Quick & Kosher Glossary

Yiddish) The essential Jewish carb. More like an English pudding than anything else, it can fill you for three days. It’s a Shabbos classic, so some people have an insatiable addiction to it. It used to be made of either potatoes or noodles, but now it has developed into a score of varieties, from apple kugel and pineapple kugel to vegetable kugel, to you-name-it kugel.

(Yiddish) Potato pancakes fried in oil, customary on Chanukah, but so good you may add them to your repertoire year-round. The oil is a reminder of the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem, when a small jar of oil meant to last for one day miraculously lasted for eight. But I bet these won’t last more than eight minutes. They’re usually eaten straight from the pan, with family and guests standing over you as you fry. You’re lucky if you get them to the table.

(Yiddish) “Mother tongue”, i.e. Yiddish, but somehow the term seems a lot warmer in the original. It reminds you of lullabies, fresh butter and big family gatherings.

(Hebrew) [Good] Fortune, a little helping hand from the One above. A mazel is not always good, but no one ever talks about bad mazel. At worst, one has ‘no mazel.”

(Yiddish) Fuss. As in, “I never thought I would want to potchke in the kitchen.” It’s one of those interesting words that’s both a verb and a noun, as in “I wouldn’t try cooking that; it’s such a potchke.”

(Hebrew) Jews whose ancestry hails from countries south of Spain. (The Hebrew word ‘Sepharad” means ‘Spain.”) They could be from Syria, Portugal, Turkey, Iran, Morocco, Israel. Definitely not from Philadelphia. Jews from Eastern Europe are referred to as Ashkenazic.

(Hebrew) The day to disconnect from your workday chores, worries and mundane activities. It’s the day to recharge spiritual batteries through praying, studying Torah, napping and of course, eating well. A great family experience.

(Yiddish) A really small village in Eastern Europe. If you blink when you ride through it, you’ll miss it. Since most shtetlach were destroyed during the Holocaust, the word has come to mean any Jewish enclave where religious Jews go about their lives. It’s a warm, homey place, where everybody knows everybody’s shtick.
Definitely not Philadelphia.

(Yiddish) (As in ‘not my shtick”) So not my thing; not my style.

(Yiddish) Synagogue. Somehow the Yiddish term is far more popular, maybe because ‘synagogue” sounds so very Latin. Shul actually means ‘school” in Yiddish and German, and evokes the use of the shul as a place to gather and to learn Torah at all hours of the day and night, as well as a place where religious services are held.

(English-Yiddish) Posh; Upper East Side; absurdly elegant. Anything can be fancy schmancy: your outfit, your mansion, your nails, your poodle.

See: Chulent

(Hebrew) Fried, powdered and jelly-filled doughnuts typically eaten on Chanukah or at your local kosher Dunkin

OU (Orthodox Union) Kosher is the world’s largest and most widely recognized kosher certification agency, certifying more than 500,000 products produced in over 6,000 plants located in 80 countries around the world.

The OU, termed a “coveted seal of approval” by The New York Times, is one of the world’s best-known trademarks. Comparing it to the UL®, Forbes magazine wrote, “If you want to know your food is kosher, you can look for the Orthodox Union’s OU symbol.”

It immediately and universally enhances your product, raising the perception of its quality, and increasing its marketability.

Our 600 Rabbinic Field Representatives, located across North America and throughout the world – from Europe to Australia, from the China to South Africa—are proficient in modern food production techniques and chemical and biological processes, no less than the intricacies of Jewish law.

Our New York headquarters staff consists of over 50 Rabbinic Coordinators who serve as account executives for OU certified companies, supplemented by a roster of ingredient specialists, flavor analysts and other support staff.

A state-of-the-art computer system stores and tracks product information and ingredients. The Orthodox Union database contains information on more than 250,000 food ingredients.

Many of the food industry’s most recognized brands, large and small, choose the OU for their kosher certification, including: ADM, Avebe, Best Foods, Cargill, Cerestar, Coca Cola, Cognis, Peter Cremer, Danisco, Dean Foods, DSM, General Mills, Haarmann & Reimer, Chr. Hansen, Hebei Welcome Pharmaceutical, H.J. Heinz, Hershey’s, Kraft/Nabisco, McCormick & Co., Nestlé, Novartis, Procter & Gamble, Pillsbury, Quest, Reynolds Aluminum, Rhodia, Unilever, and thousands more.

OU does much more than ensure the highest standards of Kosher Certification.

OU Kosher is unique among all the major kosher certification agencies as it is part of a non-profit communal organization (founded in 1898), so we maintain the highest levels of integrity without any possible conflict of interest.

The Orthodox Union, now in its second century of service to the Jewish community of North America and beyond, is a world leader in community and synagogue services, adult education, youth work through NCSY, political action through the IPA, and advocacy for persons with disabilities through Yachad and Our Way.

For more information about the Orthodox Union visit www.ou.org
Article quoted from www.oukosher.org

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