Latke–Hamantash Debate

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Logo from the annual debate at the University of Chicago in 2013 LHDLogo67.png
Logo from the annual debate at the University of Chicago in 2013

The Latke–Hamantash Debate is a deliberately humorous academic debate about the relative merits and meanings of these two items of Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine. The debate originated at the University of Chicago in 1946 [1] and has since been held annually. Subsequent debates have taken place at several other universities. Participants in the debate, held within the format of a symposium, have included past University of Chicago president Hanna Holborn Gray, philosopher Martha Nussbaum, former Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Austan Goolsbee, Nobel Prize winners Milton Friedman, George Stigler, Leon M. Lederman, and essayist Allan Bloom. A compendium of the debate, which has never been won, was published in 2005.

Contents

Background and history

Ukrainian potato pancakes.jpg
Latkes with sour cream
Hamantaschen and milk.jpg
Hamantashen with milk

A latke is a kind of potato pancake traditionally eaten during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Fried in oil, latkes commemorate the holiday miracle in which one day's worth of oil illuminated the temple for eight days. Hamantashen are triangular baked wheat-flour pastries with a sweet filling which are traditionally eaten on the holiday of Purim. They represent the ears or the 3-cornered hat of Haman, the villain of the Purim story in the Biblical book of Esther.

A debate on their relative merits was first held in the winter of 1946 at the University of Chicago chapter house of the Hillel Foundation, sponsored by Rabbi Maurice Pekarsky. [2] Participants in the debates have included Nobel Prize winners and MacArthur Grant Fellows. [3] After the debate, both foodstuffs are usually served at a reception afterwards, offering debaters and listeners an opportunity to evaluate primary sources. [4]

In the University of Chicago the debate had been moderated by philosophy professor Ted Cohen for over 25 years until his death in March 2014. [5] [6] Several long-standing customs are observed at the University of Chicago: arguments are encouraged to be made using the specific technical language of their discipline, participants must present themselves in academic regalia, the debaters must include at least one non-Jew, and the debaters must have gained a Ph.D. or an equivalent advanced degree . [7] However at the 77th debate at the University of Chicago on March 24th 2024, Terry Johnson, one of the debaters argued with only a Masters in chemical engineering, becoming the first non-Ph.D. holding scholar to debate. [8]

Commentary

The events have attracted commentary from a number of individuals. Aaron David Miller, who served as a peace negotiator between Israeli and Palestinian authorities, noted that the critical feature of the debate is that it is intractable, but that the event is "simply too important to abandon." [9] Discussing the event's original purpose at the University of Chicago, Ruth Fredman Cernea observed that scholarly life discouraged exploration of Jewish traditions and did not facilitate ethnic relationships between students and faculty: "the event provided a rare opportunity for faculty to reveal their hidden Jewish souls and poke fun at the high seriousness of everyday academic life." [4] [10] On a practical note, Cernea commented that examinations and term papers would cause stress in the student body and that the event served to help alleviate such tension toward the end of the fall. [11] She also argued that the debates reflected broad ethnic changes in the United States when they were founded, and represented gradual integration. [11]

Notable debates and arguments

The debaters represent a range of academic disciplines. Some of the entries are described below:

Debates at other institutions

Latke–Hamantash Debates have been held at several other universities and institutions including:

