{"id":18018,"date":"2025-01-04T13:08:14","date_gmt":"2025-01-04T18:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/?p=18018"},"modified":"2025-01-04T13:11:31","modified_gmt":"2025-01-04T18:11:31","slug":"hanukkah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/hanukkah\/","title":{"rendered":"Hanukkah"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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By Bianca Harmetz<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chiunque sia cresciuto a New York, non importa in qualche contesto religioso, conosce almeno qualche tradizione di Hanukkah: come minimo ha avuto l\u2019occasione di ammirare la menorah gigante su Fifth Avenue e di assaggiare i latkas, e di notare i bigliettini di auguri di Hanukkah e la carta da regalo con le stelline a sei punte e i candelabri esposta a fianco di quella natalizia nei negozi.<\/p>\n

La maggior parte degli italiani invece non hanno mai sentito nominare questa festa, dato che si contano meno di 30mila ebrei in Italia e vivono quasi tutti fra Roma e Milano.<\/p>\n

Tuttavia, le comunit\u00e0 ebraiche italiane sono molto antiche: i primi ebrei arrivarono addirittura durante l\u2019Impero Romano, in particolare dopo la caduta di Gerusalemme sotto l\u2019attacco di Tito; altri seguirono molti secoli dopo, dall\u2019Europa Centrale, dalla Spagna e dal Portogallo, dalla Grecia e dalla Turchia, dal Nord Africa, e pi\u00f9 di recente (pochi decenni fa) dalla Libia e dall\u2019Iran.<\/p>\n

Questo ha prodotto un mix di tradizioni particolarmente eclettico: in particolare le ricette familiari per le festivit\u00e0 ebraiche variano molto fra una regione e l\u2019altra, riflettendo le origini delle particolari comunit\u00e0 o famiglie.<\/p>\n

La maggior parte di queste ricette hanno come protagonista il fritto, dato che Hanukkah celebra il miracolo of un\u2019ampolla d\u2019olio che inaspettatamente riusc\u00ec a far brillare il candelabro del Tempio di Gerusalemme per ben sette notti quando esso venne riconsacrato.<\/p>\n

Quando si parla di olio, gli italiani ormai puntano sempre su quello di oliva, anche per le ricette che una volta utilizzavano grassi diversi come quello d\u2019oca.<\/p>\n

Anche qui si mangiano le classiche sufganyot (frittelle alla marmellata) e i latkas, ma ci sono svariate alternative, come il pollo impastellato e fritto, il riso all\u2019 uvetta, e molti dolci: dai Precipizi (palline di pasta fritta poi ricoperte di miele, simili ai famosi struffoli) tipici di Ancona e parte dell\u2019Italia Meridionale, alle frittelle di zucca veneziane, alle frittellone piatte dette Sfenz degli ebrei di origine libica, e cos\u00ec via.<\/p>\n

Fra gli ebrei romani \u00e8 poi diffusa una torta di ricotta, la Cassola, poich\u00e9 il latte \u00e8 un altro cibo simbolico, che viene associato alla dolcezza e serenit\u00e0 ma che ricorda anche il coraggio di Giuditta, che sconfisse Oloferne dopo averlo fatto addormentare offrendogli numerosi calici di vino e vassoi di formaggi.<\/p>\n

La maggior parte di queste antiche ricette sono ormai facilmente accessibili online.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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English Translation<\/b><\/p>\n

If you are born in New York City, whether you are Jewish or not, you are already quite familiar with some Hanukkah traditions: as a minimum, you have admired the giant menorah on Fifth Avenue, tasted latkas, and noticed Hanukkah-themed gift cards and wrapping paper at your local stores.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Italy, on the other hand, most people have never heard of this holiday because only less than 30,000 Jews live in the whole country, mostly in Rome and Milan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, Jews have been in Italy since the 2nd century b.C., some arriving directly during Roman times – especially after the fall of Jerusalem to Titus-, others many centuries later from Central and Eastern Europe, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Turkey, North Africa, and lastly (only a few decades ago) from Libya and Iran.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This has created a very eclectic mix of traditions: in particular family recipes for the Jewish holidays vary a lot from one region to another, depending on where that community mostly originated from.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most Hanukkah recipes focus on fried food, because the holiday commemorates the miracle of one small cruise of oil that somehow lasted eight whole nights when the Temple in Jerusalem was rededicated.<\/p>\n

When it comes to frying, nowadays Italians tend to choose local olive oil, even for those recipes that originally called for goose fat or other ingredients.<\/p>\n

While jelly doughnuts and latkas are always popular, other options are battered and fried chicken, rice with raisins, and many kinds of fried desserts: Precipizi<\/i> (fried dough balls covered in honey, similar to struffoli) <\/i>in Ancona and some parts of Southern Italy; Pumpkin fritters in Venice, a large flat fritter called Sfenz<\/i> among the Jews of Libyan origins, etc.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Roman Jews also have a ricotta cake, Cassola<\/i>, since milk is another symbolic food, which we associate with sweetness but also reminds us how heroic Judith defeated Holofernes by first making him sleepy with large servings of wine and cheese.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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FRITTELLE DI ZUCCA \u2013 Venetian Pumpkin (or Butternut Squash) Fritters<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 pound butternut squash cleaned and diced
2 eggs
grated zest of 2 oranges
\u00be cup of sugar and a pinch of salt
1 and \u00bd cups flour
\u00bd package (8 gr) baking powder
\u00bd teaspoon cinnamon, if liked
\u00bd cup Raisins or Sultanas
Olive oil or other oil for deep-frying, about 3 cups
Confectioner\u2019s sugar, or more granulated sugar, for decorating<\/p>\n

Plump the raisins in a cup of warm water.
Place the diced squash in a large platter and cover almost completely, leaving a small opening for the steam to come out, and microwave on high for 10 minutes or until very tender.
Place the cooked squash in a food processor with the sugar, salt, cinnamon, orange zest, and zest and process till smooth.
Drain and dry the raisins, and add them to the mix.
Transfer to a large bowl and gradually add the flour (sifted with the baking powder), using an electric or manual whisk.
In a frying pan, heat the olive oil to 350\u00b0 (you can test it by dropping a small piece of bread in the oil: if bubbles form around the bread, the temperature is right). Take the batter with a tablespoon, filling it to about \u00bd, and push the batter into the oil with your index finger or using two spoons. Fry in 2 or 3 batches until golden all over, turning to cook evenly. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer onto a platter lined with several layers of paper towels. Sprinkle with<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bianca Harmetz Chiunque sia cresciuto a New York, non importa in qualche contesto religioso, conosce almeno qualche tradizione di Hanukkah: come minimo ha avuto l\u2019occasione di ammirare la menorah…Read More <\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18018"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18018"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18023,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18018\/revisions\/18023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}