Special Purim Edition
Featuring the lost video recording of Alan Dershowitz and Steven Pinker's Latke-Hamantashen debate
Today is the Jewish holiday of Purim, on which Jews celebrate their deliverance from a genocidal decree as recounted in the Biblical book of Esther. It’s a festive occasion which many Jews mark by dressing up in costume, giving edible gifts called mishloach manot to friends and family, and donating to the poor, among other customs. (For readers who’d like to learn more about the holiday, here’s a handy explainer.)
One more modern Purim custom is the fabled Latke-Hamantashen debate, in which the potato pancake of Hanukkah is pitted against the tri-cornered pastry of Purim in a battle for Jewish culinary supremacy. This typically takes the form of public disputations on college campuses, where celebrated scholars marshal the collective wisdom of their fields in order to passionately advocate for their favorite food. Participants have included Nobel-Prize winning economist Milton Friedman, Pulitzer-winning historian Jack Rakove, and Harvard’s Steven Pinker and Alan Dershowitz, among many others.
Some years back, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek history of this practice, complete with interviews with the participants and some of the greatest hits from their debates. I even talked to Middle East peace negotiators to find out if the Latke-Hamantashen conflict could be resolved. (Their answer: No.) Here’s a taste:
At MIT’s 2008 contest, for example, Political Science Prof. Stephen Van Evera set out not only to establish the superiority of the latke, but to utterly destroy the reputation of the hamantaschen opposition. Calling on students to channel their “inner Karl Rove,” he announced that he would “make the case for latkes using communication science developed by American political campaign consultants.”
“I want to warn you,” Van Evera intoned grimly, “this is a dark science. It appeals to our darker impulses. It uses lies and slander. It exploits false patriotism and mob psychology. And everyone in the election business does it because it works. Voters eat it up like latkes.”
He went on to associate latkes with patriotism (potatoes come from [South] America) and national security (hot latke oil is good for repelling invaders), while linking hamantaschen with treason (Benedict Arnold wore a triangular hat), defeatism (unlike latkes, hamantaschen are “useless in combat”), and Vietnam (like a quagmire, both are gooey). His rallying cry was “be against latkes, be against America!” It worked. By the end of his presentation, Van Evera had the entire assembly of some of America’s brightest young minds chanting his slogan “USA! USA! Latkes, Latkes, USA!”
You can read the whole piece here. It remains one of my favorite articles that I’ve written. As part of the reporting for the piece, I dug up the archival video of Alan Dershowitz (hamantash) facing off against Steven Pinker (latke) at Harvard Hillel in 2007. Basically, it’s two of the biggest egos at Harvard debating the most inconsequential subject imaginable—and it does not disappoint. It was the first video I ever uploaded to YouTube, and here it is for your Purim viewing pleasure (the debate starts at 3:49):
And now a question for all of you…
Who would you want to see participate in your dream Latke-Hamantashen debate? The suggestions can be writers, actors, politicians, professors, whoever, as long as they’re currently living. I ask because I’m curious, and also because one day, I might actually try to pull one of these together…
Chag Purim Sameach!
Questions? Comments? Costume ideas? Latke/hamantash recipes? I’d love to hear from you. Reply to this email, or drop me a line at yrosenberg@tabletmag.com. You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook.