Shabbat Gathering: Garlic? Really?

Dear Chevrei, as is our custom, we will gather tonight at 5.45p ct to welcome Shabbat. These are the coordinates:

Zoom
Meeting ID: 883 8469 4181
Password: 822665
Phone: +1 312 626 6799

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Before we get started...

It's time to take care of each other during these tragic times. And, to do that, we need to take care of ourselves. Here's a useful set of tips on how to get through these difficult times.

And...

After some consultation with the synagogue's Zoom maven (Carla Oppenheimer), I think that we may have solved our issues with people being able to connect to our gathering. Fingers crossed.

Here we go.

If someone had told me 86 issues ago I’d write a newsletter about Jews and garlic, I would have raised a skeptical Spock-like eyebrow (if I could) yet still be interested. So, here I am 86 issues later, sharing the fascinating relationship between Jews and garlic.

There’s a newsletter from a shop called Jewitches and I subscribe to it. (As you know, during my three years in Arkansas, I’ve had some time on my hands and so I’ve acquired a diverse reading list.) Anyway, Jewitches recently devoted an issue of its newsletter to Jews and garlic and I thought it was interesting enough to share some highlights with you. Here’s a link to the long post if you’re interested in a deeper dive.

The positive and the negative effects of garlic.

Basically, garlic has had two different impacts on Jews: positive and negative. It's the stuff of folklore and superstition. There’s reason to believe, for example, that the whole deal about garlic protecting people from vampires probably springs from Jewish folklore. Here’s a quick look at the supposed benefits of garlic. They span from the Torah to how the Talmud spawned folklore traditions.

The most direct connection between Jews and garlic occurs in Torah when the Israelites were in the desert and whining about constantly eating the manna that G!d freely gave them. They reminisced about what they dined on in Egypt. In Numbers 11:15, the Israelites said, “We remember the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.” That’s some combination of food. Anyway, garlic made the list of food the Israelites missed about the cuisine of Egypt.

Then, in Talmud (Bava Kamma 82a:11), this is written about garlic. "The Sages taught in a baraita (commentary) that five matters were stated with regard to garlic: It satisfies; it warms the body; it causes one's countenance to shine; it increases one's sperm; and it kills parasites that are in the intestines. And some say that it also instills love into those who eat it and removes jealousy from them." That’s quite a list of benefits. It sounds like one of those late night infomercials on television. In fact, it might be. I’ve seen advertisements for something called Garlique that claims to improve heart health, improve blood pressure, lower cholesterol, yet not produce any of the “social missteps” of eating fresh garlic. So, this type of belief continues to the present age.

Skipping back to the 13th Century, in the Sefer Hasidim it’s taught that "roasted garlic, eaten warm, is a remedy against impotence!" Hmm. I wonder about those “social missteps” and how they might impact testing this remedy in real life.

Then, moving from there into folklore, “Commonly, garlic was an ingredient used to protect children: Bulbs were placed beneath the pillows of infants before circumcision in order to keep them safe.”

But garlic didn’t only protect the newborn. Mothers hung garlic between their breasts to protect them.

In a previous newsletter, we read about Nittle Nacht, Christmas Eve, and how it was such a dangerous time for Jews. Raging gangs of Christians searched for Jews out on the street and beat them. Because of this, Jews stayed in their homes and played chess, other board games, and cards. Garlic figured in to Nittle Nacht rituals because Jews ate it then. Eating garlic on Christmas Eve was considered a potion that warded off demons and spirits.

But there’s a downside.

All these benefits of garlic came with consequences of course. As much as there were benefits to garlic, they came with those “social missteps.” In other words, it might be tasty and it might protect us from evil spirits, but it made us stinky.

For example, in Talmud (Berakhot 51a) it is written, "Shall one who ate garlic and his breath smells, return and eat garlic again, so that his breath should continue smelling? Two wrongs do not make a right."

Stinky breath also became associated with being a Jew and was used to “sniff out” Jews. During the Spanish Inquisition, the scent of garlic in a home was enough to warrant torture or even death.

And this was the beginning of the anti-Semetic trope “those stinking Jews.” (You knew it had to come from somewhere.) Jews were associated with garlic so much so that antisemitic imagery around Jews prominently featured the bulbs, along with other antisemitic red flags like bags of money, gold coins, and grotesque features.

So, there you have it. Jews and garlic. There’s a lot to it and it goes back a long way. I like garlic but I’m cautious about those “social missteps.” It seems like an odd aphrodisiac and I’m not sure I’d want to give it a try unless my partner was trying it with me. And, blessed be Hashem, I’ve never had to try it as a cure of impotence. My ex-wife never hung it between her breasts when we had our children, so I don’t know about that. And, thankfully, as far as I know, anti-Semites never smelled my breath to discern whether or not they should beat me. There’s a lot I don’t know about garlic from first hand experience, but there’s a lot I’ve learned about garlic from this Jewitches post.

And may it be for all of us a blessing.

See you tonight!
Gut Shabbes!

All my love,
brian.

PS

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