Another brilliant and charming episode. Might be my fav so far. All my life, the majority of my friends have been Jewish. I’ve been lucky to enjoy such good food and good company.
Another great episode! I could relate hard to this one. I loved hearing about your dad's Star of David Microphone Stand. My dad actually made a pretty rad giant wooden menorah with light up candles that was on our porch for a few years, until someone stole it.
I didn't know jelly donuts was a Hanukkah tradition until a few years ago. Frankly, I felt cheated! I love jelly donuts and excuses to eat them! Now I typically have both jelly donuts and latkes with sour cream and apple sauce. (Ketchup? Ooof. *Shakes Head*)
I think I was in college when I learned about the donuts. I also felt cheated. We are owed donuts, my friend. Also, someone stole you family Hanukkah display? What the hell?!
It sucks, but we got over it. I hope it was because the thief loved the display and wanted it for themselves, but you know, the world is bad so probably not.
You pointed out in your episode how bad coconut macaroons are. I think they’re the reason I don’t care for coconut today. Imagine if we had sweet delicious jelly donuts instead! The world is unfair.
Dec 14, 2023·edited Dec 14, 2023Liked by Michael Estrin
hash-browns jelly donuts gambling chocolate plus the fact you get socks and underwear every day for 8 street days (avoiding trips to Wal-Mart) i now feel like summoning a Parental War Crimes tribunal for raising me Episcopalian (at least i think it was)
was reminded to listen to this after a great Zevon slide song came up on bluetooth "Rub Me Raw" never really heard it...has definitely a gritty Joe Walsh feel
i remember watching SAandler do that song oin SNL in real time i am as old as Maccabees (and just as willing to revolt lol)
If Zevon’s ghost sent you to the pod I owe him many thanks. But I’m gonna hold off on meeting him for a few years. As for your upbringing, just remember that you can always celebrate the Jewish holidays with your Jewish friends. Plenty of latkes, chocolate, donuts and gambling for everyone!
I love when Sandler did the Hanukkah Song on SNL Weekend Update with Norm Macdonald. Hilarious, brilliant, and much better than Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel!
Sooooo in 2020 I found out that my great-grandparents on my dad's side were Russian Jews who escaped the internment camps there in 1906, they landed in Maryland and eventually went on to New York. In 1938, my grandma was a Navy nurse in WWII, she changed her name from Cookie Cooperstein and hid her Jewish identity. My uncle (her son) waited to tell me all of this almost 30 years after she'd died.. I felt a great sense of loss and also a feeling of "oh, so that's what's been missing"... When you describe the love of fried foods, chocolate, gambling 👀🤣, and what Hanukkah means, I had that same feeling of kinship 🙃.
I really enjoyed this episode so much! I think i'll go get a donut now 🙂
Wow, this is really amazing! Thank you for sharing this! I don't know if you know this, but your family story is both unique and common. There's a very long history, at least as far back as the inquisition, of Jews hiding their identity to survive. In many cases, they hid their identity so well that their kids and grandkids never knew that they were Jewish. On a related note, I just gotta say, Cookie Cooperstein is fantastic name! Like really fantastic! Thank you again for sharing this, Mesa!
Thank you Michael! I've been trying to learn more about our history, so thank you for sharing with me that as well! I love her name so much!! When I was a kid she went by Trudy instead :( I wish I could have known her as Cookie, though I feel a little bit like I do, what sent me down the rabbit hole with her was when I was gifted her Navy nurse yearbook and so many of her friends kept calling her Cookie.. so I asked my uncle and BOOM- world rocked!
Family history and history in general are fascinating to me!
I love hearing about this kind of stuff. Have you checked her Navy records? That might have some info about her. Also, there might be some friends who served with her who are still alive. You never know, right? Plus, you might try a service like Ancestry for more info. This is such a cool journey that you’re on.
The spelling variations are because it's from a different language and different people who started translating it, made different choices. Same way that names got spelled in different ways. One of my high school friends last name was Schanen. His grandfather decided to change his name to something American at Ellis Island and was going to work for an Irish roofing contractor named Shannon. In the words of David Steinberg, "Let's put the Christ back into Christmas and the Cccchhhh back into Ccchhhanukah.:
Latkes were what I grew up on. Never heard of donuts for Hannukah til last week when friends invited us over, but then said not to bring them because they only eat them on the first night. They did latkes with cinnamon and surgar. I usually do sour cream or apple sauce.
I like Tom Lehrer's Hannukah in Santa Monica better than the Sandler songs.
And perhaps they could sell Hannukah better if they had kids visiting Judah Macabee in the mall.
Loved this podcast! Thanks for Jew-splaining all of it. Being between religions at the moment, perhaps I should give Judaism a try - I mean, I like latkes (I also hit both the applesauce and the sour cream), and jelly donuts and those cookies. also sound awesome. When the advertising agency gets around to promoting Hanukkah, they should hire you as their spokesperson.
So Hanukkah = fried food. Got it!
Delightful episode, as usual!
Don't forget the gambling and chocolate! Also, thank you, Anne!
