Latke Defeats Hamantash in Rematch Debate in La Jolla

By Jacob Kamaras

LA JOLLA, California — In a rematch of our legendary (in relative terms) Chanukah 2021 debate, in which I defeated Rabbi Eric Ertel of the San Diego Jewish Experience (SAJE) but sustained a fractured heel in the process, Rabbi Ertel and I duked it out once again on Wednesday night at the rabbi’s weekly challah baking event for UCSD students in La Jolla.

Once again channeling the energy of Rocky Balboa, I chose to debate the merits of the “underdog” food — this time the latke, in advance of Purim — over the more seasonally appropriate hamantash. And once again, I emerged victorious, with the bonus of avoiding an injury this time around.

Below are the arguments that Rabbi Ertel and I presented on March 1, excluding some improvised elements of the presentations:

The case for the hamantash: presented by Rabbi Eric Ertel

First and foremost, let’s look at HOW the Hamantash is baked.

It’s literally baked in hot air!! Hot air, ego, is literally the whole essence of the Purim story and why Haman wanted to kill us.

The hamantash’s main ingredient is dough, made up of flour, the most basic and foundational type of food that sustains us….this is just like the very essence of the mitzvah of the day…reminding ourselves that G-d is the main ingredient in our lives, G-d is the foundation of our lives….when you are eating a hamantash, You are literally ingesting the mitzvah of the day.

But not only that, it’s not just baked with hot air and flour, but the hamantash itself is sweet! that alone is a huge merit! Who doesn’t like sweet food!!

(Now, sure, that could be a bit of a setback if you’re trying to be healthy…but this is once a year, you have permission to get away with it!)

Now, let’s examine the texture of the hamantash for a minute…the surface of the hamantash is smooth…free flowing, like somebody who is familiar with meditation and prayer!

The hamantash, as we established, is smooth, itss very consistency is symbolic of Mordechai and Esther who were experts in prayer. They needed to be smooth in order to pray to HaShem, to repent and find favor in G-d’s eyes, to fight this battle against their opponents, the mighty Persian empire and Haman!

To go a little deeper into this explanation, the smooth hamantash is also an illusion to Mordechai’s strengths! Esther tells Mordechai that she is going to fast for three days before approaching Achashverosh to ask him to abolish the law of killing the Jews. And she tells Mordechai to reach out to the entire Jewish people and get them to prayer and repent. There’s a famous Midrash, that tells us that Mordechai’s real name wasn’t Mordechai, that was just a nickname. His real name was Pesachya…which is really two words put together “Pisach Ka,” one who can literally “Open up G-d.” Or three words put together “Pe Sach Ka” which means “a mouth that can speak to G-d.”

Which tells us that Mordechai’s job was to use his special talent of prayer to arouse the Jewish people to pray and repent, in order to have G-d forgive the Jewish people, and then put the idea of abolishing the law into the mind of Achashverosh.

That Midrash, which teaches us about Mordechai’s special quality, is hinted to in the hamantash’s smooth, yet tasty body of the hamantash.

Not only that…but the hamantash can be eaten with a variety of fillings!

It can be eaten, first off, plain without any filling.

Then with chocolate chips filling. Who in the audience does it with chocolate chips?!

But then it could also be filled with jam or jelly of strawberry, marmalade, and even prune!

So, the hamantash is really dynamic, it has the ability to be eaten with many different approaches!!…Just like team Mordechai and Esther. Either through the approach of prayer or fasting.

Mordechai and Esther were the heroes of Purim. They weren’t trained soldiers, who fought with sword and shield, but they were holy and humble people, who were able to defeat a whole Persian population with their spirituality!

And Mordechai and Esther, let me tell you…they were the best at what they did. Mordechai got all off the adults and children inspired to pray. He taught them new prayers that they didn’t have access to before! Esther, she fasted for 3 straight days!!! I fast for one day, and I’m totally spent. She fasted for 3 days straight…and because of that, she merited to be surrounding by the shechina, Hashem’s presence…In such a strong and revealed way that even Achashverosh was even able to feel it and was impressed with Esther…I mean, these two were the best of the best.

