ARTICLE
All are welcome at Falmouth Jewish Congregation's annual latke (potato pancakes) potluck dinner, to be held on Friday, December 15 at 7:00 P.M. The evening begins with a wine, juice, and cheese reception from 5:15 - 6:00 P.M., followed by an hour-long musical service featuring the congregation's Bayit Band (house band) and including Hanukah and Shabbat candle lighting. At 7:00 P.M. we gather for dinner in Speen Hall. Attendees bring a side, soup, or main dish (following FJC dietary rules of no pork or shellfish) and we provide latkes, a traditional, fried Hanukah food, applesauce, drinks, and desserts. We will also enjoy a photography exhibit entitled introduced by artist Robert Dunn entitled “Aleph Bet: Tel Aviv – Jaffa,” a series of digital prints derived from Robert’s artist book in the Israel Museum Jerusalem Ruth Youth Wing collection in Jerusalem. Robert draws on relationships between letters, their sounds and forms, and elements and qualities of everyday images of life documented on countless walks between Tel Aviv and Jaffa. This exhibit will remain up in Speen Hall through January; visitors are welcome during office hours. You are welcome to attend any or all of the various portions of the evening program, arriving before or just in time for the dinner itself. Let us know that you are coming to help us plan. RSVP to the FJC office, 508-540-0602, fjcoffice@comcast.net. If you are curious about the tradition of eating potato latkes (nowadays often made with other vegetables, from sweet potatoes to parsnips), here’s what food blogger Tori Avey has to say: “We associate potato latkes with Hanukkah, but in reality latkes descends from Italian pancakes that were made with ricotta cheese…After the Spanish expelled the Jews from Sicily in 1492, the exiles introduced their ricotta cheese pancakes, which were called cassola in Rome, to the Jews of northern Italy. Consequently, cheese pancakes, because they combined the two traditional types of foods–fried and dairy–became a natural Hanukkah dish. Potato latkes are a more recent Ashkenazi invention that gained popularity in Eastern Europe during the mid 1800′s. A series of crop failures in Poland and the Ukraine led to mass planting of potatoes, which were easy and cheap to grow. But before potatoes came on the scene, the latke of choice was cheese.” Whether made with cheese or potatoes, the pancakes are fried in oil to remind us of the Hanukah oil that lasted eight days. The Falmouth Jewish Congregation is located at 7 Hatchville Road, East Falmouth. Facilities are handicap accessible and all are welcome at this Reform Jewish congregation serving the Upper Cape and beyond. For further information please call 508-540-0602 or visit www.falmouthjewish.org.