Dumplings & Jews
From Kreplach to Khinkhali
It seems like every culture has their own way of wrapping a filling in dough. Growing up I ate Chef Boyardee ravioli from cans. Then when I was traveling around Europe as a college student, I took a day trip on a boat to view the architecture along the Brenta Canal from Venice to Padua.
We stopped at a restaurant for lunch, where I was introduced to tortellini in brodo. These tiny circles of dough with filling were pinched together at the ends and are often served in a broth, though when I open a store-bought package of them I complement with either butter and cheese or a tomato sauce.
From there it wasn’t much of a jump to Chinese wontons and dim sum. My cousin’s wife makes delicious momos, which are the Tibetan interpretation. The other night I visited a Georgian restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, where I had khinkali for the first time. Delicious!
My favorite type of dumpling, though, is kreplach. It’s a Jewish interpretation of this dish, served in a chicken broth instead of matzo balls. Which leads me to the main subject of this post.
I’ve written and published over 70 novels, and most of them have at least one Jewish protagonist. Writing about Jewish characters came naturally to me, because I was fortunate to have a strong Jewish education. And because I’ve spent so much time places where there were few Jews, I felt that my cozy mysteries and gay romances could educate people who didn’t know much about Jews.
Today, I think that mission is even more important, as evidence of anti-Jewish hate has risen in communities, around synagogues, and on college campuses. It’s easy to hate what you don’t know. By incorporating Jewish values and traditions in my work, I’m trying to provide examples of characters readers can fall in love with. I hope that loving these fictional folks will help readers feel more positively about Jews in the real world.
My MFA thesis, and first published novel, was Invasion of the Blatnicks, a comic look at Jewish family relationships and shopping mall construction. When I workshopped this book in classes, non-Jews were worried about the humor, but Jews laughed as they recognized real situations.
Since then, I’ve written a twenty-book series of cozy mysteries about a middle-aged Jewish guy who solves crimes in his small town with the help of his clue-sniffing golden retrievers. Steve Levitan’s language is peppered with Jewish exclamations, and when he fell in love with a Cuban Jewish woman, I got to take a deep dive into how Ashkenazi Jews passed through Cuban and other Latin countries when they weren’t able to emigrate directly to the US from Eastern Europe.
Dog Grant Me was lots of fun to write because of all the food involved!
Along the way I’ve written about Hanukkah traditions and Jewish food, and my next book will use the framework of the Purim story as the background for a mystery. The sound of the groggers will mask a gunshot—and the crime will take Steve into the world of Orthodox Jews and their unique traditions.
I hope that using the framework of the cozy mystery I can bring forward relatable Jewish characters—and just perhaps provide a bit more understanding in the world. This is my platform, and I owe it to all the Jews who have come before me to use it.
I hope you enjoy the next two weeks until we meet again.
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