Some people go for walks or sit in coffee shops when they want to have heart to heart talks. Not Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld. When Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld wanted to have a deep conversation one of his students, he’d invite that student to help pickle the herring. Fish pickling on the curriculum at Shear Yoshuv, the Rabbi’s yeshiva in New York’s Far Rockaway neighborhood, but Rabbi Freifeld wasn’t just any rabbi. Rabbi Freifeld was a spiritual father to his students, many of them broken young men.
His daughter Rebetzin Peninah Rothman recalls that Rabbi bought his herring, straight from the barrel –a dozen or more fish at a time, enough to feed fifty hungry men. Then he’d don a plastic apron and together with a student sous chef, they’d start the pickling process so that the fish could be eaten at the third meal of the Sabbath.
Of the three Shabbos meals, Shalosh Seudos which is the Yiddish name for Seuda Shlishit, literally “third meal,” is the most otherworldly of the three Shabbos meals. The menu is simple. Cold and often pickled foods are featured because the focus isn’t on the food—it’s on creating a stirring atmosphere, through storytelling and singing of slow, soulful songs.
From his daughter’s description, the late Rabbi was in a Shalosh Seudos state of mind while he pickled. As he worked he hummed a melody from the Psalms “Hoshia es Amecha,” Redeem Your People …and Bless your inheritance,”. Maybe that song, which is really a prayer was the secret to the Rabbi’s success in redeeming the souls of his students, lost young men whom he helped to build new lives.
The pickled herring recipe is actually quite simple and turns out very yummy. Don’t let the word pickling frighten you. With a sharp knife, the process is quite simple and actually fun and doing it yourself is a lot cheaper than buying the same pickled herring from an appetizing store. Hum “Hoshia es Amecha” and think of Rabbi Freifeld while you’re pickling.
This is my adaptation of Rabbi Freifelds’ fish recipe given to me by his daughter Rebetzin Peninah Rothman
Ingredients
One salt herring (approximately seven inches long)
Pickling spice
Bay leaves
Dried chili peppers
One medium onion
Sugar
Vinegar
1. Buy one whole salted herring—we’re talking about silvery grey fish with white flesh ( caution do not use maatjas herring)
2. Fill a medium sized bowl with cold water and place fish inside. Refrigerate. After 24 hours change the water.
3. After the fish soaked for 48 hours slit the fish across it’s belly and gut it. Remove spinal column, fins and tail and then slice it into small pieces about the size of rummikub tiles.
4.Submerge the squares in cold water and let them sit there for another 24 hours.This will extract the saltiness completely and leave you with a very mild tasting fish. Caution: keep the fish in the fridge at all times.
5. On the third day marinate the slices in a solution of ½ to ¾ cup of sugar (depending on how you sweet you like it)and one cup of vinegar. Add a handful of pickling spice, bay leaves , one dried red pepper, one onion sliced into rounds. Store in a closed container
6. The fish should marinate in the fridge for at least 24 hours until it’s eaten.
Serves four to six
