As times change and generations come and go, preserving family traditions can be difficult- but not for the Ratner family. Their tight-knit bond has lasted through decades, losses, new additions, and even now a global pandemic. This entire project was put together to preserve an otherwise unnoticed history: the Jewish community’s recipes. The Ratner family’s food history, from cooking or baking recipes to menus for their large family gatherings, should not go unnoticed. It is a true relic of Cleveland Jewish history. When Charna Sherman and Susi Yarus Meisel grew up, every Friday night was spent with immediate family and every Saturday night was with Aunts and Uncles and lots of cousins. Each Jewish and Secular holiday was spent together and each summer was spent at a cottage complex on Lake Erie. Now, Charna and Susi and their Cleveland cousins, Dr. Nancy Wolf and Barbara Miller are preserving the traditions passed down to them from the matriarchs of the Ratner family. Susi’s grandmother was the sister of Charna and Nancy’s grandmother. As I wrapped up my conversation with them , Charna reflected on the hour we spent discussing memories of the Ratner family. When discussing grandmothers and great aunts she said, “we felt like all of their kitchens were all of ours, we would go in and out and learn from all of them and that’s in some ways how we became so bonded as a family.” Their tight knit family bond throughout their entire extended family is preserved through these women and their other cousins who grew up as close as siblings. Charna and Susi’s grandmothers were outstanding bakers and cooks. Dora, Susi’s grandma, did a lot of baking at Park Synagogue Main, Charna remembers the super-sized kitchen-aid mixer being bigger than she was. The industrial mixer is a testament to how committed these women were to their baking. Challah continues to be a staple at all Ratner family events thanks to Susi’s amazing recipe. Susi used to bake with her grandmother all the time, it became her after school activity. Unfortunately, when Susi was fourteen her grandmother was ill and was hospitalized at Mt. Sinai. At that time, the hospital would not allow visitors who were under the age of sixteen. Susi was then tasked with making a challah for a family simcha. So, after Susi made the challah dough her mom had to sneak her up the back stairway of the hospital because her grandmother had to touch and feel it before she could bake it. It’s difficult to bake with a really heavy dough. She had to make three doughs before it was approved. But now, Susi is the challah expert shipping out challah to any family member with a celebration. As Susi attempted to be modest about how incredible her challah is, Charna interjected saying that the challah is not a normal challah, it’s a gigantic wonder! See pictures below and click here to see Susi’s recipe.
Passover is very important to the Ratner family. Charna & Susi’s grandparents thought that people would be less inclined to claim the second night Seder. To this day the family is free to go anywhere for the first night, but the second seder is reserved for the 125+ member Ratner clan. The signature dish for Seder was the kreplach. Susi & Charna remember playing in their Aunt Fannye Shafran’s living room while the elders sat at the dining room table for hours making more than 250 kreplach. The cousins reminisced about how they were lucky to eat 3 or 4 of the kreplach as kids and joked about how now the production stops around 1-2 kreplach per person. When the cousins were growing up, the big thing about Passover was that, in order to fit everyone in at Aunt Fannye’s house, the pool table and all the furniture had to be moved outside. While most family seders stop at the classic “Next Year in Jerusalem” their seder had one more tradition: bringing the pool table back inside. Below are handwritten lists for the Ratner family’s second seder on March 28th 1964 and April 17th 1965.
The High Holidays are also filled with traditions and memories for Charna & Susi. The cousins reminisced on their Aunt Betty Ratner’s second day Rosh Hashana lunch. As a way to ensure that no one skipped out on the second day, Aunt Betty filled her entire dining room table with desserts. The spread made sure that everyone was in attendance. And thanks to Barb and Abe Miller, the family still to this day continues to break fast on Yom Kippur – always starting with potato soup. The tradition began with Aunt Ruthie Miller who hosted break fast for the family. This year because Covid prevented breaking the fast together, Susi and other cousins sent a tasty care package that included the potato soup recipe, so everyone could still share breaking the fast together as a family, albeit virtually. Below are hand written lists from Rosh Hashana in 1963,1964 and 1965.
The cousins were close due to all of the holidays spent together, but they were also lucky enough to spend their summers at the “Cottage” complex on Lake Erie. Charna joked that when she was younger, she believed it was a six-hour drive away, only to find out later in life it was a mere 30 minutes from Cleveland. It was where they learned to swim and spent their summers on the lake. To feed the young cousins at the Cottage and at all the family gatherings, the family came up with a signature dish: The “Ratner PB&J.” The goal of the sandwich was to keep the peanut butter from the jelly. The kids enjoyed three layers of bread, one layer for peanut butter and one layer for jelly. Sometimes the sandwiches were cut into triangles, quarters, or strips, but there was never any crust. When asked if they still eat them, the cousins responded: ”We don’t do family events without them!”
From Susi Meisel: It’s wonderful that all of our sisters, daughters, and many of our sons have and are learning these traditional recipes and holiday traditions. We are 4 generations going strong and we feel very blessed.
From Susi Meisel: It’s wonderful that all of our sisters, daughters, and many of our sons have and are learning these traditional recipes and holiday traditions. We are 4 generations going strong and we feel very blessed.