Special thanks to 3 generations of the Inoyatov family for coming up and cooking up a storm of delicious Bukharian food for our first Shabbos back of Spring 2015.

The Friday Night menu included these SALADS: “Oliviye” (a potato salad with sharp pickles, peas and carrots etc), “Vinagrette” ( big purple beet concoction with cabbage and potatoes etc), “Markovcha” (a carrot salad), and “Kapustney” (a cole-slaw). The APPETIZER was “Bichak” (a square crown-shaped knish filled with butternut squash and onions, sharp but good. The grandmother made the perfect dough by hand and hand-formed each and every knish). Many liked the “Shurpah” SOUP with lamb and lots of vegetables. The MAIN COURSE was “Toki” (meat-stuffed grape leaves in a flavorful sauce of chickpeas and plums etc) and the signature Bukharian dish of “Plov” (slow cooked rice and carrots and onion, and they put in whole lemon and whole garlic cloves, too, with lots of lamb and beef) which everyone really enjoyed. Alongside the Plov was a sharp tomato, onion and cuke salad, that is supposed to go well with the Plov. We also had vegetarian rice and grape leaves. DESSERT was “Mazurka” (a sponge-cake filled with walnuts and raisins) and “LAKZ” (a super-sweet liquid sugar and nuts confection).

Rabbi Mendel shared a message from Bukharian history living at a Silk Road crossroads between mighty empires and cultures, as well as a Bukharian-Chabad melody called “Atem Shalom” with the crowd chiming in for the oft-repeated chorus. A highlight was Ben’s grandfather’s warm and emphatic Russian toast (translated sentence by sentence by Ben’s father) which highlighted the power of the Jewish people, despite being a small nation, we are one nation, with one G-d, united despite our differences and various ethnicities, and how beautiful it still is for him to see Jewish youth celebrating their Judaism without fear…

One the evenings suprises was the ceremonial outfits the family brought for Raizy and Mendel to wear (at least for welcoming students inside and for the first part of the meal, elaborate, colorful, embroidered velour, wore by Bukharians at festive ceremonies and special occasions).

All the tables had red plastic tablecloths, with big flowery diamonds of silk-like fabric at each tables center. We have these fabrics from a box of skirts donated to Shabbos House by one the Israeli kiosks at the mall, and as the family said, they were a perfect fit for the Bukharian decor.

The “Law and Order” Halacha class on Friday Night befrioe prayer was very well-attended, and was about cast-iron pots, how to deal with the “seasoning” of these pots which might not be Kosher, the different options of Kosherizing and the background opinions on that. We also touched on the “immersing in Mikvah” law for brand-new utensils (that have no Kosher issues) and how we did it at Six-Mile Waterworks, chopping through the ice to be able to immerse it in a ritual pool of water.

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While we had Bukharian leftovers on Shabbat day, it was back to regular programming. We had a tight but fairly timely Minyan thanks to Andrew having two Queens College friends up for a visit. Some regulars were away, and we lost two very dependable regulars to the December graduation. We had a nice roster of Chazzanim, from Avi S. on Friday Night, to Mr. Jacobowitz leading off on Sat morning, followed by Andrew and then Grant. Matt did Mincha, with finished things off with a little Sephardic flavor. It’s reassuring to see students step up, the great Jewish cycle of life continues at Shabbos House!

At Shabbos lunch, Rabbi Mendel brought out 3 props: a belt, a sandal and a big wooden stick and did a Dvar Torah about that, connected to the Parsha, the Passover story and preparedness in life.

After Shabbos we had Musical Havdalah at 7pm (thanks to Grant and Ben I and Larry on his new electronic drumset) followed by Jamming Night music, with Amnon’s Pizza, until about 8:30pm. But a small crowd lingered until about 10pm, and 4-5 students shared stories, was real nice.