sefardi. Although Rabbi Kaplan follows minhag Chabad, his wife is the daughter of the well-known Sefardi  rav and kabbalist, Rav Moshe Ben Tov, ztz"l, and Rabbi Kaplan is a close student and has rabbinical ordination from Israel's Sefardi Chief Rabbi, Rav Shlomo Amar, shlita.

PESACH IN THE BALKANS

After close to a year of commuting between his home in Beer Sheba, Israel, and Thessaloniki, in Northern Greece, in March, 2009, Rabbi Kaplan, his wife, Rabbanit Ruth, and their five small children moved to a rented apartment in downtown Thessaloniki and immediately started preparing for the upcoming Pesach. Although he assumed that he'd receive requests for shmura matzos and other Pesach provisions from the Jews of Thessaloniki, he was surprised to receive requests from Jews throughout the Balkans, especially from the city of Pristina, Kosovo and Tirana, Albania, and immediately set out with a driver to distribute the supplies. That year, the Sedorim were hosted in their apartment. The turnout was startling: twenty four guests for the first Seder and twelve for the second.

By Pesach of 2010 community Sedorim were conducted in the cities of Pristina and Tirana, and, of course, in Thessaloniki, Greece.  In addition, Pesach supplies and instructions for conducting the Seder were distributed to outlying areas throughout the Balkans.

Rabbi Kaplan: "I discovered the Jews of Albania when I was visiting Tirana, Albania's capitol, and noticed a jewelry store with the Hebrew word "tzoref" (goldsmith) inscribed on its sign. Of course I entered the store and introduced myself. The owner, Shalom, was thrilled to make the acquaintance another Jew, and introduced me to the city's small Jewish community. The following Pesach I conducted the Sedorim there, there were some fifty Jews in attendance. We were all so emotional; this was the first time since World War II that a public Seder was being held in the entire region, and, considering that Albania prided itself in being an atheistic republic, it was probably the first real, kosher Seder held there in over fifty years!

"In Thessaloniki, we kashered a hotel kitchen, and my wife, Ruth, oversaw the preparation of the food for over one hundred and fifty guests. She taught the chefs to prepare the Moroccan delicacies that she had grown up with, but now they were all made without any matzah meal as we do not eat anything cooked with matzos. 

"As word of mouth spread about the Seder, we had a lot of last minute requests, and suddenly realized that we didn't have enough dishes. Erev Pesach I ended up running around town purchasing an additional forty eight sets of dishes, cutlery and glassware suitable to be used at a five-star hotel! Thank G-d the mashgiach was there to supervise the kitchen while I was out!

"This coming Pesach, we expect the numbers to swell to over four hundred. Although that includes a large number of tourists – as a result of the political situation in Turkey, Thessaloniki has become a popular Israeli tourist attraction -- the majority are locals. Many of the participants from last year's Sedorim have continued to strengthen their observance of Torah and mitzvos.

"Last year we ordered our matzo from Eretz Yisrael, both those used at the Sedorim as well as for distribution throughout the Balkans, but for some reason they never arrived. A week before Yom Tov, a yeshivah student made a special trip from Eretz Yisrael to bring them to us, so in addition to more than a few tense moments, we ended up paying a lot of money for overweight luggage! Our other supplies were imported from France."

FINDING DIAMONDS

Although Thessaloniki has a strong Jewish community, there are also many assimilated Jews who are completely oblivious to the beauty of their illustrious heritage.  Rabbi Kaplan devotes himself to discovering these hidden Jews, and reminisces about one of his first encounters in Thessaloniki: "Every time one local bully met me in the street, he'd make snide anti-Semitic remarks and publicly taunt me. But even after he and a group of his friends threatened to harm me, I continued to respond calmly, and even managed a smile. One time I even gave him my card and suggested that we meet sometime to 'have a beer.'

