The Great Latke-Hamantash Debate

What began in 1946 at the University of Chicago as a way to foster a sense of community among Jewish students and faculty members, these farcical debates about whether latkes or hamantashes are superior wrap absurdist pun-offs in academic trappings, but readers will find as many pits as cherries. In these snippets from an ""academic 'carnival'"" that ""turns the usual academic posture upside-down,"" professors such as Marvin Mirsky observe ""the roundness of the latke clearly suggests the circle of perfection (Plato's ideal form)"" and ""the flatness of the latke . . . emphasizes the general and the universal (Plato's ultimate truth beyond the illusion of the immediate and the particular)."" Most participants use pun-dependent ""examples"" to illustrate the presence of this debate throughout history and literature: Lawrence Sherman reminds his audience that in Romeo and Juliet, ""Juliet was a Capulatke, Romeo a Hamantashague,"" and William Meadow cites the influence of Jewish cooking on rock music, recalling such lyrics as ""Come on, baby, latke good times roll"" and ""the Rolling Stones lament, 'I can't get no hamantashen.'"" The schmaltz gets poured on thick, and, like both latkes and hamantashes, the book is best appreciated in moderate servings.