No more lau lua for kau kau at the local Jewau

06 May 2011 1 Comment

by Being Jewish in Hawaii in Food Tags: , , , ,

When I was preparing for our Passover seder a few weeks ago, I opened the  cookbook that our Temple’s Sisterhood  published last year.

That was the first time I really looked at the book. I bought it for two reasons: to support the sisterhood and my mother’s recipes were inside. I never really imagined that I would use it.

Pressed for time, instead of digging through my recipe drawer for the index card with my mom’s hand written instructions, I got “Cooking With Shaloha” down from the shelf.

It was much more interesting than I expected. Filled with typical recipes for challah and brisket and kasha varnishkes, it is also peppered with local dishes such as haupia and mango bread and poke.

The best surprise came at the end of the book: The Juau!

I was thrilled to find this one. Contributor Jill Merl suggests a menu for a porkless luau. I thought it was hilarious.

And then I started thinking that  a Passover seder is the Jewish version of a luau–the ultimate Jewau.

I looked up the meaning of  luau on the internet and an online dictionary defined it as: an elaborate Hawaiian feast or party (especially one accompanied by traditional foods and entertainment.)

Sounds like a seder to me. Just substitute the word Hawaiian with Jewish and entertainment with telling the story and there you have it–a Jewau.

Gefilte fish fills in for poke or lomi salmon, chicken soup for chicken long rice. Eat brisket instead of kalua pork and macaroons instead of haupia! Drink four glasses with tiny bubbles…..You get the idea.

Stand up and be counted

03 May 2011 1 Comment

by Being Jewish in Hawaii in Family, Holiday Tags: , ,

When I signed up to have our family portrait taken to be included in the Temple’s 50th Anniversary Commemorative Pictorial Directory I was just doing it to be supportive. It sounded like a good idea and I wanted to be included.

I also like the idea of being a part of the Temple’s history.

I read the Rabbi’s emails and Temple newsletter article about how taking pictures for this purpose would not be irreverent on a solemn day such as Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. It made sense and I agreed, but I didn’t really think too much about it. I had already signed up.

When the article appeared in the Honolulu Star Bulletin on Saturday quoting his thoughts, my husband and I agreed that it made going to take our picture even more meaningful.

The idea of being a “statement of our people’s triumph” filled me with purpose. Our family was going to proudly affirm our lives–our Jewish lives on this day of remembrance.

I figured that if I was going to be a statement, a historical representative of a Jewish person in Hawaii in 2011 that I’d better represent well. I chose everything that I wore with care.

Not only did I want to look good, but what I wore was symbolic. The dress was colorful for our Aloha style in Hawaii. Each piece of jewelry came from somebody that I love. That way I could represent them as well.

You can’t see them in this photo I took before the session, but they are there.


Along with my wedding ring and anniversary necklace from my husband, I wore the earrings he brought back for me from a trip to Texas last year.

I wore the Hawaiian bracelet my mother gave me for my 40th birthday and the pearl ring my father gave her long before I was born.

I wore a bracelet from my mother-in-law and one from Uncle Puppy who passed away just last month.

We enjoyed the photo session. It brought us together, celebrating our family and our place in the community. The young woman from Lifetouch encouraged us to smile for the camera and was patient as we posed.

Thank you to all who organized the photo shoot and the directory. We are a proud family to be included  in what, as Rabbi Schaktman said is, “No greater tribute to those who lost their lives, and no greater repudiation of their murderers.”

Happy May Day and lei day and celebrations across Hawai’i Nei

02 May 2011 1 Comment

by Being Jewish in Hawaii in Holiday, Rites of Passage, Traditions Tags: , , ,

I am ashamed to admit that  when I drove up to the Island Pacific Academy parking lot to pick up my older daughter, who was helping set up for the May Day festivities to be held the next day and I saw how hard they were all working to make a stage and a seating area and decorate with palm leaves and plumeria flowers, I wondered to myself, “Is it worth it?”

I knew right away that I was just feeling guilty that I wasn’t out there sweating with the best of them and that  the next day would turn all of their labor into a blessing for my family and the entire IPA community at the 4th Annual May Day Celebration, Na Mo’olelo Hawai’i, The Legends of Hawaii.

Of course it was a blessing. Legendary. And a beautiful story they told.

