The Jewish Holiday Table A World of Recipes, Traditions & Stories to Celebrate All Year Long

For many Jews, the meal is the holiday

Collected by the Jewish Food Society, an organization dedicated to preserving Jewish cuisine around the world, the 135 recipes and accompanying stories in The Jewish Holiday Table are a dazzling expression of all the ways we celebrate through what we bring to the table.

Discover menus for a Persian Rosh Hashanah feast, a Ukrainian-Mexican Seder, an Iraqi spread for Purim. And a memorable Hanukkah tale of grandmothers competing in a doughnut duel, with one’s Moroccan sfenj recipe challenging the other’s Egyptian zalabia. Reflecting three thousand years of love and loss, culture and change, each dish captures the soul of what’s served in a Jewish home on a Jewish holiday.

Devra Ferst is a freelance food and travel writer based in Brooklyn. She is the editorial director of the Jewish Food Society and her words have appeared in the New York Times, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Vogue, and numerous other publications. A former editor at Eater NY and Tasting Table, she’s always looking for her next great meal and stories to tell. When she’s not writing at home, you can find her on the road, traveling for months at a time with a single carry-on suitcase.

Preface
Introduction
 
A Season for Intentions: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot
Rosh Hashanah
A Persian Grandmother and Her Secret Recipes
Rottem Lieberson
 
Whether in Toronto or New York, the Meal Is the Holiday
Mitchell Davis
 
Finding a Link to India and Iraq in a London Kitchen
Max Nye
 
A Tunisian Matriarch’s Recipes Find a New Home in Buenos Aires
Jessica Solnicki
 
Yom Kippur
A Moroccan Lemon Chicken to Ask Forgiveness With
Kathy Berrie
 
The Child Who Rode Through the Desert on a Camel
Erez Pinhas
 
A Gravlax Recipe That Arrived by Mail
Devra Ferst

Sukkot
Fava Bean Soup for an Always-Open Sukkah
Ron Arazi
 
The Bukharian Grandma on YouTube
Svetlana Davydov
 
A Time for Light and Parties: Hanukkah and Purim
Hanukkah
A Secret Hanukkah Celebration in Italy
Lorenza Pintar
 
Danish Christmas Sweets for a Very Merry Hanukkah
Margit Scheftelowitz
 
An Egyptian-Moroccan Winter Fry-Off
Nir Mesika
 
The Latkes That Helped a Ukrainian Family Survive
Elizaveta Vigonskaia

Purim
“Tables of Happiness” from Medieval Spain  Live On in Zimbabwe
Stella Hanan Cohen
 
Hungarian Purim Sweets to Take Pride In
Yonit Naftali
 
An Iraqi Purim Spread Fit for a Party with Card Games
Ilana Isaac
 
Jewish Hospitality and the Joys of Spring: Passover and Shavuot
Passover
A Soviet Seder Led by a Seven-Year-Old
Sasha Shor
 
A Ukrainian-Mexican–New York Kind of Seder
Fany Gerson
 
A Spring Table Inspired by My Greatest Teachers
Rinat Tzadok
 
A Mina Recipe from Izmir That’s Six Generations Strong
Alexandra Zohn
 
Moroccan Sweets for a Mimouna Party in Rabat or Virginia
Ruth Stulman

Shavuot
The Queen of the Shavuot Table
Alon Hadar
 
A Holiday Parade of Tractors, Babies, and First Fruits
Hila Alpert
 
The Bulgarian Grandmother with the Golden Touch
Ron Levy-Arie
 
Shabbat: A Holiday for Every Season:
Shabbat Picnics and Living Jewishly
Naama Shefi
 
Cakes for a Pre-Shabbat Kaffee und Kuchen
Idan Cohen
 
Blessing Dabo in the Middle of the Desert
Beejhy Barhany
 
A French-Ashkenazi Shabbat Menu for Friends
Anna Polonsky
 
An Iraqi Breakfast and a Heritage to Be Proud Of
Tami Shem-Tov
 
A Moroccan Shabbat Feast by Way of Brazil
Esther Serruya Weyl
 
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index