A Special Fig and Date Filled Babka for Tu B'shevat Shabbat

Tu B’Shevat, the 15th of Shevat on the Jewish calendar—celebrated this year on Shabbat, February 11, 2017—is the day that marks the beginning of a “new year” for trees. 

This is the season in which the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle.

We mark the day of Tu B’Shevat by eating fruit, particularly from the kinds that are singled out by the Torah in its praise of the bounty of the Holy Land: grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates.

Because this year Tu B'Shevat falls on Shabbat, and Shabbat is the day to eat the traditional babka, we're sharing a new recipe for a special fig and date filled babka for Tu B'Shevat Shabbat.

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

The Yiddish Chefs Are Back With Babka (Three Kinds) and Banter

Over the past four years we have posted 19 episodes of Est Gezunterheit, the Yiddish cooking show by Rukhl Schaechter and Eve Jochnowitz, the chefs of The Jewish Daily Forward. 

We find the attraction not only the heimishe recipes for traditional Jewish foods, but also the back and forth conversation between the two chefs in Yiddish that gives us a few new (and sometimes funny sounding) Yiddish words for everyday foods and utensils that we encounter in the kitchen.

Today's episode brings us recipes for three varieties of Babka, the traditional Eastern European coffee cake that appears on the table on Shabbat in many homes. Rukhl and Eve prepare Apricot Butter Babka, Cinnamon Babka, and Chocolate Babka. So watch the preparation, listen to the banter, and learn a few new Yiddish words and phrases at no extra charge.

Here are some words and phrases that are new to us:

Apricosenshmear = Apricot butter
Sloy = Jar
Shoim = Foam
Shoim shlugger = Whisk
Raketke = Paddle
Heiven = Yeast
Opgeknoden = Kneaded
Katchet Ois = Rolled out
Kleipik = Sticky
Tzimering = Cinnamon
Gefluchten = Woven
Freerke = Freezer
Geshmack = Tasty

Enjoy, and tell us in your comments how the babka enhanced your Shabbat!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)