The Sweet Story of Why an Israeli Druze Café Went Kosher by Mackenzie Landi January 19, 2024 January 19, 2024 3K Owned by a Druze war widow, Noor restaurant proudly converted its kitchen under rabbinic supervision so it could serve Jewish soldiers and evacuees. Lamb and yogurt are two typical ingredients in the cuisine of Israel’s approximately 145,000 Druze Arabs.But because mixing meat and milk in the same dish is forbidden to Jews according to the Torah’s kosher laws, Druze restaurateur Basma Hino is now using vegan yogurt and labneh in the classic dishes offered in her Noor Restaurant and Café in the Western Galilee village of Julis. No, Hino did not convert to Judaism. The reason she went to the trouble and expense of turning her restaurant kosher is to feed IDF soldiers stationed in the north. The Druze, who practice a monotheistic religion, are concentrated mainly in villages of the Galilee and Golan Heights. They are patriotic Israeli citizens and serve in the military. Hino’s husband, Marcel, received a brain injury during his reserve army service in 2002. He never got to hold his son, Noor, born four months afterward. Marcel remained in a coma for 13 years before succumbing to his wounds. “Basma is very untraditional for the Druze community,” says Uri Arnold, the restaurant’s business consultant as well as Hino’s longtime friend and spokesperson to the press. “Usually, a widow sits at home and isn’t allowed to work. But Basma decided five years ago to get up and go out and open a business. It raised a few eyebrows in Julis.” It must have raised even more eyebrows when Hino decided to seek kosher certification. After October 7, Arnold tells ISRAEL21c, Hino cooked and delivered meals to her late husband’s reserve unit that had been activated in the area. “She saw that half the soldiers didn’t eat because the food was not kosher,” Arnold says. Refusing to accept that “even one soldier will not touch my food,” Hino said, she decided to try going kosher. “And I did it with pride,” she added in an interview with a local TV station. With temporary rabbinic certification for prepacked meals, Hino began cooking for IDF soldiers every Monday and also providing free meals to civilian evacuees. Volunteers come to help her. “When weeks and months passed, she saw the love from the people and the soldiers and decided to become kosher permanently. This is very unusual for a Druze restaurant,” says Arnold. “I owned a few kosher restaurants and I helped her as a mentor in the process,” he adds. Under the supervision of a team from Rabbanut L’Kashrut Artzit, a branch of the national rabbinate that serves Arab villages and other areas without an organized local rabbinate, Hino got Noor’s entire kitchen koshered, bought all new tableware, hired two Jewish cooks and agreed to buy only kosher-certified ingredients. Noor’s kosher certificate was hung with great fanfare on January 2. Arnold says the Noor menu really didn’t change. The kitchen still serves classic Druze dishes such as mansaf, a mountain of rice topped with lamb; shish barak, an Arab meat ravioli with hot yogurt sauce; and kubbeh nayyeh, Arab lamb tartare. It’s just that the dairy ingredients have been switched out for vegan substitutes and the meat is purchased from a kosher supplier. And how is business at Noor? “The situation in the north is scary,” says Arnold, “but people are coming.” Originally posted at israel21c.org Comments 1 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail previous post 10 Photos of Israel’s Greatest Ecological Turnaround next post 100 Days of Bombs: American Ministry Shelters Israel You may also like Navigating Opportunities in Challenging Times October 18, 2024 Israelis Send Power and Aid to Hurricane-Stricken US October 18, 2024 Air Haifa Takes Off; First New Airline in... October 18, 2024 Israeli Hospital Transforms to Meet Wartime Rehab Demand October 10, 2024 One Year Since October 7, 2023 | A... October 10, 2024 Hope and Perseverance in Israel and her People October 10, 2024 October 7 Stats Reveal Extraordinary Lifesaving Efforts October 3, 2024 Israeli War-Battered Wineries You Can Support October 3, 2024 Rising From Ashes: A Mother’s Fight to Survive October 3, 2024 The Aftermath of October 7: Stories That Must... September 26, 2024