hamantashen

[James A. Landau]

Jewish Encyclopedia, volume X (copyright 1905) article "Purim":

page 277 column 1
"...for the celebration of Purim there developed among the Jews a special
kind of baking.  Cakes were shaped into certain forms and were given names
having some symbolic bearing on the historical events of Purim.  Thus the
Jews of Germany east "Hamantaschen" and "Hamanohren" (in Italy, "orrechi
d'Aman"), "Kreppchen", "Kindchen", etc.  (comp Steinschneider, lcxvii. 177,
360 et seq"

(the article's bibliography page 279 column 1 lists "Steinschneider,  Purim
und Parodia, in Monatsschrift, xlvi.-xlviii")

also page 278 column 1
"...the boisterous hissing, stamping, and rattling, during the public
service, at the mention of Haman and his sons...Some wrote the name of Haman
on the soles of their shoes, and at the mention of the name stamped with
their feet as a sign of contempt; others used for the same purpose a
rattle---called "gregar" (= Polish "grzegarz" [acute accent on the "e"], and
producing much noise---a custom which is still observed by the Russo-Polish
Jews."

To the best of my knowledge, "producing much noise" when Haman's name is read
is a universal custom among Jews in the US today---my maternal grandmother,
born in 1881 in the US of mostly German Jewish ancestry, practiced it.  If
the article is correct, then in the US a Russo-Polish custom has been adopted
by the rest of US Jewry.

                  - Jim Landau

P.S.  My congregation is culling from its library and is looking for other
libraries interested in some of the older books.  In particular, we have a
duplicate copy of the Jewish Encyclopedia (1916 fourth printing) which needs
a new home.  If any librarian out there be interested, please e-mail me.


There is a picture on page 276 column 1 of " "Haman Klopfers" Used on Purim
Feast by Jewish Children of Russia".  I own a gregar apparently identical to
the second one from the top on the right hand side.