There will be herring!
From Teaneck to Modi’in, one maven’s passion for the fishy treat flourishes
In the decade that Howard and Terry Mischel lived in Teaneck, from 1999 to 2009, Howie cultivated a close fellowship with other guys at the hashkama Shabbat minyan — that’s the earliest one — at Congregation Beth Abraham.
And at a weekly kiddush following the service, these buddies cultivated a shared passion for herring.
“By the time I made aliyah, we’d tried 120 types of herring,” Howie says. “We were always trying to impress each other with herring. We started ranking them and writing short reviews, just for fun. I have a notebook full of comments about herring.”
The Shabbat before the Mischels made aliyah, the guys threw a farewell kiddush. “They started joking that I’d never have good herring anymore, and how would I survive,” Howie recalls. “I said, ‘Are you kidding? Don’t you have any emunah?’” Any faith? “‘There will be herring!’ That was the parting joke of our club.”
And it was so.
“Herring is a way to make friends,” he says. “I wasn’t letting it go.”
“When we came to live in Modi’in 16 years ago, I started searching for herring locally, and the selection wasn’t great. Then my son in Ramat Beit Shemesh told me they have 15 varieties of herring at Chef HaShabbos. I went all the time, driving 25 minutes away, to pick up different varieties.
“Then I started meeting guys in the hashkama minyan in Modi’in, and the herring kiddush started replicating itself. We’d take road trips to Bnei Brak, Petach Tikvah, Beit Shemesh, wherever chasidim live. When I lived in Teaneck, I would drive with some of the guys to Monsey for herring. Anywhere you find chasidim, you find good herring.”
In 2010, Howie started a herring blog, the Herring Maven (herringmaven.blogspot.com), now approaching 100,000 hits.
He and approximately 20 men in his chevra — his social group — in Modi’in “like to go find fillets and make our own herring,” he says with a laugh. “We trade recipes. We have had herring throwdown competitions.” The less conventional flavors include coffee garlic, wasabi, and curried smoky tomato.
Now, let me stop and explain how I stumbled upon this story. I am not a herring fan (sorry, Howie). I do not live in or near Modi’in, which is in central Israel.
But my husband and I recently spent Shabbat in Modi’in, where we’d never been before. We attended the local hashkama minyan with our gracious hosts, Beth and Paul White, who made aliyah from New Rochelle in 2019.
The Whites took us to the bountiful kiddush afterward at the home of another former Teaneck couple, Dan and Rise Landsman. And, of course, the chevra brought multiple forms of herring.
Though I had written about the Mischels’ aliyah in 2010, I hadn’t heard about the herring.
So, after a lovely Shabbat — during which the Whites introduced us to their warm circle of friends, including additional former Teaneck residents Shonny Solow and Hedy and Jeff Shron — I got in touch with Howie to find out more.
It turns out that herring has not only catalyzed his social life but also his professional life.
Howie had worked on Wall Street but reinvented himself after making aliyah. For five years, he was employed as an aliyah counselor for older immigrants at Nefesh B’Nefesh. And then, at 62, he interviewed for a managerial position at a fintech startup.
“I’m sitting in the conference room and one of the founders — he’s South African — says, ‘Tell me something interesting about yourself.’ I said, ‘I have a herring blog.’ He looks at me and says, ‘Wait right here.’
“He runs out, brings back his laptop, and asks me to show him the blog. He starts scrolling through it and cracking up. I figured that was the end of it; I’m an old guy in a young startup world. But that very evening, he called. He says, ‘I love herring. On Thursday afternoons, I want to have a pre-Shabbat party before everybody goes home. We’ll put out refreshments, and I want herring on the table. If you’re willing to bring herring, you’ve got the job.’ And that’s what happened.”
Though the startup folded after a few years, Howie’s retirement — he prefers to call it “redirection” — is anything but sedentary. His days are spent volunteering for organizations including Sar-El, the Chaim Herzog Museum of the Jewish Soldier in World War II, and soldier support nonprofit Yashar LaChayal.
He’s even managed to combine his passion for herring and helping IDF soldiers.
“I have a neighbor, Hillel Kuhr, a child psychologist,” he says. “I invited him to the kiddush. Next thing I know, he decided to start making herring. And then he decided to launch a second career, Hillel’s Heimish Herring. He makes 18 different kinds of herring to sell every week.
“And here’s one beautiful thing herring has done in this war: Hillel has been raising money to sponsor herring kiddush kits for army units in Gaza and at the Lebanon border. Hillel has managed to get herring and the other kiddush foods to about 4,000 soldiers thus far,” he adds. “I have a grandson and son-in-law in the army; I sponsored kiddushes for their units to raise their morale. The guys love it.”
One more hometown note: Howie and Terry’s granddaughter Ahuva just got engaged to David Gellis, whose parents, Jonathan and Aliza Gellis, made aliyah from — you guessed it — Teaneck. I really hope David likes herring!
Abigail Klein Leichman, a long-time Jewish Standard correspondent, lived in Teaneck for 20 years. She and her husband made aliyah in 2007 and live in Ma’aleh Adumim.
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