Hamentash Project 2010
by Nora Zoob
Purim is a holiday of gift giving and fun. No other holiday makes us feel so cheerful, and on no other holiday are there so many goodies to be eaten.
For the first time in my life, I prepared thousands of hamantashen at Rotella's Italian Bakery on Tuesday afternoon. Like my Thursday mornings with Shani, I so looked foward to the experience. I met new women, saw woman I hadn't seen for a while, talked, laughed and engaged in a good deed. We made the dough, rolled the dough into balls, flattened, added jelly and pinched and pinched the pastry to form triangles. We interacted with the staff, bagged the baked goods and shipped them off to Israeli soldiers for Purim.
L-R Basya Tsed, Mushka Katzman, Nancy Wolf, this author and Rebbetzin Shani Katzman talk as they shape Hamentashen.
Shani showed me how we pinch and reminded me that we hide the filling in the pasty to identify the unique miracle of Purim. There are the "sea splitting miracles" or the "oil burns longer than expected" miracles that are blatant and obvious. Then there are the "know the right people', "at the right place at the right time", did not miss my bus" or even the "sun rises each morning" miracles that are not obviously miracles, yet if one looks closely, one can see the glaring Hand of G‑d. One of the teachings of the Purim Festival is that we must sensitize ourselves and learn to see and celebrate the "hidden" miracles- hence the jam hidden in the pastry!
Some staff at Rotella's Bakery and Chabad volunteers pack Hamentash into boxes to be shipped overseas to our soldiers in Israel, our American soldiers and to earthquake victims in Haiti.
I enjoyed myself so. I learned Rotella's is a kosher environment. I asked three different employees why. They all responded with the same answer: "We want all people to enjoy our bread."
Taking the time to taste-test the hamentashen and supervise the process.
Purim has always been a day of gladness and will continue to be so forevermore. Thank you Chabad of Omaha for giving me a more meaningful life.
