The Yiddish Chefs Welcome Hoshana Rabbah With Vegetarian Stuffed Cabbage

Today is Hoshana Rabbah, the last day of Chol Hamoed Sukkot. Tonight we start a separate holiday, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah -- a single day in Israel and two days everywhere else. 

There are no special foods designated for Chol Hamoed, the intermediate days of Sukkot. But thanks to a Yiddish pun, there is a tradition to eat stuffed cabbage on Hoshana Rabbah.

So what's the pun? You're going to love this one. On Hoshana Rabbah we beat willow branches on the ground and say the phrase Kol Mevasser. If you tune your ears to the Yiddish channel, it sounds like Kroyt mit vasser, or cabbage with water. O--kay!

Whether or not you accept this reasoning, it's still a good idea to try a new dish during this month of seemingly endless holidays meals. In this case, it's a vegetarian version of stuffed cabbage prepared in the kitchen of the Jewish Daily Forward by their team of Yiddish-speaking chefs, Rukhl Schaechter and Eve Jochnowitz.

Whenever we run one of these recipes (and we've run 16 others - just click on "Est Gezunterheit" in the Labels column at the left of the page) we pick up a few new Yiddish words, and today is no exception. Listen carefully to the dialogue and watch the English subtitles and you'll add these new words to your Yiddish vocabulary:

Holuptshes or Holishkes or Prakes or Gevikelte Kroyt or Golumpke = Stuffed Cabbage
(It's been said that Eskimos have dozens of words for snow and ice, so why can't Jews have multiple words for stuffed cabbage?)

Kroyt = Cabbage
Bletter = Leaves 
Gefilachts = Stuffing
Semishkes = Sunflower seeds
Shvemelach = Mushrooms
Grintzen = Vegetables
Tzeribeneh Kez = Grated cheese
Leffel = Tablespoon
Leffeleh = Teaspoon 
Zilber Papeer = Aluminum Foil

The recipe appears just below the video. We wish you a happy Hoshana Rabbah, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah. Enjoy the video and we'll see you back here on Sunday with another selection from our eclectic mix.

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