L’or v d’or
One of the most vivid and cherished childhood memories I hold centers around our visits with Grandma Rose in Rockaway Beach, New York. Several times a year my dad, mom, sister, and I would drive from our home in Bethesda, Maryland, to Grandma Rose and Grandpa Lou’s place on Long Island. Their walkup was small and cluttered, but the central room for me was the tiny kitchen. I will always remember the distinct smells, familiar tastes, gregarious chatter, and simple joy of sitting, for hours it seemed, at their crowded kitchen table while Grandma Rose showered us with an overabundance of delicious, homemade Jewish foods.
From her perspective, she could never make enough for us nor could we consume enough of what she made. From my perspective, I felt her steady love and adoration for my dad, extended now to his family, expressed through her caring preparation and presentation of Jewish foods for us. As I look back, I think the consistency, generosity, and pleasure of her creating family memories through food has deeply shaped me.
Today, I spend less and less time in my own kitchen as I work on issues of social justice and gender equity that often take me far from home. Yet, I regularly return to my kitchen for grounding. For it is at our kitchen and dining tables, often imbued with food prepared with my Grandma Rose’s recipes (captured by the diligent measuring and surveillance of my Aunt Bea who shadowed my grandma years ago), that I too seek to transmit the message of my relentless love for our growing family and my deep craving to nurture and gather my family to create memories that will sustain us now and inspire the next generations.
Grandma Rose taught me how to actualize the fundamental Jewish value of l’or v d’or—passing values, traditions, and dreams from generation to generation. I try to do it in many ways, perhaps the most delicious of which is through food.
—NANCY RATZAN
Nancy is a lawyer and a social justice activist. She is currently the national president of the National Council of Jewish Women and a national leader who works to ensure powerful grassroots engagement in progressive social issues. Her husband, Kenneth, and their blended family of three daughters, three sons, two daughters-in-law, and four grandchildren enjoy the gathering of family, always marked by wonderful food.