My Jewish Hawaiian Princess joined the court, representing the island of Hawaii. Both of my girls danced. Our princess wore a hand-made lehua lei that her grandmother ordered from her brother in Hilo.

And the school came together under the clear, sunny sky, in our growing city of Kapolei, to revel in this May Day tradition of hula and song.

Even more remarkable is that the students danced to live music provided by June and Makana Kuahiwinui, Les Harris, Charlie Fukuba, and Madi Davis. IPA music teacher Ruthe Babas sang as well.

Their music was so perfect and their voices  so beautiful that I had to look several times to make sure it was not a recording. IPA Teacher Veronique Braithewaite was missed due to her  maternity leave, but they honored her with a big photo at the microphone.

I felt a bit emotional thinking that this will be my older daughter’s last May Day with IPA. She  will enter ninth grade at Kamehameha Schools next year. I tearfully remembered all of the care from Miss Momi and Mrs. Babas and then felt a little silly. We are not leaving IPA. Our younger girl will be there next year. Our blessings will grow with two programs to attend.

It  still tugged on my heart-strings, this rite of passage.

Kol Hakavod and Mahalo Nui Loa to Miss Momi and Mrs. Babas and all of the dedicated students and parents who came together to make this wonderful celebration a part of IPA’s history. Na Mo’olelo IPA.

The local newspaper finally writes a full article about local Jews!

01 May 2011 Leave a comment

by Being Jewish in Hawaii in Holiday Tags: , ,

Check out this article about Yom Hashoah in the Honolulu Star Bulletin.

Wrapping up Passover

29 Apr 2011 1 Comment

by Being Jewish in Hawaii in Family, Holiday Tags: , , , , , ,

I guess the key words at this point are “Passed” and “Over,” because Passover pretty much is. I keep thinking of the phrase “Just passing through” as well.

I thought I was going to be more  emotional when we had our seder at home this year. I anticipated that the things that usually made me feel connected to my mom who lived far away in Kansas City would make her absence from this present life too far away to bear. Making her chopped liver and taking out my parents’ seder plate from my childhood seemed like it would be empty and sad.

I was wrong (you won’t hear me saying that very often!)

It was as joyful as ever. I spent days preparing each dish with love and care:  chicken soup, matzah balls, chopped liver, charoset and the rest. I pulled out my Great Aunt Tee’s china and  the other sparkling serving dishes that we only use once a year for this very special occasion. And I was happy.

While we didn’t use them, I took out the Hagaddahs that my family read when I was a kid.  I found them when we cleaned out my mother’s basement last spring. They are labeled in my  her handwriting, “Martha, Betsy, Lorrie and Ted.” I wonder why there isn’t one that says “Gloria.”

My father’s copy is carefully marked in red pen so he could lead our seder (in his deep resonating voice) to dinner as efficiently as possible. He even wrote the word “Skip” in many places. Thank goodness. The Gershun family has always been short on seder and long on food! We definitely follow that tradition in this Gershun’s home to this day.

It wasn’t until I was putting away the seder plate and the china, a few days later, that I did feel sad. For a moment, my parents and  relatives were passing through to be with us on this special holiday, singing Dayeinu and Had Gad Ya joyfully together (a bit off-key.)

And now I was putting them back in the cupboard, along with a part of me, to wait for the next time. Ba shanah haba’ah, in the year to come we will all return together–if not in Jerusalem–at least in Kapolei.

There’s more than just a chicken in my soup pot

21 Apr 2011 1 Comment

by Being Jewish in Hawaii in Food, Holiday Tags: , , ,

This may not seem like a big deal to some, but for me it is huge. I used the fresh dill that grew in  my very own yard in the chicken soup that I made in preparation for our seder.

Many of you are used to growing things and eating them. I am not. I do not have a green thumb. The only thing I have been able to grow successfully are a few children and a dog or two over the years. My track record in the plant department is appalling.

Every time a plant in our garden begins to thrive, something happens. We go on vacation and the house sitter forgets to water them. It rains so much that the plants drown. Or I just put them in the wrong spot.

I had a beautiful basil plant for a while and was able to serve its leaves on a few occasions. I’ve even had some limited success with green onions. That’s about it.

I planted the dill seeds a while ago because the package said they need direct sunlight. I only plant seeds that like direct sunlight. None of this indirect stuff for me. It is too unclear.

