Kreplach are small Ashkenazi dumplings made by folding thin dough around seasoned meat or chicken, then boiling them and commonly serving them in broth. Among East European Jews they became customary on the day before Yom Kippur, when families eat festive but restrained meals before beginning the approximately twenty-five-hour fast. One traditional interpretation treats the meat hidden within dough as a symbol of judgment covered by mercy; another compares the concealed filling to the fate that remains undecided until the Day of Atonement. Jewish migrants carried the custom to cities including New York, where kreplach soup became part of the broader Ashkenazi delicatessen and home-cooking repertoire. The dish demonstrates how a familiar Eurasian dumpling form acquired a distinct ritual schedule and symbolic language within Jewish food culture.
Kreplach before the Yom Kippur Fast
AD 1880
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