"The phone call came on erev Shavuos¸ when I was busy helping my wife bake challis and cook for the many guests that would join us for the two-day Yom Tov immediately followed by a Shabbos. 'Rabbi,' he began, 'I'm downstairs. I need to speak with you. Can I come up now?' Of course we warmly welcomed him despite the balagan. It didn't take long for him to tell me his deep, dark secret: his mother was Jewish. As a small child, the neighbors hid her from the Nazis, sparing her from the fate of her family and of 90% of the city's Jews.  She eventually married a local man and raised her children as non-Jews.

"This former bully now puts on Tefillin regularly, is slowly growing in his observance, and joins us almost every Friday night for the Shabbos meal. He's not exactly your typical baal teshuvah – he's a professional boxer and a real tough guy – but he's a Yid, with a real Yiddishe neshamah, and it's our privilege have had a part in bringing him close to Torah.”

CHIEF RABBI OF ALBANIA

In December, 2010, Albania's Prime Minister appointed Rabbi Kaplan as the country's first chief rabbi, an act that is especially meaningful in light of the fact that for the last fifty years, the country's official religion was atheism.

The ceremony crowning Rabbi Kaplan as Albania's official chief rabbi was held in Tirana's new Moshe Rabbeinu synagogue (named in memory of Rabbi Kaplan's father-in-law, Rabbi Moshe Ben Tov) and was attended by the Roshon L'Tzion, Israel's Chief Sefardi Rabbi, Rav Shlomo Amar, shlita.

Rabbi Kaplan's appointment gave the official stamp of approval to his frequent visits to Albania, and other Balkan Jewish communities. "Before my position became official, I was coming here about once a week to work in outreach, and will continue to do so. The only difference is that now I have official backing." In addition to influencing individual families, he has instituted Jewish classes for over sixty children learning in public schools, and is planning to open a kosher restaurant in the near future.

So what began as outreach for Pesach has blossomed into a spiritual mission to reconnect a part of Klal Yisrael that might have otherwise been lost to us. May the day come soon that all of the lost throughout the world Jews return to their heritage, and may it be a harbinger of our final redemption, may it happen speedily, in our days, amen.

Kosher Cooking Goes Gourmet/ published in Hamodia

Kosher Cooking Goes Gourmet

By Debbie Shapiro

Sunday afternoon, I jumped into a waiting cab and drove halfway across Jerusalem to the Talpiot industrial zone, where I was to meet Chef Yochanan Lambiase, founder of the Jerusalem Culinary Institute, the only English speaking Kosher L'Mehadrin cooking school in the world.

For Chef Lambiase, cooking is a family tradition "We're originally from southern Italy. My father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all chefs at elegant hotels in Italy, so gourmet cooking has always been a natural part of my life."

In 1985, Lambiase began training at the Westminster Hotel School in his native England. After three years, Lambiase trained with Paul Bocuse, a renowned French chef in Lille, and then continued on to on to work at the Ritz and Savoy hotels.

@Going Kosher

When London's Schaverein Kosher Caterers invited him to cook for them, he discovered an entirely new world. "I was always peppering the mashgiach with questions. It was a real challenge to come up with new recipes while keeping to the laws of kashrus. One day, the mashgiach asked me if I was Jewish, and when I replied in the affirmative, he arranged for me to spend Shabbos with a frum family. It was my very first Shabbos."

I couldn't help but ask what gourmet specialty the family prepared in his honor. After all, professional chefs must have high culinary standards. But the family did not go out of their way to make anything unusual. "It was a typical Shabbos, you know, gefilte fish, chicken soup, boiled chicken, chulent. It wasn't about the food. I was completely bowled over by the atmosphere. A family sitting together, totally tuned into each other, the songs, the words of Torah, it was absolutely amazing!" Before long, Lambiase was on a plane to Eretz Yisrael, where he divided his day between learning in a yeshivah and working as a hotel chef.

