homentashen--(message #2)

[Gerald Cohen]

     Here's an excerpt from Nathan Süsskind's item explaining why the
villain Haman's name appears in the Purim pastry homentashen:

        'Now to _homentashen_. In my native shtetl every kheyder
(= Hebrew-school)-kid knew its origin: I presuppose a knowledge of
the story of Purim as found in the Book of Esther (in the Jewish
Bible).  The climax of that story is the miracle that Haman, who had
induced King Akhashveyrosh to decree the extermination of all the
Jews (by Adar 13) and came to the court of the king to ask permission
in the meantime, to hang Mordekhay -- that _he_ winds up being
ordered to serve as the valet dressing Mordekhay in the royal pomp of
the king.  Haman must also lead Mordekhay's royal horse in this
procession, crying out as he passes through the main street: "Thus
the king rewards him whom he wishes to honor!" When Haman was
through, the Bible states that he hurried home, "mourning and with
head covered." Thus most translators render the Hebrew literally
[avel va hafuy rosh--diacritic marks missing in this e-mail; Süsskind
also wrote the words with Hebrew letters]...
      Talmud (Megilla 16a) and the Midrash collection Yalqut ad. loc.
(section 1058--subsection 92) explain by elaborating on the Biblical
text...:

        "As Haman was leading the horse through the main street and
passing his own house, his daughter, standing on the roof, saw it,
thought that the rider was her father and that the valet [was]
Mordekhay.  She took a nightpot from the toilet and emptied it on the
[valet's] head.  When he raised his eyes, she saw it was her father,
and she fell from the roof and died."'

*****

     [G. Cohen] So "homentashen" commemorates the humiliation of a
villainous enemy. But it is incredible that any delicious food could
be named for a story involving the contents of a chamber pot.

Gerald Cohen

P.S. Nathan Süsskind was Professor of German and Jewish Studies at
City College. His information on "homentashen" was first sent to me
in a letter which I later published (after he checked the
page-proofs, of course). The reference, as I mentioned a few days ago
is:
     Nathan Süsskind: "Purim pastry homentashen: Why Haman's pockets?"
    _Comments on Etymology_, vol. 18, no. 8, May 1989,
pp.21-22.---reprinted in _Etymology and Linguistic Principles_, vol.
2 (edited by Gerald Leonard Cohen), published by the editor, Rolla,
Missouri, 1991, pp.52-53.