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The Great Food Fight of 1883

JL;DR SUMMARY In 1883, the contentious trefa banquet in Cincinnati celebrated the ordination of the first American Reform rabbis with a decidedly non-kosher menu, sparking a linguistic and cultural uproar within the American Jewish community. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish IdentityReform JudaismKashrutCultural ChangeAmerican Jewish HistoryReligious TraditionCulinary HistoryNineteenth CenturyTrefa BanquetIsaac Mayer Wise

Places mentioned

Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
"this was an unpardonable affront, the culinary equivalent of a slap in the face, a deliberate dethroning of Mosaic law."

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Cairo Item ID 56483
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2025-07-09 05:31:48 UTC
Curated 2025-07-09 08:32:12 UTC