Sunday evening, the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center hosted its “Hanukkah and All That Jazz” event, featuring a live duet, a sing-along, and classic Hanukkah foods for the holiday’s fourth night.
Attendees were encouraged to bring their own menorahs, to be lit together along with the hanukkiah at the Hebrew Center.
More than 50 attendees on Sunday evening enjoyed live music, provided by friends and musicians Jeremy Berlin (of Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish, on keys) and Eric Johnson (on guitar). Caryn Broitman, rabbi at the Hebrew Center, also led a sing-along and call-and-response segment.
Selections from the songbook ranged from Hebrew and other established tunes (“Ocho Kandelikas”), to the rabbi’s personal preferences. “What [I] didn’t sing as a kid was a song by Neil Young, but we’re going to do that now,” Broitman said, before leading the room in “Light a Candle.”
Traditional Hanukkah foods, laid out in the middle of the sanctuary, received much of the eventgoers’ attention. Rugelach pastries were offered, as were hundreds of latkes, along with applesauce and sour cream on the side. The latkes served at the event were courtesy of Alex and Kate Salop, owners of the Tisbury Toy Box toy store.
“We’ve made them every year since maybe 2016 or 2017,” said Mr. Salop.
For the approximately 250 potato pancakes at the Hebrew Center on Sunday, Salop consulted a family recipe. “You have to grate the potato, add the onion, your other secret ingredients, fry them up, and then you’re good to go.”
Making so many latkes took the Salops a few hours on Sunday. “A little bit more of an industrial process with this [many latkes],” said Salop.
Salop is aware that the ideal latke is open to debate: “My perspective on it is that I like them coarse and crispy. Some people like them sort of mushy, and I’m not a mushy guy.”
Rabbi Brian Walt, at the Hebrew Center Sunday evening, greatly appreciated the contribution. “The best I’ve ever had,” said Walt. “Latkes were always squishy, and moist, and watery. And those are crisp and beautiful. They’re really tasty.”
Seated in full view of the event, Walt also reflected on the holiday overall. “I really like Hanukkah, because I … was born in South Africa. So Hanukkah in South Africa was totally different, because it’s the middle of the summer. We were beach bums. We’d go to the beach every day. And it didn’t make any sense, this lighting of lights. It was the lightest time of the year. It was sunny all day.”
“For me, [Hanukkah has] become a very powerful holiday,” said Walt, “in the sense of the meaning of bringing light into darkness, and noticing the relationship between dark and light and all that. Dark is where things are born. That’s where things gestate and come to life. And it is the darkest time of the year.”
Just before dinnertime, as eventgoers departed into a dark winter evening, attendee David Taitz was asked which was his favorite food of the night, and the answer, again, was latkes.