In 2002, Lambiase attended Kosher-Fest, an international kosher trade show held at the Meadowlands Convention Center in Secaucus, N.J. Lambiase was overawed by the thousands of new kosher products on the market, as well as the enormity of the industry. "Restaurants, convenience foods, gourmet ingredients, there is so much available for the kosher consumer – you can even go on a safari and shoot rhinoceros while enjoying Glatt kosher cuisine! The kosher market is increasing by leaps and bounds. Twenty-five years ago, it was a 250 million dollar business; today, it's 165 BILLION, and who knows how big it will be in another five years. In such a rapidly growing market, I realized that there must be a real need for professionally trained kosher cooks."

Lambiase continues, "Today, with such a huge variety of kosher products on the market, it's possible to prepare any cuisine for the kosher gourmet – from Korean, to Italian and French or whatever. I can make sausage that tastes exactly like pepperoni, which is a totally non-kosher salami, or, using coconut milk, chicken stroganoff (a cream covered chicken dish) that tastes just like the 'real thing.'

"Some time ago, when a secular Israeli food magazine visited our school to write an article about gourmet kosher cooking, I served them a specially prepared meal of Veal Scallopini (veal with parmesan cheese and pasta) substituting brewer's yeast for the cheese, and wild mushrooms in cream sauce, substituting coconut milk for the milk. These professional food critics could not tell the difference between the kosher version and what they were used to!"

@The Jerusalem Culinary Institute

In 2003, Lambiase opened the Jerusalem Culinary Institute in Jerusalem's now defunct Holy Land Hotel. The ten-month course, taught completely in English, attracted twenty-eight students, from North America, England, South Africa, Australia and, of course Israel. The students ranged in age from eighteen to fifty-three. Recently, the school moved to new premises on

Yad Harutzim Street

in Talpiot, just minutes away from the expansive Hadar Shopping Mall.

Under the hashgacha of Agudat Yisrael, JCI's curriculum is similar to that of any other cooking school. The students learn the proper use of a knife, how to fillet a fish, to prepare puff-pastry, to discern a superlative wine, and so on. "Most of our students are religious, and those that aren't are familiar with the laws of kashrus, so we don't really have to lecture to them on the basics of running a kosher kitchen," explains Greta Ostrovitz, JCI's principal, former owner of the prize-winning restaurant, Chez Gita, and an excellent cook to boot. "Instead, we integrate halachah into the classroom — we teach the students all about worms in fish and checking vegetables for bugs as a hands-on activity, part of their regular curriculum."

The students are also taken on field trips to visit the various marketplaces (shuks) around the country so that they can get a feel of the local ingredients, to a winery and to a goat farm, where they make cheese and watch a natural cooking demonstration. "This is our students' year in Israel, so we want them to see the country, but of course we always make sure that the trip is related to the culinary arts," Ostrovitz continues.

@Rainbow of Students

In the seven years of the schools existence, some three hundred students have graduated the professional seven month intensive chef course. Many have gone on to work in the kosher food industry.

Ostrovitz explains, "Almost all our students taking the intensive seven month course are in Israel for the specific purpose of studying at our school, and plan to return home at the end of the year with a professional skill -– and a recognized diploma -- that will enable them to secure a position in the food industry.

"Working in the food industry is not a traditionally accepted profession among most Jews. The quintessential Yiddishe mother dreams of 'my son the rabbi,’ or 'my son the doctor,' rather than 'my son the pastry chef.' But there is a real need for high level professional chefs, and some of our students continue on to become one. But not all our students are as talented, and some find positions working in industrial kitchens. The main thing is that are able to find jobs!"

Ostrovitz continues, "Since cooking does not require high academic skills, some of our students who have learning disabilities and were never successful in school, were successful here! We had one young man who failed everything – he never even graduated high school – yet he became a phenomenal cook. There was another young man from New York whose mother sent him here in the hope that we could help him with his behavioral problems. I must admit I didn’t think it would work out – he was very disruptive for the other students. But Chef Lambiase said I should persevere, and he gradually improved. He never became a top chef, but he and his mother were very proud of what he’d achieved and he left here in a much better state than when he got here. It's wonderful to watch these young people blossom with each success!"

