In Brooklyn’s Syrian Jewish community, Simchat Torah is all about the kids. At Sylvia Fallas’s synagogue, the morning services — where the last line of the Torah is read and the scroll is rewound to the beginning — start later, so families can attend together. The kids’ service is so large, it takes over the main sanctuary. And every child receives a “swag bag,” as Sylvia calls it, of candy and treats like toys or fun socks.
After services, her family makes their way to her grandmother Sylvia Azar’s home and the kids run up to the attic to trade one another for their favorite candies. “It’s enough candy to send you to the dentist,” she says. “We do not celebrate Halloween, so this is a really big deal.”
The adults crowd the kitchen for their own treat: freshly-fried sambusak, still hot from the oil. It’s the only time of year that Sylvia’s grandmother makes them — and they are devoured so quickly, they never make it to the table. Even the cousins who live down the street, who have their own lunch at home, will stop in to wish everyone a “chag sameach” and sneak a sambusak. “It’s a constant parade of people,” Sylvia says.
Cooking note: Uncooked sambousak can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for up to a few weeks. You can fry them directly from the freezer.
Learn more about Sylvia’s family in “For This Syrian Family, Friday Afternoon Means Coffee and Pastries” and get her recipe for salajhan (Syrian beef kebabs).
