Though many of the great chefs are men, in numbers it is women who not only run their own kitchens, but often those of synagogues as well. We wanted to know who are these synagogue kitchen mavens and how they work.
Though worthy kitchen mavens (experts) are found in most of the synagogues in Wisconsin, for this article we chose three, one each from the Reform, Conservative and Orthodox movements. They ranged in age from a young mother in her 30s to a mature 70.
In each of these synagogues, we found that the Jewish dietary law requirement of separation of meat and dairy was followed in some form or other.
For Congregation Emanu-El of Waukesha (Reform), Mary Schuman has been in charge of the synagogue’s kitchen for the last three years. She heads what’s called the “Nosh Squad.”
She lives on Lake Nagawicka in the Hartland-Delafield area, and has been a member of the synagogue for 10 years.
Schuman gave several reasons for taking the job. “The most important,” she said, “is that no one else would do it.”
She also said that all of her business life she was in administration and working in the kitchen, and with “kitchen stuff” means “I’m doing something different.”
She also said that she really enjoyed her role of “synagogue housewife, cleaning, shopping, and preparing.”
Schuman said that all this large quantity shopping and preparation was new for her. “I’m an only child, so preparing for a large crowd is different.”
Schuman is almost a one-person volunteer committee in charge of the kitchen activities. She has one stead volunteer and “whomever I can pull in to help us.” She described herself as the organizer and cleaner who “checks the fridge to see that there’s no green mold.”
She also shops for paper supplies, for items like grape juice for the Friday night after services Kiddush, while the people who sponsor the Oneg Shabbat (social event after services) bring the food.
Schuman and another volunteer, Carol O’Neil, prepare a lunch for the tashlich ceremony on Rosh HaShanah, and a break-the-fast meal at the end of Yom Kippur. She said that volunteers provided Chanukah latkes as well.
For Passover, “we are in charge of a meal and we drive down to Chicago to one of the kosher stores to buy gefilte fish, matzah and horse radish,” she said. “Other members bring in Passover desserts.”
‘Wonderful interaction’
The kitchen maven at Congregation Beth Israel Ner Tamid (Conservative) is Hannah Sattler, a young mother of two expecting her third. Her husband Nate is the synagogue’s president.
Sattler titled herself the catering manager, because she not only heads the kitchen, but is in charge of the synagogue’s for-profit catering “which pays for the synagogue’s Shabbat lunches.” She said it is now a paid position for her, though she was a volunteer until four months ago.
Sattler loves her job. “Four years ago my grandfather and little kids were in the kitchen with me and it was a wonderful interaction of the generations, and I wanted that to happen all the time,” she said.
“Running a commercial kitchen is half organization and half loving to cook; and I love to cook, and I’ve been a paid organizer,” she said. “The job helps me to help my community but also be home with my children. My four-year-old comes with me to my work.”
She is in charge of overseeing a Kiddush every Shabbat often for between 100 and 150 people. She also caters some bar and bat mitzvah celebrations and oversees the paid wait staff.
Sattler has an e-mail staff of 70 volunteers and creates a schedule for each month. “People sign up when they can. Sometimes we meet as needed. Some volunteers make challah. We sell over 200 challahs from the synagogue for Rosh HaShanah. There’s a small group of ladies who make and sell honey cake, Chanukah cookies and hamantashen.”
Sattler described the logistics of her management. “I work with volunteers to prepare the food but after service begins, the hired wait staff prepares the food. The more volunteers who are on duty, the less number of paid staff.”
She described herself as the head mashgi’akh (dietary laws supervisor), supervising 18 volunteer mashgikhim. “However I always consult with the rabbi,” she said.
Sattler said she handles all internal meals such as the teacher meetings. “We also do meals of consolation for after funerals, but all the food is made in the synagogue. A volunteer goes along with the meal. Any catered meals for outside the synagogue or anyone who wants to have an event in the synagogue is charged a catering fee.
“We have done Milwaukee Jewish Day School graduations at Beth Israel, but we also catered the meal held this year at Shalom. All the food was made here.”
Her new endeavor this year is the “synagogue’s first full meal for a Yom Kippur break-the-fast,” she said.
“Our whole organization is taking care of the community through food, which is a rewarding feeling and I get that connection with the synagogue community,” Sattler said. “We become part of their lives through their simchas [happy events] and sorrows by providing traditional meals.”
Not just herring
Sara Karan has been a kitchen volunteer at Anshai Sfard Kehillat Torah (Orthodox) since her family became members a year after the synagogue was founded in 1986.
She said that she’s always done whatever had to be done, from cleaning, to preparing, to purchasing. In her present position of chief kitchen maven she continues to do the same only she has added preparing spread sheets on expenses for ASKT’s accountant.
She has also become the chief planner for food events, from the weekly Sabbath after service Kiddush to the elaborate special Rosh Chodesh Sabbath lunches, and all shul meals, as well as the annual picnic and all celebration events.
“Food is such a part of Jewish life,” Karan said. “People appreciate having something special, not just herring from a jar. They appreciate that this makes the Shabbos. Food is such an integral part of Shabbos.”
Karan feels her shul kitchen is like her home kitchen. “If I wouldn’t put it on my table at home I wouldn’t put it here,” she said.
Karan puts in anywhere from a few hours to about 10 hours or more a week. She explained that she took responsibility “because I don’t have obligations in the home or in a job.”
She enumerated the details of her job. “I shop for everything,” she said. “I do special meals or whatever is needed. I’m the chief cook and bottle washer here. I clean the fridge and give left overs to needy families.”
“We also have three female synagogue members who are trained as mashgikhim,” she said. “If something is catered then the women are paid. If push comes to shove I am the mashgi’akh.”
Karan said that she even tries to make the basic Shabbat Kiddish special. “We have cookies and crackers for mezonot [a blessing over foods made from grain but that are not bread], grape juice, herring, three types of ice cream with toppings, real whipped cream, several cakes, including one pas yisrael cake. We also have platters of fresh fruit, vegetable, salsa and tortilla chips.”
The elaborate and Beverly Hills-synagogue-style Rosh Chodesh (first of the Jewish month) meals set ASKT’s meals apart.
“Every month, the first Sabbath closest to Rosh Chodesh, they are themed meals which my son Akiva and his friend Ouri arrange,” Karan said. “Past meals have included Moroccan, Chinese, and our meat and wine tasting Kiddush, which included lamb, chicken, turkey and beef.”
Karan said she also is alert to members’ diet sensitivities. “Since we try to cater to every diet we also offer gluten free crackers for Shabbos Kiddush and vegetarian dishes,” she said.
She added, “We try to make simchas user friendly if [people] don’t have a lot of money and want to make a simcha, whatever their means, we try to make it as nice and as opulent within their budget. We try to be creative.”
Karan feels that “along with our new young rabbi who brought a breath of fresh air, raising the level of our food offerings has attracted new young members.
“Before we had no new members for years and now we have dozens of kids. Our new menus help put our best foot forward.”
Arlene Becker Zarmi is a freelance writer whose work has been published in more than 40 publications nationwide. She was also the producer and host of a travel TV show for Viacom, and is a Jewish genre and portrait artist.
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