Ostrovitz shows me one of the many letters of gratitude received by the school:

Seven years ago my husband and I sat in the principal's office at a school for children with learning disabilities and heard my son's teacher say "I cannot find anything good about your son - there is nothing he can do".  We both sat there totally frozen - to be traumatized and riddled with that sentence for years to come.

Today, seven years later, we sent our son off to culinary school for his final exam and heard from the staff that he got an A plus and he was receiving his graduation certificate.

When we heard about the JCI, we took a long gulp before suggesting it to him. He was petrified at the thought of having to study and do tests, but excited by the practical side of it. However, what we knew about the JCI was that they BELIEVED in their students and did everything they could to help them. And we believed that our son could do it. We believed it for him until today when he believed it for himself. It was not easy to be in an educational environment with strict rules and uniform. But he did it. He needed constant encouragement throughout and the most amazing staff at the JCI gave this to him. And what's more, all the way along they told us, "He can do it."

And they were right. He DID it! Without one educational qualification in the world. He DID it! Without finishing school He DID it! They saw - not only his soul, but also all and every good thing about him - and they worked on it and encouraged it and gave him back his dignity and knowledge that he COULD do something.

Ostrovitz recalls another challenging student – a recovering substance abuser. "He was clean from his issues, but his life was a mess. The discipline of our school, together with the satisfaction of success did wonders for him, and today he's happily employed in the kosher food industry."

Cooking is Serious Business

Actually, JCI sees cooking as very serious business. When I asked about funny mistakes, I was told that "mistakes are never funny. Accidentally using the wrong ingredient can be disastrous in a restaurant!" And the students are not only encouraged – they are required – to use their imagination to create something new. "After they've been studying here for some time, we give them an assortment of different ingredients and tell them to come up with something good! We've had some amazing surprises!"    

In addition to their intensive seven month course, JCI runs an eight week program and an assortment of ninety minute workshops. At the workshops, students from ages eighteen to eighty ("there was one guy in his seventies who came to all our workshops!”) are taught anything from the art of preparing risotto (creamy Italian rice) to making mezze (a selection of small dishes served in the Middle East as dinner or lunch), gnocchi (thick, soft dumplings), Tagine (a Moroccan stew) and, for the busy housewife short on time, thirty-minute gourmet suppers.

After speaking with Lambiase and Ostrovitz in the office, Lambiase took me on a tour of the premises. The walls are lined with long shelves containing boxes of spices and other ingredients. I noticed several wooden mortars and pestles. "We always grind our own spices so that they will be fresh. It makes a real difference in the final product."  In the milchig kitchen, there were two French-speaking young women taking a French pastry course with Chef Simone Zemour, owner of Café Simone in Jerusalem. We laughed at my feeble attempts to say something – anything – in French, as I observed the students expertly roll out the dough and fill it with layers of grilled vegetables smothered with creamy mushroom sauce and yellow cheese. Although the aroma was heavenly, I was fleishig, and couldn't even manage a taste!

Pulled Sugar

Just before continuing my tour, Chef Simone pointed at what appeared to be exquisite blown glass sculptures. Lambiose explained that these beautiful pieces of art were actually constructed of pulled sugar, and that they are used as centerpieces in buffets or to decorate wedding cakes.

Later on that day I spoke with pastry chef, Chef Guy Frenkel, head of JCI's Patisserie program. Chef Frenkel studied in France's prestigious Serandi and Lentore pastry schools. "I always loved to bake," he explained. "My late father was an excellent chef and as long as I can remember we were always involved with gourmet cooking and quality ingredients. After completing my studies in France, I returned home to Florida where I opened a French bakery shop."

It takes tremendous skill to sculpt pulled sugar centerpieces, which is why Chef Frenkel saves it for the end of the course. "After the sugar is completely melted, we pour it onto a cold surface and start pulling it to make it shiny and pliable. Even though we wear gloves, fingers sometimes get burnt. People with sensitive skin can't take the heat, which is one of the reasons few people are able to work with it."