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Shticking to Their Puns". University of Chicago Magazine. 98 (2). December 2005. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  2. Cernea, Ruth Fredman, ed. (2006). The Great Latke-Hamantash Debate . Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. xix-xi. ISBN   0226100235.
  3. 1 2 Okrent, Arika (8 December 2012). "8 Great Arguments from the Latke-Hamentash Debate". Mental Floss . Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Shticking to Their Puns". University of Chicago Magazine. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  5. Cholke, Sam. "Latke or Hamantash? University of Chicago Profs Debate Superior Jewish Food". DNAInfo. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  6. O'Donnell, Maureen (24 March 2014). "Ted Cohen, University of Chicago philosophy professor who took humor seriously". Chicago Sun-Times . Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  7. Cernea, p. xxi.
  8. "Can AI solve the Latke-Hamantash Debate? | University of Chicago News". 12 March 2024.
  9. Rosenberg, Yair (21 February 2013). "Judaism's Epic Food Fight". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  10. Gluck, Robert (13 December 2011). "Latke or Hamantash? The Debate Rages On". JNS.org. Jewish and Israel News. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  11. 1 2 Lerner, Saul (Winter 2007). "The Great Latke-Hamantash Debate (review)". Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies. 25 (2): 221–224. doi:10.1353/sho.2007.0036. S2CID   143517216.
  12. Cohen, Ted. "Excerpts from The Great Latke-Hamantash Debate". University of Chicago Press. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  13. Leo Strauss, Thoughts on Machiavelli (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958), p. 35
  14. Cernea, p. 189.
  15. Cernea, p. 71.
  16. 1 2 "Latkes vs. Hamantashen: The Promised Food" . Retrieved 2008-05-23.
  17. Robbins, Hollis (21 February 2013). "Latke Hamantaschen Debate".
  18. "December at Hopkins". Blue Jay Buffet. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 15 January 2015.]
  19. "Latke vs Hamentaschen: The Great Debate 2011 | MIT Hillel". hillel.mit.edu. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  20. Harold T. Shapiro - Articles
  21. Harold T. Shapiro, "The Hamantash and the Foundation of Civilization; or, The Edible Triangle, the Oedipal Triangle, and the Interpretation of History", In: The Great Latke-Hamantash Debate, University of Chicago Press
  22. "Chanukah in Canada". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
  23. Blackmun, Harry. "County of Allegheny v. ACLU 492 U.S. 573 (1989): Case". Justia US Supreme Court. Justia . Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  24. Wilgoren, Jodi (25 November 2005). "Such Sound and Fury! Tradition! Einsteins in Food Fight of Words". New York Times . Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  25. Dekhtyar, Sonya; Solomon, Lee; Libenson, Dajniel. "Age-Old Debate Confounds Experts Again at U of C Hillel's Latke-Hamantash Debate". Jewish United Fund . Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  26. Abowd, Mary (14 November 2014). "68th Latke-Hamantash Debate set for Nov. 25". UChicago News. University of Chicago. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  27. "Ritual slaughter of the latke".
  28. "Adler and Rabinowitz Fight Viciously over Latke, Hamantaschen". Archived from the original on 2013-02-04. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
  29. "Tonight at the Buntport: The Great Hamantasch/Latke Debate is Back!". 18 October 2018.
  30. "latkes vs. hamantaschen settled".
  31. "Laud the latke! Hurrah for the hamantasch!". 20 November 2014.
  32. Akhtar, Allana (19 November 2013). "Professors engage in spirited debate on Jewish foods". Michigan Daily . Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  33. "Profs Face Off on Latkes Versus Hamantaschen" . Retrieved 2008-05-23.
  34. "Proof of the Superiority of Hamentashen over Latkes".
  35. "Prattle of the ages: Hamantasch vs. latke". Archived from the original on 2008-01-15. Retrieved 2008-05-23.
  36. "Latke-Hamantasch Debate Becomes Verbal Food Fight". Archived from the original on 2006-04-30. Retrieved 2008-05-23.
  37. "A serious challenge for lighthearted Purim revelers". 7 March 2014.
  38. "Latke-hamantaschen debate in Berkeley ends with a stunning verdict". 21 March 2014.
  39. "Professors debate merits of latkes, hamantash" . Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  40. "The First Annual UConn Latkes vs Hamentashen Debate". 7 April 2015. Retrieved 2015-12-07.
  41. "Latke-Hamantaschen Debate :: Student Life :: Swarthmore College". www.swarthmore.edu. 8 July 2014. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  42. Lorch, Benjamin (25 June 2017). "JCC Krakow Latke-Hamantash Debate" . Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  43. Schere, Daniel (2018-02-28). "Hamantashen? Latkes? An unsettled debate". Washington Jewish Week. Retrieved 2021-02-22.

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