{"id":5121,"date":"2014-09-17T09:48:23","date_gmt":"2014-09-17T13:48:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mochajuden.com\/?p=5121"},"modified":"2014-09-17T09:48:23","modified_gmt":"2014-09-17T13:48:23","slug":"rosh-hashana-with-a-latin-twist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mochajuden.com\/?p=5121","title":{"rendered":"Rosh Hashana with a Latin Twist"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ts091214rosh02\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rabbi Rigoberto Emmanuel\u00a0Vi\u00f1as and his wife Sandra\u00a0Vi\u00f1as are a newly wed Cuban and Dominican couple that put a latin twist on some of the traditional Jewish dishes for the holiday. Rabbi Rigoberto Emmanuel and Sandra Vi\u00f1as are photographed with some of the symbolic foods they will eat for Rosh Hashanah, Sept. 12, 2014 in their Yonkers home.<\/span>(Photo: Tania Savayan\/The Journal News)<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

During Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, food is as central to the celebration as prayer. But the kosher meal on the table of one Yonkers family will have a unique flavor: Latin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sephardic Rabbi Rigoberto Emmanuel \u201cManny\u201d Vi\u00f1as and his wife, Sandra Nu\u00f1ez Vi\u00f1as, have planned a menu that includes Pan de Calabaza (pumpkin bread), Keftes de Prasa (leek and scallion croquettes), Lubiya (black eyed peas) and La Sopa de las Siete Verduras (seven vegetable soup with stew meat).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife, Sandra, is Dominican, so we jokingly call her Jew-minican,\u201d he laughs. \u201cShe has a challah recipe, and she\u2019ll put coconut oil instead of regular oil. That will add a little bit of sweetness so that it will be a sweet year.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As the founder and director of El Centro de Estudios Jud\u00edos \u201cTorat Emet,\u201d a Spanish-language Jewish education and spirituality center for Latin American Jews living in the New York area, Rabbi Vi\u00f1as has a growing contingent of followers. The internet broadcasts of his lectures have brought an international audience to the Spanish Torah.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Judaism with a little Latin flavor,\u201d says Vi\u00f1as.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the coming Rosh Hashana celebration, he and his wife will be joined in by more than 20 members of the Lincoln Park Jewish Center for a traditional meal, and plenty of song, stories and wine.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll probably have five languages at the table,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Working with his mother\u2019s original recipes, saved on a handwritten and wine-stained paper from years of use, they will prepare a kosher meal that features some typical items found in Latin cooking, like coconut oil and fried plantains.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy family left Cuba and I grew up in Miami, and attended primarily Spanish speaking synagogues,\u201d says Vi\u00f1as. \u201cShe sent me these recipes when I moved to New York.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Each prayer \u2014 said in both Aramaic and Ladino, sometimes called Judeo-Spanish \u2014 will be accompanied by a dish that signifies desires for the new year, such as black-eyed peas for prosperity or fish for fertility. And guests will enjoy Yarden Mount Hermon red wine from Golan Heights in Israel with the main course. \u201cIt pairs really well with the seven vegetable stew.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe pomegranate has 613 seeds, so in eating it you\u2019re saying \u2018I should have as much prosperity as I have seeds\u2019,\u201d Vi\u00f1as explains. \u201cAnd eating it brings the prayer to completion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Twitter: @megmccaff15<\/span><\/p>\n

Rabbi Vi\u00f1as is the founder and director of El Centro de Estudios Jud\u00edos \u201cTorat Emet,\u201d a Spanish-language Jewish education and spirituality center for Latin-American Jews living in the New York area. Visit lpjc.org<\/a> <\/span><\/em>for more information.<\/span>
\n (originally posted here<\/a><\/span>.)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rabbi Rigoberto Emmanuel\u00a0Vi\u00f1as and his wife Sandra\u00a0Vi\u00f1as are a newly wed Cuban and Dominican couple that put a latin twist on some of the traditional Jewish dishes for the holiday. Rabbi Rigoberto Emmanuel and Sandra Vi\u00f1as are photographed with some of the symbolic foods they will eat for Rosh Hashanah, Sept. 12, 2014 in their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mochajuden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mochajuden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mochajuden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mochajuden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mochajuden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5121"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mochajuden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5128,"href":"https:\/\/mochajuden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5121\/revisions\/5128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mochajuden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mochajuden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mochajuden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}