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There
is a custom of eating foods fried or baked in
oil (preferably olive oil), as the original miracle
of the Hanukkah menorah involved the discovery
of a small flask of pure olive oil used by the
Jewish High Priest, the Kohen Gadol. This small
batch of olive oil was only supposed to last one
day, and instead it lasted eight.
Accordingly, potato pancakes, known as latkes
in Yiddish, are traditionally associated with
Hanukkah, especially among Ashkenazi families,
as they are prepared by frying in oil. Similarly,
many Sephardic, Polish and Israeli families have
the custom of eating all kinds of jam-filled doughnuts
(Yiddish: פאנטשקעס
pontshkes), (bimuelos, or sufganiyot) which are
deep-fried in oil.
There is also a tradition of eating dairy products
on Hannukah that is recorded in rabbinic literature.
This custom is seen as a commemoration of the
involvement of Judith and thus women in the events
of Hannukah.
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