For this Tuesday’s live show, I’ll be sharing a little bit of holiday tradition that I’ve learned from Jewish friends over the years. One of my interests is Jewish-American culture/food/music of the early 20th century so I picked up a bit through high school and college.

This ancient holiday celebrates a successful armed revolt against the Greek Empire, and of the miraculous oil that burned for 8 days and nights. Though not a major holiday on the scale of Passover, it has become a important winter tradition in the United States. It’s celebrated by children with a wooden top (dreidel) emblazoned with Hebrew letters that stand for Nun, Gimel, Hei, Shin which means נס גדול היה שם “A great miracle happened there”. It’s also associated with chocolate coins (gelt) and lots of food friend in oil. A lovely and very old custom!

For this week’s recipe, I’ll be making up some delicious potato latkes to show during the stream, with sour cream and applesauce. You wouldn’t think that a fried potato pancake wouldn’t go well with something sweet like applesauce but it’s surprisingly tasty!

The song of the week is by the group The Leevees, who have a great album of modern-day Chanukkah songs.