Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/730143
viewpoints » S e n d l e t t e r s t o : l e t t e r s @ t h e j e w i s h n e w s . c o m September 22 • 2016 5 for openers Something All My Own: Eggplant Y ou know what's exciting? When you discover you really like a new food you've previously never even bothered tasting and then — even better! — it turns out you're the only one in your house who actually likes it! It's wonderful. You buy a large container of, in my case, baba ganoush, and ta-da — it's there every time you open the fridge, just sitting there, smiling at you. My teenage son says eggplant is overrated. I say the only thing that's overrated is eating too much. (If you didn't get that, read it aloud, slower this time … over-ated is eating too much. Oh, dear. Corny. But there ya go!) Anyhow, really, it's uncanny; I can never find any other object — shoes, keys, pens — but the eggplant is always exactly where it's supposed to be. It's so different from the freshly baked brownies you might leave cooling on the counter. One hungry person comes along and has just one teeny-tiny piece, and then the next one comes along and says, "Oh, look, someone cut a corner; I'll just make the cake square." Then the next one says, "That's supposed to be square? I'll just even it out;" and the next one comes along and says, "That's not even! Here, I'll help." Between their "help" and the oth- ers who "just pick at the crumbs," by the time you come back, the pan is completely empty and there's just a faint whiff of chocolate in the air that leaves you with a longing that no amount of eggplant can satisfy. You see, you can't just leave chocolate-anything out and about, not if you ever want to see it again. If you have a fam- ily of chocoholics, you learn to come up with clever hiding spots. One idea, for example, is to hide your favorite ice cream in a scrunched up grocery bag and give it an unappealing label before you tuck it in the freezer behind the frozen chicken. "Twice reheated meatloaf leftovers" or "slimy old fish with the eyeball still in it, which, by the way, is totally staring at you." But you have to be careful. Some labels will just make the person rum- maging in the freezer curious. "Oooh … an eyeball? Maybe I could put it on my brother's pillow." And then that's the end of your evening bonding session with your favorite Ben & Jerry's. Every family has its favorite foods, the tried-and-true recipes, the weird foodie habits and stories. I know a mother who was horrified to dis- cover a hard little lump on her young daughter's shoulder. She rushed her to the doctor, who solemnly studied the lump with a magnifying glass, prod- ded it and then, with much ceremony, removed the stale chewing gum. Pastafarians take the cake though. They celebrate Pastover and Ramendan and have customs up their sieves like wearing pasta strainers on their heads in their legal ID pictures. (Imagine what happens when they get pulled over. The cop says, "Drinking and driv- ing? I mean, use your noodle!") With a month of Jewish holidays coming up, many of us are thinking about food — what to cook, what to freeze, how to please so many differ- ent palates, how to not gain too much weight and how to keep costs down. I say: Let them eat eggplant. * Rochel Burstyn Camp In Ukraine Inspires Judaism I was very happy the JN carried an article by Darrien Sherman about Camp Ramah Yahad/Ukraine and the won- derful group of Ramah U.S. counselors working there this summer ("Ramah Magic," Sept. 8, page 34). The most significant funder of this camp for the past 24 years has been the Ben Teitel Charitable Trust, whose trust- ee is Jerry Cook of Farmington Hills. We are incredibly grateful to Jerry for all that he has done for Camp Ramah Yachad/Ukraine in memory of his dear uncle and aunt Ben and Harriett (Mendelson) Teitel. The 135 Ukrainian Jewish camp- ers this summer came from Kiev, Chernowitz, Berdichev, Kharkov, Odessa, Uzhgorod, Chust and Munkatch. Some had recently fled homes in and near Donetsk due to the invasion by Russian troops. More than 1,000 children and parents from Camp Ramah Yahad and our other programs in Ukraine have made aliyah and are living in Israel. It is clear that our programs, which emphasize Hebrew and Zionism, inspired them to make aliyah. We need financial help to continue the camp as is. With enough funding, we could extend the camp from its lim- ited session of 10 days, accommodate more campers (we turn away campers every summer) and expand the Ramah Family Camp for parents and younger children. You can donate via Paypal at www. schechter.edu or mail a tax-deductible check to the Schechter Institutes Inc., P.O. Box 8500, Philadelphia, PA 19178- 3566. Please earmark your gift for "Camp Ramah Ukraine." Rabbi Professor David Golinkin, president The Schechter Institutes, Inc. Jerusalem Letters to the Editor: We prefer letters that relate to articles in the Jewish News. We reserve the right to edit or reject letters. Brevity is encouraged. Letters published will include the name and city of residence of the writer. Letters submitted must contain the name, address, title of the writer (if applicable) and a daytime phone number. We prefer emailed letters. Please email to letters@thejewishnews.com. (Letters sent by U.S. Postal Service must be hand-signed and mailed to the Jewish News, 29200 Northwestern Hwy., Suite 110, Southfield, MI 48034.) letters -RLQXVWRKHDU 0DUWLQ%HONLQ'2 VSHDNRQWKHWRSLFRI 0DLQWDLQLQJ*RRG +HDOWK:LWK06 1XWULWLRQIRU 3HRSOH:LWK06 'RQ¶WPLVVWKLVRSSRUWXQLW\WROHDUQ PRUHDERXW06DQGFRQQHFWZLWK RWKHUVLQWKH06FRPPXQLW\ 10/5/16DW30 +XHUWR5HVWDXUDQW 6199 Orchard Lake Road West Bloomfield, MI 48322 This event is accessible to people with disabilities. A light meal will be provided. 3OHDVH5693IRU\RX DQGDJXHVWE\FDOOLQJ