RECENT ENTRIES

• Sabbatical or bust
• Breakfast of library champions
• Caught in a whirlwind
• Change is gonna come
• Hurricanes: not fiction
• Buy Chicagoans, for Chicagoans
• Know Your Chicago: The program that works
• A Fermilab pajama party
• No tiffs over TIF
• Summer reading, Chicago style

ARCHIVES

• September 2008
• August 2008
• July 2008
• June 2008
• May 2008
• April 2008
• March 2008
• February 2008
• January 2008
• December 2007
• November 2007
• October 2007
• September 2007
• August 2007
• July 2007
• June 2007
• May 2007
• April 2007
• March 2007
• February 2007
• January 2007
• December 2006
• November 2006
• October 2006
• September 2006
• August 2006
• July 2006
• June 2006
• May 2006
• April 2006
• March 2006
• February 2006
• January 2006
• December 2005
• November 2005
• October 2005
• September 2005
• August 2005
• July 2005
• June 2005
• May 2005
• April 2005
• March 2005
• February 2005
• January 2005
• December 2004
• November 2004
• October 2004
• September 2004
• August 2004
• July 2004
• June 2004
• May 2004
• April 2004
• March 2004
• February 2004
• January 2004

BLOG ROLL

• The Becker-Posner Blog
• Law School Faculty Blog
• Maroon News Blog
• Special Collections Research Center
• Uncommon Application Blog
• University Press Chicago Blog
• More Blogs

Praise the lard

If you don’t know from latke (or hamantash), don’t look here. Read a book. Better yet, as was pointed out several times during last Tuesday’s annual Latke-Hamantash Debate, buy the book. Or, if you’re blessed with a short attention span, read some excerpts.

The 60th incarnation of the Hillel event honored the traditions: mock academic procession, snarky introductions by U of C philosophy professor Ted Cohen, AB’62, and musical entertainment. And, as always, at debate’s end the attendees moved to Hutchinson Commons to vote their appetites.

But, as is also traditional, there were fresh twists. A cappella group Chicago Rhythm and Jews startled the crowd by bursting into the opening bars of “Silent Night,” then reverted to repertoire. Marianna Tax Choldin, AB’62, AM’67, PhD’79—daughter of debate cofounder and U of C anthropologist Sol Tax, PhD'35—recalled how her father "invented the Food Channel," accompanying his pro-latke lectures with latke-making demonstrations. And Daniel J. Libenson, executive director of the Newberger Hillel Center, called for papers for the new Journal of Latke and Hamantash Studies—manuscripts and ideas for consideration are due February 14, 2007.

Psychiatry professor Elliot Gershon took the long view of the primal and primate conflict, going back to the Olduvai Gorge (aka the Garden of Eden) and a series of clashes between the chimps (projectile weapon of choice: hamantash) and humans (latke). Meanwhile Assistant Professor of Philosophy Yitzhak Melamed resorted to pure if convoluted reason to prove a) there are no equilateral triangles; b) therefore there are no triangles; and c) therefore there are no hamantash. End of argument.

You should live so long. Rockefeller Chapel Dean Alison Boden, channeling a small-town pastor who was part Church Lady, part televangelist, carried the hamantash banner by going straight to primary sources. Make that the primary source: “The Bible is the Word of God. It says so.” The New World potato makes no appearance in those pages, she pointed out, but Haman does. Recapping the story of Esther and Mordecai's victory over the villainous vizier, Boden took time for a cautionary aside prompted by the break-up of the King of Persia and Esther’s predecessor, Vashti: “Ladies, if your husband wants you to take off your clothes and dance for his pals, it’s time to rethink the relationship.”

Then it was back to praising the Purim "cookie": "Do I have a witness?" She did.

M.R.Y.

Let the debate begin: participants in the 60th Latke-Hamantash Debate march into Mandel Hall. Photo by Dan Dry.

November 22, 2006