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Show 1 Bf The Jewish Housekeeper. I HOW should you like to take a look at the quaint, picturesque figure, the Jewish housekeeper. Invariably ehe is n dear old lady who pothers about her kitchen with religious earnestness. To her the significance of her faith is endless. end-less. She carries it with her not only to the synagogue on the Sabbath, but during every hour of the day to her very kitchen. You have probably heard of the word "kosher." Tho Jewish housekcoper of the orthodox faith must keep kosher. She must buy kosher meat. When you ask her what kosher meat is she will tell you proudly it is clean meat; that the flesh sold in Jewish shops Is obtained from animals killed according to the law by a man learned and skilled, who by a dextrous dex-trous motion of the arm splits tho animal's ani-mal's throat from end to end, allowing thus a free flow of blood which renders the flesh of the animal healthy and clean. But, she will add proudly, this is not all. The animal's internal organs are examined nnd it is only after they are found free of disease that the meat is pronounced kosher. And when eho brings her meat home she 60.iks it for half an hour in cold water, nnd then on a board kept especially es-pecially for that purpose the meat, generously gen-erously sprinkled with sjU, must remain for an hour. This, she will toll you, is done to draw forth tho impurities which may be lurking in the blood vessels. J She has two sets of dishes one for things cooked with meat, another for things cooked in milk and butter. Al-woys Al-woys her sets of dishes aro kept in separate sep-arate cupboards and thoy arc scrupulously scrupu-lously clean. Never may pork touch her pots, pans and dishes, for it'ls the most non-kosher commodity of all foods, aud she will tell you the reason for it kosher meat Is obtained only from cleft hoofed and cud chewing animals. Pork Is obtained ob-tained from an animal that has a cleft hoof, but it does not chew the cud and is uot healthy for thnt reason. And, considering the climatic conditions of Palestine, together with the fact that In the old dajs people hadn't ice and refrigerators, refrig-erators, nor, in fact, any means for keep ing foods fresh and cloan, what a lot of M mortality this law of non-pork eating H must have saved them! H She is a very earnest little old lady , fl nnd, as a rule, she is kindness itself. In H her simple way ehe takes life vry eeri- M ously, but mora seriously than anything else she takes her religion. For no eiirfh- M ly inducement will Bhe do nnything on M Saturday that might be called work. On H Friday at dusk, after she has lighted her M candles, all vork is suspended. She must H not as much as light a match or extinguish M n candle. And so strict is she about it H that she will remain in the dark or allow all lights to burn over night rather than M trnnsgress the rule. Usually she has a neighbor's child of a non-Jewish faith H whom she pays for attending to her fires H nnd lights on Friday night and Sntur- WM day. And, of course, nil her cooking foe Ijl Snbbath must bo done on Friday. jH Many recipes for delicious Oriental H concoctions hns she. nnd she loves nothing H better than to give her neighbors a taste jIH of her cookery. But in no clrcum- jjH stances will she taste anything of her H neighbors, If they bo Christian or non- HH orthodox Jews. JH Many a Jewish old lady will not eat nt iH the houso of her married child unless she fr is absolutely positive that kosher is strict- H ly observed there. But that never pre- H vents her from pnying periodic visits to H each of her children. If, a? frequently jH happens her married daughter keep3 H house ns her American neighbors do, the jH old lady will not grumble much. Quietly H sho will buy her kosher meat and pre- i9 pare it according to the law and copk jJ her own menls in a separate little pot. ' Like the guests in the time of Queen j Elizabeth, she will bring her own cutlery 1 with her, usually of sterling silver with iH queer heavy patterns of the olden days. .H These, together with her plate, she will -jlB keep apart from the dishes in the house jM as carefully ns a good nurse will keep her medicines apart. j M Pork Is not the only forbidden com- 1 M modify in her household. Finn that has iM no scales is equally debarred from her t M menu list Lobsters and ojstcrs arc 1 therefore an unknown quantity in her iM household. j But she prepares fish deliclously. When I B she fries it nothing hut the purest butter 1H must be used, for it is against the law j H in ikk nnv rtfhr fnt ivtHi firli Rut nc i aB 1 n rule, she rarely fries fish. On Friday K' for the evening" meal every Jewish house- ! H( wifo must serve fish. And invariably it I H. is prepared one way. Tho meat of the H fish is scooped out and, together with r)B' onions nnd pepper and salt, it is chopped i V: to a fine paste. This mixture is then xc- i K placed in the empty hollows and, with I H slices npon slices of onions, it is boiled, t B strongly spiced with bay leaves, pepper ', &- and cayenne. As a relish it is very pal- R atable and no one who has once tasted ' D( it will refuse to' ta6te it again. Sj But with all her earnestness she likes Ht nothing better than a jolly good .time. ' K And on her holidays her preparations nro Ui as enthusiastic as a girl's. Of all 'the holidays Easter Passover week makes , Mf the greatest upheaval in her housekeep- ing. From top to bottom the wholo , j BJ house must be cleaned so thnt not a ; Hy particle of dust nor a crumb of bread Kf remains. The dishes that had been H used the year round must be packed and R put away, out of the house If possible. t B Any provisions In the house mut be " E, thrown away New dishes or dishes used -K the previous Passover must he used No $ Bor bread nor any provisions not sealed for I R the special occasion may be used. Only f Hjst leavened bread a sort of cracker es- - B jiecially prepared according to the law ; B and, foods sealed and kept apart from ' Wit any contamination with bread or flour xM?o are allowed to enter tho orthodor house- V; Bf' hold during the Pnssover week. V Kap It is like n glimpse into the days of Kt old and it hns nbout it the mysterious K?ad flavor nnd chirm that is so touching nbout i W&a nil things which belong to the history of i mH the past ' Kjg H I' |