“I have never seen two people more in love,” Sid Koltun said, his voice on the phone quivering ever so slightly.

Koltun was talking about his daughter, Jessica, and her husband Sgt. Zachary M. Fisher, who was killed in the Zabul Province of Afghanistan July 14 when insurgents attacked his military vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was 24-years-old and had grown up in Ballwin.

Rabbi Daniel Plotkin married the couple at B’nai El Congregation in April 2008. Jessica, who attended Parkway Central High School, met Zack through mutual friends – he was the best friend of her best friend’s brother. Zack and Jessi lived in Fayetteville, N.C. until Zack was deployed last December and Jessi came back to St. Louis to wait for him.

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Zack enlisted in the Army in 2006 and was assigned to the 618th Engineer Support Company. He served as an engineer equipment operator and team leader during route clearance operations. He previously had been deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“Zack was highly trained, highly motivated and very skilled,” said Koltun, who explained that Zack’s mother had converted to Judaism when she remarried and brought Zack up in the Jewish faith.

Capt. Steve Holmberg, commander of the 618th Eng. Co. who was quoted in the Fayetteville Observer, said Zack had all the qualities of a true leader. “He shared the knowledge from his last deployment with the soldiers and made sure the right thing was being done no matter how difficult,” Holmberg said.

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Fisher’s awards include the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, Army Good Conduct Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, NATO Medal, Combat Action Badge and Driver Badge with Driver Wheeled Vehicles.

Perhaps Jessica Koltun Fisher can take solace in the knowledge that her husband was a true hero and that his greatest prize was the love they had for each other. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Getting schmaltzy

One of my favorite parts of any Jewish holiday is the food. I am sure I am not alone in this department, either. I am also sure, like many of you, it was our grandmothers who first instructed us how to prepare certain traditional Jewish foods, divulging only to their beloved grandchildren improvisations on age-old recipes and tricks to make the dish unique. My Granny Rose, for example, was a great believer in never skimping on the schmaltz. Among all the gifts I am grateful she left me, her signature kasha varnishkes recipe (I can smell the onions frying in schmaltz right now) is at the top of the list.

Granny Rose did more than teach me to make kasha and matzoh ball soup however, she inspired a love of cooking in me. And I suppose, a love of food (for which I am less thankful). It’s not unusual for me to spend a couple of hours a week perusing cookbooks or recipe sites on the Internet, looking for interesting dishes to make, particularly ethnic dishes. For whatever reason – and I again give the credit to my maternal grandmother – I find myself fascinated with the origins of these dishes and what I have come to term “food folklore.”

It is with that in mind that a posting on shalomlife.com about a recent conference at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University entitled “Food, Power and Meaning in the Middle East and the Mediterranean” caught my attention. The two-day event focused on the culinary aspects of the region and the mixed cultural influences that have come to define Jewish food.

Long before volumes were written about the perils of fatty foods, Granny Rose was all about frying (in schmaltz, of course). She used to swear a fried shoe would taste good and even now I tend to believe it. So when I read that at the conference a subject of contention was the origin of fish and chips, my interest piqued. Apparently fish and chips – long considered the unofficial national dish of Britain – is actually of Jewish origin and entered the United Kingdom through its Jewish immigrant population in the mid-19th century. The dish is still a staple at Saturday morning kiddush in British synagogues, stemming from the traditional Jewish practice of cooking and frying the fish the night before, so as not to have to cook on the Sabbath.  

As the story goes, deep fried fish made its way north from London, while the fried potatoes made their way south, happily meeting in Manchester (home of the second largest concentration of Jews in the UK) where the fish and chip combination was solidified.

Shalomlife.com cites a 2003 article from The Observer that explains how the first fish and chip shop was opened in London in 1860 by a Jewish proprietor named Joseph Malin, who combined chips with fish “fried in the Jewish fashion.” That probably meant fried in schmaltz. Just like Granny Rose used to do.

Poker ace

For the first time in history, Israel has won first place in the World Series of Poker. Israeli-born Tomer Berda took home the first place gold bracelet, along with more than $825,000.

According to Ynetnews.com, Berda began playing online poker as a hobby to keep him challenged. When his hobby grew to a full-fledged passion, Berda decided to sign up for the Texas Hold’em tournaments in Las Vegas. After being defeated 12 times, Berda finally emerged a top winner.