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| OHCC LIVING | FEBRUARY 2021 | 17 Just in case: Check with your club contact to confirm meeting place, date, and time. Yiddish Club Hello everyone! Did you know that February, as the shortest month of the year, has so many traditional and non-traditional holidays? Aside from the well-known Groundhog Day, Superbowl Sunday, Lincoln's Birthday, President's Day, Chinese New Year, and a host of holidays honoring chocolate, pizza, and everything else imaginable, there is also a share-a-shower-with-a-friend day! Purim, occurring during the month of February, is one of the most raucous holidays on the Jewish calendar. In Hebrew, Purim means "Lots" (defined biblically as deciding by chance), and in English, translates to the "Feast of Lots." Purim is a joyous Jewish festival commemorating the survival of the Jews, who, in the 5th century BCE, were marked for death by their Persian rulers. As the story goes, Haman, chief minister of King Ahasuerus, incensed that Mordecai, a Jew, held him in disdain and refused submission to him, convinced the king that the Jews living under Persian rule were rebellious and should be slaughtered. With the king's consent, Haman set a date for the execution (the 13th day of the month of Adar) by casting lots and built a gallows for Mordecai. When word of the planned massacre reached Esther, beloved Jewish queen of Ahasuerus and adopted daughter of Mordecai, she suggested a banquet that Haman would attend. At the meal she pleaded for the Jews and accused "this wicked Haman" of plotting the annihilation of her people. Upset, the king stepped out into the palace gardens. On returning, he found Haman "falling on the couch where Esther was." The king mistook Haman's frantic pleas for mercy as an attack upon the queen. The outraged king ordered that Haman be hanged and that Mordecai be named to his position. Esther and Mordecai then obtained a royal edict allowing Jews throughout the empire to attack their enemies on Adar 13. After an exhilarating victory, they declared the following day a holiday and, alluding to the lots Haman had cast, named it Purim. This year, Purim is celebrated on Fri., Feb. 26, 2021. This observance is celebrated by dressing up in costume, making a loud noise with a noisemaker called a grager in Yiddish, each time Haman's name is mentioned. A fun tradition on the holiday is to perform a "Purim spiel," or a satirical show dramatizing the Purim story in a humorous way. A traditional food for this holiday is Hamantaschen ("ears of Haman"); a triangular cookie, typically filled with jam or poppy seed, representing Haman's ears or his three-cornered hat. How about sweet hamantaschen with chocolate, date, apricot, or apple filling! Another customary triangular food is "kreplach;" small dumplings usually filled with meat, mashed potatoes, or other savory fillings such as eggplant, mushrooms, and various cheeses. All very yummy!! Pictured are sweet and savory Beet hamantaschen, and a family celebrating Purim in Jerusalem. Happy Purim everyone. "Chag Purim Sameach!" ~ Elaine Massei While surfing the net, I found a cool website called Celebrations Wine Club. They have a Hot Topics page that has over 100 articles about wine. Here is a slightly edited part of their entry Fun Wine Facts. "To put the growth of wine's popularity in perspective, wine is now made in virtually every country. There are actually 10,000 different varieties of wine grapes worldwide. To note, the grapes that are used in wine are not the kind you buy at the store for your chicken salad. "European wines are named after their geographic locations. For the rest of the world, the wines are named after the different grape varietals. Because grapes in the Southern Hemisphere are picked during what is spring in the Northern Hemisphere, a 2010 Australian wine could be six months older than a 2010. "How many grapes does it take to fill your glass with wine, you ask? One glass of wine consists of juice from one cluster of grapes. A cluster is typically 75 grapes. Something to think about when you tour the next vineyard. One grape vine produces 10 bottles. One acre typically contains 400 vines, which is roughly five tons of grapes. "It takes 2.4 pounds of grapes to produce a bottle of wine. For a barrel of wine, a producer needs 740 pounds of grapes. This is equal to 1,180 glasses of wine. Once again, your next wine tour, it puts the vines-to-the barrel into perspective. That's a lot of grapes, given that a crop of newly- planted wine takes about four to five years to grow before it can be harvested. When you consider the commitment and work it takes to produce wine, it gives me a whole new respect for wine producers. "About those barrels you're viewing on your tour, the average age of a French oak tree harvested for use in creating wine barrels is 170 years. There are 400 different oak species that are available to source wood for wine barrels. "All wine is stored at the same temperature, no matter the color. However, as we know, not all wine is served at the same temperature." You can access this and other Hot Topics by going to https:/www. celebrationswineclub.com/hot-topics/. Wine Tasting Club

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