The Day of Atonement...and the Break-Fast...

Tomorrow evening Yom Kippor begins...The Day of Atonement...the last chance to atone for your sins of the past year and to be inscribed in the Book of Life.  The Shofar, which is first sounded on Rosh Hashona will sound again...the call to prayer...only this year, Yom Kippor falls on the Sabbath, making this the holiest of holy days for observant Jews.  When I was a child I was rather awed and scared by this holiday.  Jewish holidays are usually so joyful...the food (yes...there is always food) so plentiful and delicious...the comraderie in the synagogue so happy and lighthearted...But not Yom Kippor...this was a most serious holiday!  Oh, it always started out like a typical Jewish holiday we said the appropriate prayers, lit candles and then kindled 2 extra candles that would burn for 24 hours in memory of my grandparents......a succulent dinner was served, usually gefilte fish, soup with matzo balls or kreplach (Jewish won tons), brisket, chicken, a carrot pudding, a kugel, apple sauce, green vegetables (my interior designer mother always liked a well coordinated color scheme of food!) and dessert of honey cake, apple cake, and Ebinger's blackout cake (a MUST for every Brooklyn family regardless of religion!) There was a round raisin challah that we dipped in honey and my Aunt Anna always finished the meal off by presenting a selection of Barton's candy!  Typical "light" holiday dinner...right?  Right!  But that is where it ended.  After dinner everyone went to services. 

                                                                
The synagogue was packed with  people.  I always got new outfits for the High Holy Days and this evening I usually wore a brand new dress and new shoes. So far so good... I held on to my Aunt Ethel's hand...she was my best guide into my early forays into Judaism...and sat at her side...we all rose as the Cantor began to intone the Kol Nidre prayer...the call to repentance. Now it started to get solomn.  The service was not very long...people left saying , "Have a good fast"... No food until the following day at this time...not even water!

                                                                     
The next morning my mother prepared breakfast for my sister and me but she ate nothing.  My friends and I went from synagogue to synagogue (there was a synagogue every few blocks and we children were welcome at any and all) to say hello to parents and family as they prayed for forgiveness... we played outside with the other children and sometimes even allowed ourselves to be herded inside for the Children's Service...no cookies were served afterward and no juice, either...total bummer!  As the day wore on the adults became ashen in color. Many left services to return home to lie down, weak from the fast (although after partaking of the meal set out the night before that could have fed a small emerging nation, this always confused me).  There was a somber, dark feeling about this holiday.  I always worried that I had offended God in some way, but was at a loss as to what an eight year old could have done that would get her left out of the Book of Life.  Services lasted the entire day but only the most religious stayed the whole time...usually we went in the morning and returned late in the afternoon.  This was a stressful holiday for me.  Family adults were quiet and ashen.  Late in the afternoon we would go back for the Yizkor Service (Memorial Service) where there were prayers remembering those who had passed away.  My mother and aunts always had tears in their eyes as the Rabbi called the names of their parents...my grandparents.  I hated to see them so sad.  Then the Concluding Service...Ahhh... now it was dusk...the shofar was about to blow the final notes...God's Book would close and our fate for the year would be sealed. Home...the streets were filled with friends and neighbors returning home to break the fast...the traditional Break-fast meal.  This meal was usually dairy, and traditionally smoked fishes,

                                                                     
                                                                      

 bagels and hard rolls,                           

 egg salad and tuna salad,  

 sweet noodle kugel (pudding),  

Traditional Honey Cake (Lekach)

My favorites...chocolate leaves and rainbow cookies!!!!

dessert and tea and coffee. 

Simple and wonderful...Color returned to my mother's face...my aunts laughed ...as my dad deftly filleted a smoked white fish like a pro.  Food. Everything was back to normal!

From my child's eye I remember the early holidays I celebrated with my parents and aunts...as an adult I remember with great joy the holidays we shared with our own children...and the happiness when I arrived at my parent's home with my three children for the Break-fast.  In later years I took up the mantle, lit the candles to memorialize my own  dear parents...and prepared these meals.  This Yom Kippor, after so many, many years, I am so proud (and relieved) to say that I will not be preparing the Break-Fast in my home...my eldest son and his wife will be hosting that very special meal.  And so...life goes on...God has continued to include my name in his Great Book and I have been so blessed many, many times over...with a loving and beautiful family...my children married wonderful mates whom I dearly love...they have given me seven of the most precious, fabulous grandchildren...and so, as we begin this time of renewal, I look forward to  another year of loving them all...and of course, feeding them the wonderful foods of our tradition!!! 

The measure of a good Break-fast always seems to be determined by the quality of the noodle kugel...the Great Smoked Fish argument, I believe, is only traditional in New York...ie: "No one has better lox than Zabar's"..."...are you crazy...Sables' is far better!"..."you are both crazy...Barney Greengrass' white fish cannot be beat...!"  This, of course is followed by the Big Bagel Debate...but it is the quality of the kugel that determines the day, just about everywhere... sooo...

My Friend Estelle's Cousin Arlene's Mother-in-Law's Noodle Kugel..
1 lb fine noodles, cooked and drained
6 tbsp. butter
3/4 cup sugar
small container of creamed cottage cheese
4 eggs
1/2 pint of sour cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice and zest of 1 lemon
Topping:
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
5 tbsp sugar (I use 3 white and 2 dark brown)
3 tbsp butter
2 tsp. cinnamon (I use more because we are cinnamon lovers here)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix all ingredients with hot, drained noodles, (butter first, to melt it)... and pour into a Pam-ed baking dish and cover  with topping
Bake about 45 minutes until set
(I usually add raisins to the raw custard before baking ... you can also add apricots, apples or cherries.)

                                                                 
Smoked Whitefish Salad
1 whole smoked white fish
2/3 cup finely diced celery
1/3 cup finely diced red onion
1/2 cup mayo
pepper and salt to taste

1-Have the store fillet the white fish
2-Remove the meat from the skin but save the skin
3-In a bowl flake the whitefish, add other ingredients adding mayo slowly so you can see how much is needed ... making sure it is not mushy
4- Stuff the salad back into the skin and make it look like the fish is whole...then when you serve it peel the skin back so guests can serve themselves...serve with other smoked fish (smoked salmon, sturgeon...etc) garnish with cherry tomatoes, olives, lettuce, onions...

                                                                
Enjoy!!!
PS...Zabar's is really the best for smoked fish...don't argue with me!!!!