Chef Frenkel is one of those "few people." In 1994 he won first championship in the United States Sugar Art Competition held in Palm Beach, Florida. "I created a full scale peacock. It was six feet tall, very detailed, and replete with a brilliantly colored tail. The pulled-sugar peacock was surrounded by pulled sugar orchids and other flora. It took me two full weeks – a hundred and twenty hours! – to complete it, and it contained some fifty kilos of sugar."

Chef Frenkel also enjoys chocolate sculpting. When I asked him how he manages to constantly work with such delicacies without succumbing to overeating, he responded, "My teachers in France always said never trust a skinny chef."

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A few tips from Chef Lambiase

1. Taste your food at all stages of the recipe. This will let you understand the flavors as they develop and enable you to season the food correctly.

2. Clean as your work – cook clean and you will eat clean.

3. Add a few drops of water when you are frying onions. This will soften them and bring out the sugars that will caramelize your onions more quickly.

4. Collect all your ingredients, pots, pans and utensils before you begin cooking.

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One Pot Meals 

These one pot meals are especially good in the winter. I always recommend making a big pot of soup and then freezing it in individual servings or, if you'll want to heat up several servings at a time, a plastic freezer container. It is nice to come home to after a cold, raining day and pop the soup in the microwave for a hot, homemade, healthy meal.  If you don't have a microwave, you can just take the container out of the freezer in the morning and it will be defrosted by the time you get home from work in the evening. It takes just minutes to heat it up in a saucepan.  Add bread and salad for a complete dinner. 

These recipes can easily be doubled or even tripled.

Meatball Minestrone

Serves two

5 ounces (150 gram) lean ground beef

2 tbsp fine dry bread crumbs

1 egg – use enough egg to bind the beef and bread crumbs

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp margarine

½ cup potatoes, peeled and diced

½ cup carrots, peeled and sliced

¼ cup celery, sliced

¼ cup zucchini, diced

¼ cup onion, diced

1 small clove garlic, crushed

1 tsp dried oregano

4 whole ripe tomatoes, chopped

½ envelope beef bouillon

1/3 cup soup pasta or cooked rice

1 cup frozen spinach, thawed and drained

½ cup cooked kidney beans

1. In a large bowl, combine ground beef, bread crumbs, egg, salt and pepper. Using hands or wooden spoon, blend well. Shape mixture into tiny meatballs.

2. In a large saucepan over med high heat, heat oil, add meatballs, cook until well browned on all sides. Using slotted spoon, remove meatballs to a plate.

3. To the drippings in the sauce pot, add margarine and melt over medium high heat.

Add potatoes, carrots, celery, zucchini, onion, garlic and oregano. Cook 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently until the vegetables are crisp-tender and golden.

4. Add tomatoes with their liquid, bouillon, pasta and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to med low, simmer, covered 10 minutes until vegetables are tender and flavors are blended.

5. Add spinach, kidney beans and meatballs, cook about 3 mines longer until heated through.

Black Bean and Chickpea Chili

Serves two

1 teaspoon olive Oil

2 tbsp onion, chopped

4 tbsp green peppers, seeded and chopped

1 medium carrot, peeled and sliced into rounds

1 tsp chili powder

½ tsp ground cumin

Salt and black pepper to taste

4 whole ripe tomatoes, diced

1 ounce frozen corn

½ cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed

½ cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed

4 tablespoons chicken stock

1. Place the onion, green peppers and carrots into the saucepan and cook and stir for about 10 minutes, until the onion is translucent and the vegetables are tender. Stir in the chili powder, cumin and black pepper and pour in the diced tomatoes, corn, black beans, chickpeas and chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a boil.

2. Place about 1 ½ cups of the chili mixture into a food processor and puree for about 1 minute until smooth. Pour the puree back into the rest of the chili to thicken. Adjust seasonings.

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