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October 31, 2008
The next generations
The bazaar may be gone, but knishes live on.
MICHELLE DODEK
The knishes of the Hadassah Bazaar are legendary both within and outside of the Jewish community. "People used to line up outside of the bazaar in the pouring rain just for the food," said past bazaar chair and current Vancouver Hadassah council president
Sheryl Morris. The food was a big draw and a money maker, so, two years ago, when the ladies of the Henrietta Szold chapter, who had always been in charge of the knishes, found it was too much work for them, a younger chapter stepped in to pick up the torch ... or potato, as it were.
In an effort to recreate the "bubbie-baked," flakey, hot potato and onion knishes, the 20- and 30-something women of Dorot welcomed the help of the more experienced women who had been doing it for years. They needed recipes, quantities, baking, storing and pricing advice. Most of all, someone needed to demonstrate the "art of the knish." That woman was Lila Goldin.
Goldin started bringing knishes to the bazaar so many years ago that she doesn't even remember when it was. She and her friend, Lil Tischler, who brought the recipe from Winnipeg, began making the knishes at home to sell at the bazaar. "Once we were able to convince the women in our chapter that it would be a money maker, more people helped and we started to make a really good profit!" recounted Goldin.
The process of producing 1,200 knishes in a day evolved over the years, according to Goldin. She passed on her information to knish committee chair Gayle Pelman two years ago, and she organized the first knish bee for Dorot chapter. One hundred pounds of pre-peeled potatoes and 50 pounds of chopped onions were delivered two days before the first knish was made so that the potatoes could be ready for the assembly line. Although everything was in place, including a demonstration for the newbie knish makers, Pelman recalled that it was incredibly labor intensive because there were not enough people helping.
The following year, the solution was found. The 2007 Hadassah Bazaar was held at the Hellenic Centre on Arbutus and they rented out their kitchen the Sunday before the bazaar to Dorot. That kitchen was the key to last year's success, said Pelman. "Knish making was a real chapter builder. It was our most successful event last year." She said that five women from a more experienced chapter, Royal City, came out to help the 30 or so women from Dorot and they all worked hard for five hours to produce 1,200 baked knishes.
In the hey-days of the bazaar, the knishes always sold as a hot food item at the concession. The women of Dorot sold 90 per cent of their knishes as take-home items. Although the times were changing and the attendance at the bazaar was shrinking, the demand for home-made knishes was still there. Dorot sold six knishes for $5 and all of the knishes were gone before the bazaar closed its doors last year. No one knew that would be the last Hadassah Bazaar Vancouver would see.
"For a variety of reasons, the bazaar is not a viable fundraiser. We may resurrect parts of it in various forms, but for now, that's all I can say," said Morris. "Toronto is having their last bazaar this year, and it's the only place left in the country."
Hadassah chapters still have a mandate to raise money for the organization's projects in Israel supporting children, women and health care. Dorot chapter is hoping to continue to fundraise by selling knishes. The challenge is, with the bazaar gone, the venue for sales has also disappeared. Dorot is counting on the demand for traditional food and a connection with the past remaining strong: they will take orders for knishes for the first three weeks of November and then join with some members of Henrietta Szold to make the knishes. "The knish saga continues!" beamed Goldin, who has volunteered to pre-cook 10 pounds of potatoes, as well as make knishes.
The chapter name, Dorot, means generations in Hebrew. It was selected because this group of women felt strongly that a connection to the past was part of their identity as a group. The tradition of the Hadassah Bazaar knish lives on even if the bazaar itself is gone. To place an order for your knishes this year, call Susanne at 604-731-5408.
Michelle Dodek is a freelance writer living in Vancouver whose full-time job is caring for her two small children.
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