I’ve been wondering what to do with the dill. It keeps growing and growing and growing. We keep watering and watering and watering. I’ve moved it a few times to chase the sun.  I am proud of our dill plant.

When I looked at a the  chicken soup recipe for Passover and it said to use fresh dill I got excited. “I get to use the dill,” I reveled.

The chickens and carrots and celery I bought at the store. I had to go to several stores to find the parsnip. But the dill was right in my yard waiting to jump in the pot.

Why was last night different than many other nights? Celebrating Passover with a little local style

19 Apr 2011 1 Comment

by Being Jewish in Hawaii in Family, Food, Holiday Tags: , , , , , ,

A seder in Hawaii is much like any seder around the world. We tell the story. We eat the traditional foods. And then there are a few special moments that highlight that we are celebrating in this particular place and possibly nowhere else.

Last night was no exception. The Aloha Jewish Chapel seder at the Hale Koa Hotel was a pleasure. The table was set with a beautiful seder plate and we told the story that Jews around the world had been telling all day long in different time zones.

This particular event has a personal story our family likes to tell. Every year when we attend, we remember that it was at this very seder, eight years ago, that my husband and I had our “Almost First Date.” We have been going every year since–except in 2005 when he was deployed in Iraq.

2006

2007

2011

The seder also has some local flavor, but not in the cooking.

How many seders have you been to where the guest list is a balance of  names such as Watanabe, Fukuhara and Hashimoto?

And then there is the music. Rachel Haymer played the ukulele at my wedding, my daughter’s Bat Mitzvah and at most of our Temple events. The addition of her ukulele and her voice last night was a real treat.

Finally, comes my favorite, and the initial inspiration to write this particular blog entry. When we were singing the four questions, during the part that asks why on some nights we eat either sitting or reclining, but on this night we only recline: She b’chol haleilot anu ochlin bein yoshbin uvein m’subin. Halailah hazeh, kulanu m’subin., both my husband and older daughter changed the word  m’subin-reclining- to musubi which is a spam and rice sushi snack that is so far from belonging at a seder that one can only laugh.

Try singing it.

Only in Hawaii.

Happy Passover.

The search for gefilte fish and horseradish…tears to my eyes

18 Apr 2011 1 Comment

by Being Jewish in Hawaii in Holiday Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Preparing for Passover in Hawaii has gotten easier in the past few years, but it is still not completely convenient.

Most of the neighborhood Safeways have matzah and matzah meal. They bring it out for every Jewish holiday, thinking that we eat it all year round.

Now that I am a “Military Wife,” I have access to the commissary which dutifully puts out a table of items a few weeks before Passover, but it wasn’t as robust this year as the last few.

Whole Foods in Kahala (about 25 miles from my house and a good hour drive if there is traffic) had a good selection of macaroons and gluten free Passover items.

Only the Kapahulu Safeway had gefilte fish. My husband loves gefilte fish. I made the drive.

When I was at the commissary yesterday I asked for fresh horseradish and was told they only have the Chinese kind. I figured that would do for a bitter herb. I had no idea that Chinese horseradish was so big. I had to take a photo. Even my husband laughed.

While surfing the web, my younger daughter noticed that Party City has ready made plague bags, a new tradition at our seder ever since my oldest sister started sending them to my kids. We went to the Waikele Party City to check them out. When I asked the clerk where their Passover items are, she looked at me and said, “What’s Passover?” So much for buying plague bags there. We will make our own.

Despite the obstacles, we are ready. We will celebrate with the community tonight at the Aloha Jewish Chapel seder at the Hale Koa Hotel, organized by our good friends Val Hashimoto and Dan Bender.

And thank goodness for Good Friday. In Hawaii it is a State holiday.  Since the kids won’t have school and my husband doesn’t have to work, we will have our own seder at home with a few friends. All of the items I have hunted and gathered from across the island will come together on our table as we celebrate our  freedom and remember our journey together.

A Zeisen Pesach to all.

Waiting for the doctor….and waiting….and waiting

24 Mar 2011 3 Comments

by Being Jewish in Hawaii in Kvetching Tags: , , ,

This one is a discussion, so please join in. If you are a doctor, your perspective would be very helpful.

Several things happened to me over the past few weeks that are related. Most of them  have  in common the fact that I was left waiting for a very long time to see a doctor for an appointment.

Before you comment, let me describe the situations and my perspective on them and then, please, let ’em roll….

