page_title: Sfenj
section_title: Sfenj in Israel
hierarchical_section_title: Sfenj / History / Sfenj in Israel
caption_attribution_description: English: Homemade sfenj, deep-fried dough coated with honey
context_page_description: Sfenj is a Maghrebi doughnut: a light, spongy ring of dough fried in oil. Sfenj is eaten plain, sprinkled with sugar, or soaked in honey. It is a well-known dish in the Maghreb and is traditionally made and sold early in the morning for breakfast or in the late afternoon accompanied by tea—usually Maghrebi mint tea—or coffee. It is also called Khfaf in Algeria and other parts of the Maghreb, bambalouni in Tunisia, and sfinz in Libya. Outside the Maghreb, sfenj is often eaten by Moroccan Jews and other Sephardim in Israel and elsewhere for Hanukkah. Sfenj and other doughnuts are eaten for Hanukkah because they are fried in oil, commemorating the Hanukkah miracle wherein the oil that was supposed to light the lamp in the Temple in Jerusalem for only one day lasted for eight. Though sfenj can be made at home, as it usually is in Israel, Moroccans almost always opt to purchase it from street vendors or bakeries, where they are commonly strung on palm fronds.
context_section_description: Sfenj entered Israeli culture before 1948, as Maghrebian Jews brought it with them when they immigrated to Mandatory Palestine. Sfenj quickly became popular for Hanukkah, as it is easy to prepare at home. However, sfenj's ease of preparation contributed to its loss of popularity in Israel. During the late 1920s, the Histadrut, Israel's national labor union, pushed to make the jelly-filled sufganiyah the traditional food of Hanukkah. Making sufganiyot well can only be done by professional bakers, and the Histadrut wanted sufganiyot to supplant easyly home-made latkes (potato pancakes) in order to secure jobs for Jewish bakers. Their effort was successful: by 2016, Israel's 7 million Jews were eating 20 million sufganiyot per year, while few Israelis of non-Moroccan origin eat sfenj. More Israeli Jews report eating sufganiyot for Hanukkah than fasting for Yom Kippur.
caption: Homemade sfenj coated with honey
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