Another brilliant and charming episode. Might be my fav so far. All my life, the majority of my friends have been Jewish. I’ve been lucky to enjoy such good food and good company.
Another great episode! I could relate hard to this one. I loved hearing about your dad's Star of David Microphone Stand. My dad actually made a pretty rad giant wooden menorah with light up candles that was on our porch for a few years, until someone stole it.
I didn't know jelly donuts was a Hanukkah tradition until a few years ago. Frankly, I felt cheated! I love jelly donuts and excuses to eat them! Now I typically have both jelly donuts and latkes with sour cream and apple sauce. (Ketchup? Ooof. *Shakes Head*)
I think I was in college when I learned about the donuts. I also felt cheated. We are owed donuts, my friend. Also, someone stole you family Hanukkah display? What the hell?!
It sucks, but we got over it. I hope it was because the thief loved the display and wanted it for themselves, but you know, the world is bad so probably not.
You pointed out in your episode how bad coconut macaroons are. I think they’re the reason I don’t care for coconut today. Imagine if we had sweet delicious jelly donuts instead! The world is unfair.
hash-browns jelly donuts gambling chocolate plus the fact you get socks and underwear every day for 8 street days (avoiding trips to Wal-Mart) i now feel like summoning a Parental War Crimes tribunal for raising me Episcopalian (at least i think it was)
was reminded to listen to this after a great Zevon slide song came up on bluetooth "Rub Me Raw" never really heard it...has definitely a gritty Joe Walsh feel
i remember watching SAandler do that song oin SNL in real time i am as old as Maccabees (and just as willing to revolt lol)
If Zevon’s ghost sent you to the pod I owe him many thanks. But I’m gonna hold off on meeting him for a few years. As for your upbringing, just remember that you can always celebrate the Jewish holidays with your Jewish friends. Plenty of latkes, chocolate, donuts and gambling for everyone!
I love when Sandler did the Hanukkah Song on SNL Weekend Update with Norm Macdonald. Hilarious, brilliant, and much better than Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel!
I felt so seen when he did that song on SNL.
Sooooo in 2020 I found out that my great-grandparents on my dad's side were Russian Jews who escaped the internment camps there in 1906, they landed in Maryland and eventually went on to New York. In 1938, my grandma was a Navy nurse in WWII, she changed her name from Cookie Cooperstein and hid her Jewish identity. My uncle (her son) waited to tell me all of this almost 30 years after she'd died.. I felt a great sense of loss and also a feeling of "oh, so that's what's been missing"... When you describe the love of fried foods, chocolate, gambling 👀🤣, and what Hanukkah means, I had that same feeling of kinship 🙃.
I really enjoyed this episode so much! I think i'll go get a donut now 🙂
Wow, this is really amazing! Thank you for sharing this! I don't know if you know this, but your family story is both unique and common. There's a very long history, at least as far back as the inquisition, of Jews hiding their identity to survive. In many cases, they hid their identity so well that their kids and grandkids never knew that they were Jewish. On a related note, I just gotta say, Cookie Cooperstein is fantastic name! Like really fantastic! Thank you again for sharing this, Mesa!
Thank you Michael! I've been trying to learn more about our history, so thank you for sharing with me that as well! I love her name so much!! When I was a kid she went by Trudy instead :( I wish I could have known her as Cookie, though I feel a little bit like I do, what sent me down the rabbit hole with her was when I was gifted her Navy nurse yearbook and so many of her friends kept calling her Cookie.. so I asked my uncle and BOOM- world rocked!
Family history and history in general are fascinating to me!
I love hearing about this kind of stuff. Have you checked her Navy records? That might have some info about her. Also, there might be some friends who served with her who are still alive. You never know, right? Plus, you might try a service like Ancestry for more info. This is such a cool journey that you’re on.
Great idea!!! I'll let you know how it goes :)
The spelling variations are because it's from a different language and different people who started translating it, made different choices. Same way that names got spelled in different ways. One of my high school friends last name was Schanen. His grandfather decided to change his name to something American at Ellis Island and was going to work for an Irish roofing contractor named Shannon. In the words of David Steinberg, "Let's put the Christ back into Christmas and the Cccchhhh back into Ccchhhanukah.:
Latkes were what I grew up on. Never heard of donuts for Hannukah til last week when friends invited us over, but then said not to bring them because they only eat them on the first night. They did latkes with cinnamon and surgar. I usually do sour cream or apple sauce.
I like Tom Lehrer's Hannukah in Santa Monica better than the Sandler songs.
And perhaps they could sell Hannukah better if they had kids visiting Judah Macabee in the mall.
Love all of this! I need to check out the Tom Lehrer song, thanks for that!
Loved this podcast! Thanks for Jew-splaining all of it. Being between religions at the moment, perhaps I should give Judaism a try - I mean, I like latkes (I also hit both the applesauce and the sour cream), and jelly donuts and those cookies. also sound awesome. When the advertising agency gets around to promoting Hanukkah, they should hire you as their spokesperson.