Last week I had a follow-up appointment with my endocrinologist. Without going into the details about my health, let me say that I am fine.

I was taken into the examination room about 15 minutes late. I waited in there for about a half hour when I approached the nurse and mentioned that it was taking a long time. She said that the other appointment was taking longer than expected. The doctor came in 10 minutes later. That means I waited almost an hour after my appointment time to see the doctor for a 12 minute appointment. This is not the first time.

He is a GREAT doctor and I am very happy with his care, just not the wait.

Earlier this week my daughter had an appointment for a physical.

It was at 9:45 am. We arrived a few minutes early and the only person present was the receptionist. She said that the doctor usually arrives a little after 10:00 am and that she would do the eye exam and take her blood pressure and then we could sit and wait.

So we did, sit and wait, and wait and wait. Finally I asked her what “A little after 10” means. She said that some times he comes in at 10:15 and others at 10:30, depending on traffic. Who makes an appointment for a patient at a time when the doctor is not even going to be there? It’s not even like he got backed up with other patients. We were the first ones.

When he was not there at 10:15 we left. He is not a GREAT doctor and I will be happy to find another.

I took my other daughter to the dentist yesterday. We waited 20 minutes past her appointment time for them to call her. They didn’t even tell us that they were running late. We managed to figure it out!

Finally, I had an MRI scheduled a few weeks ago for my aching back. I would have been on time for the appointment if they hadn’t closed the parking garage and sent me to another location that included a long walk back to the facility.

I was 5 minutes late and they told me that I had to reschedule. Oh, the irony! Not only am I never late, but I am ALWAYS waiting for people and professionals who are.

Why is it okay to make me sit in these doctors’ offices and wait for an appointment that I  almost always arrive for on time, if not a bit early?  I’m not talking 5-10 minutes. I don’t start to fuss until it’s been at least 15. How am I supposed to honor my schedule and commitments?

Okay, now it’s time for comments. Let the discussion begin.

Local snow bunnies hit the slopes

23 Mar 2011 5 Comments

by Being Jewish in Hawaii in Family Tags: , , , , ,

Until recently, my kids had never really seen the snow. Once or twice we were on a vacation at a  mainland destination where a few flakes came down, but melted as soon as they hit the ground. One spring break trip to Kansas City offered enough  for my older girl to make a sort of muddy snow man, kind of like the one Jem made in “To Kill A Mockingbird.”

When it comes to good old-fashioned, winter snow, neither of them ever had the chance to romp and play in piles of that soft white cold stuff, or to slide down a hill in it or to freeze their little tushes off. My kids complain that it is cold when the temperature drops dangerously below 71º. That’s why I took them on “ski” trip to Heavenly in Lake Tahoe last month. They needed to get their inner snow bunnies on!

I have heard that local kids are naturals at the sport and that proved true for mine. My older girl was snowboarding like a pro by the second day. The younger one was sliding around on intermediate slopes long before I made it successfully down “The Big Easy.”

While they were surprised at the cold, they were not uncomfortable. We took the advice of my expert sister and “layered.” Add to that the boxes of snow pants and gloves and hats and long underwear that she sent from her East Coast collection, we were well prepared in that department.

We did it all, from skiing and snowboarding, to old-fashioned tubing and snow ball fights.  My family embraced the opportunity and relished every minute in this foreign environment.


While the thrill of the ride was certainly exciting for all of us, for me, the magnificent backdrop of beautiful Lake Tahoe made it sublime. Heavenly is aptly named.

Just as I am filled with awe and excitement every time I glimpse the ocean from Farrington Highway as I round  Kahe point, the minute I stepped outside in the bracing cold, I had to catch my breath. Not because my lungs were constricted, because I was filled with the power and strength of this amazing place that dumped piles of snow in perfect little flakes on us from the minute we got off the plane until the day we returned to the airport for our flight home.

I know that there is a blessing when you see a rainbow. That  comes in quite handy in Hawaii where we see them on a regular basis–but are still excited every time. I kept wondering what specific blessing I would say for this place. Even though I did not know the words, it was certainly in my heart. I have come to learn that Shehecheyanu would have been perfect–especially for this Hawaii family’s first time.

Blessed are You, Lord our God,  Ruler of the universe, who has kept us alive, and sustained us, and enabled us to reach this moment.

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