Mordechai and Esther were Extremely talented and had access to many different avenues of spirituality!

Again, extremely dynamic, symbolized by the hamantash.

So, to sum up:

1. The hamantash is baked with hot air, symbolizing the ego of Haman, the enemy of the Jewish people. Ot is made out of flour, the foundation of food, symbolizing G-d, the foundation of our lives…which is a main theme of the Mitzvah of the day.
2. It’s sweet, that’s an amazing bonus. One Can never go wrong with sweet food
3. The smooth texture is symbolic of Mordechai and Esther, who were smooth with their ability to pray and fast!
4. The smooth texture is also an illusion to the deeper understanding that mordechai’s real name was pesachya, the one who could open up or talk directly to HaShem.
5. The Hamantash can be eaten with many types of fillings.
6. The Hamantash is dynamic, symbolic of the spiritual power of Mordechai and Esther

The case for the latke: presented by Jacob Kamaras

First, a little bit of a history lesson. I mean, most of you are UCSD students, right? Some of you here tonight may recall that back in November 2021, I broke my heel debating for the underdog, the hamantash, on Chanukah. So, you know that no matter what, I’m all in, and that I’m even willing to sacrifice my body for this debate.

Tonight, I’m back for you, Drago! I mean…Ertel.

I want to dedicate my debate tonight to my wife, Megan, whose PTSD surrounding my injury from the last debate meant that she simply couldn’t be here to watch in-person. But Megan, let me assure you, that you’re the Adrian to my Rocky.

Now once again, tonight is all about the underdog. Indeed, on Purim, the holiday is known for “v’nahafoch hu” — the topsy turvy mentality. So, how can you choose the hamantash when you can make the topsy turvy choice?

The root of word hamantash is haman, the despicable villain of the Purim story. He wanted to annihilate the Jewish people. Let me ask you: Can we really eat pure evil? Especially in these times of rising antisemitism?

So, who are our modern-day villains? Our contemporary Hamans? Let’s start with Vladimir Putin.

One year into the war with Putin’s Russia, eating the latke is a crucial act of solidarity for Ukraine, the world’s 3rd largest potato producer despite having only the 35th-largest population. Wait…Wanna fact check me? Come at me bruh. It’s true. Cold hard facts. Look it up.

Seriously, ask yourself: What would Putin eat? No doubt, a HAMAN-tash. Can you really eat the same thing?

How about another notorious villain of these times — Kanye West, now known as Ye?

You may not know that in 2002, the artist then-known as Kanye West, now exposed as a virulent antisemite, was among the producers of the music from the motion picture soundtrack for the movie Brown Sugar. The sweet hamantash contains sugar. The savory latke does not.

I mean, if you really think about it, the hamantash deserves to be cancelled. We’ve cancelled some far less controversial things than the hamantash.

You may ask, why did I change my mind? Why am I now on Team Latke? Have a flip-flopped? Well, when I vouched for the hamantash back in November 2021, we were living in a time of skyrocketing oil prices, and frying latkes seemed unfathomable. Today, gas prices remain high, but they’ve at least stabilized. Frying latkes isn’t necessarily a fiscally responsible decision, but at the very least, it’s no longer an act of war.

Let’s get practical, folks. Tachles, as they say. The latke can be essentially be an entire meal. The crux of a main course. The hamantash, though, is no more than a dessert or a snack. An afterthought. And most of the time, it doesn’t even contain chocolate. Let’s face it my friends, if it ain’t chocolate, it ain’t worth it.

Beit Hillel was known to prefer the latke, and Beit Shammai the hamantash, meaning that we need to hold by the latke. Oh, shoot, my opponent is a rabbi, so I need to admit that I did actually just make that up.

But listen, there are many activities where I wouldn’t dare challenge Rabbi Ertel. Ping pong, for instance. A bracha bee. (Have you ever done one of those in summer camp? Super fun.) A davening marathon. But a latke-hamantash debate? I’m not afraid to say, I got this.

Ultimately, the Jewish people have always been the underdog. We can’t stop now. This Purim, ya gotta vote latke! Do it for Ukraine!

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Jacob Kamaras is editor and publisher of San Diego Jewish World.