Temple Or Elohim’s Familyhood committee hosted a “make and bake” event for families recently, with more than 100 congregants (adults and children) rolling out special pastry dough—a recipe for hamantashen that has been in one of the congregant’s family for generations. Each person had fun cutting the flattened dough into small circles, filling them with various jellies, chocolate and marshmallows and folding them into triangular shapes. As they anxiously waited for the pastries to be done baking, the children decorated their own bakery boxes, which was used to bring home these Jewish goodies. At the end of this baking event, the temple collectively baked more than 300 cookies.
As an added component of this fun day, an application had been submitted to the Guinness Book Of World Records to create the largest hamantash. Members of Temple or Elohim who participated in this event assisted in making this very large pastry. Typically, these triangular-shaped cookies can fit within the palm of one’s hand—however, by making a cookie that was significantly larger it instilled the cultural, religious and historical meaning behind Haman, the defeated enemy of the Jewish people that then became the holiday known as Purim. This was an important and fun educational teaching for all involved that might get into the record books if it selected by Guinness.
—Tribune Staff
