Skip to main content

The Sisterhood of Congregation Habonim: Recipes Remembered

The library of the Leo Baeck Institute holds a recipe book titled Recipes Remembered. It is a cookbook published in 1976 by “The Sisterhood of Congregation Habonim” in New York City. The opening page of the recipe book states:

Ruth Heimann's Angel Pie from <i>Recipes Remembered</i>.
Ruth K. Heimann's Angel Pie in Recipes Remembered, 1976. LBI Library, st 4841.
Dedicated to our mothers and grandmothers who left us their favorite recipes and to our children who carry on, in modern kitchens, these culinary traditions.
A recipe for Linzer torte, a classic Austrian pastry recipe, in <i>Recipes Remembered</i>
Linzer torte, a classic Austrian speciality, published in Recipes Remembered, 1976. LBI Library, st 4841.

The book, on this same page, also describes the recipes as “German-Jewish Specialties.”

The history of Habonim Synagogue is an interesting one. Founded in 1939 by German-Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany and Austria, its core atmosphere for many decades was the rituals and culture of German-Judaism. According to Habonim’s website, 20 percent of current Habonim congregants can still say they were born in Germany.

Recipes Remembered offers a look at how that community had evolved and adapted to life in New York City by the mid 1970’s, at least in culinary terms.