sufganiyah

' ( or , ; : ', Hebrew: , , or in Yiddish ) is a round, jelly doughnut–like pastry, eaten around the world during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. The doughnut is deep-fried, injected with jam or custard, and then topped with powdered sugar. The doughnut recipe originated in Europe in the 16th century, and by the 19th century was known as a Berliner in Germany and a Religieuse in France. Polish Jews, who called them ponchki, fried the doughnuts in schmaltz rather than lard due to kashrut laws. The ponchik was brought to Israel by Polish Jewish immigrants, where it was renamed the based on the Talmud's description of a "spongy dough".

==Background== thumb|right|Various sufganiyot for sale at a bakery in Tel Aviv On Hanukkah, Jews observe the custom of eating fried foods in commemoration of the miracle associated with the Temple oil. The tradition of eating deep-fried pastries on Hanukkah was considered ancient even in the time of the 12th-century rabbi Maimonides, whose father, Rabbi Maimon ben Yosef, wrote that "one must not make light of the custom of eating sofganim [fritters] on Chanukah. It is a custom of the Kadmonim [the ancient ones]". These sofganim were likely syrup-soaked fried cakes, akin to modern zalabiya in the Arab world.