Malke’s Latkes
In the town of Chelm, there is a woman named Malke, famous for her latkes (potato pancakes).
Everybody knows about Malke’s latkes - crispy on the outside, soft as clouds on the inside.
Malke’s neighbor Mendel wants to taste these latkes. He decides he will steal the recipe.
He stands outside her window, writing down every detail while she cooks.
Back home, he follows the step:
First instruction:
“Use extra virgin olive oil.”
“Olive oil?” he says, “Everyone uses vegetable oil. That must be a mistake.
He uses vegetable oil instead.
Second instruction:
“Grate the onions to a fine powder.”
“A fine powder?” he says, “Everyone dices onions. Must be a mistake.”
He dices instead.
He continues this way, making substitutions.
Finally, his latkes are ready, he sits to eat…
“What’s so special about Malke’s latkes? They taste like everybody else’s latkes.
What does this have to do with movement practice?
This story comes to mind when somebody tries an exercise, but doesn’t experience certain benefits. You inquire further, and realize they changed some critical details.
Someone is told to count reps - they just stop when they feel like it instead.
Someone is told to focus on a certain detail - they ignore it because it seems unnecessary.
Someone is told to scale an exercise - they persist with what feels comfortable.
Then they report that the method “doesn’t work.”
This is rarely malicious. It’s usually automatic. We don’t know which variables are essential.
The more obvious lesson here is to do your best to learn what is presented in front of you, to drop your expectations and see clearly.
To learn something new, you must perceive what is in front of you - including what you don’t yet understand.
But perception is selective. We interpret new information through old frameworks. We see recipes in terms of recipes we already know.
We think we can be different from Mendel, who changes the recipe as he implements it.
But we are all Mendel.
Perception requires filtering - how else do you avoid writing down irrelevant details: that Malke wears a green dress while making the latkes, for example?
The problem is not making the mistakes of Mendel - the problem is of thinking we can do anything besides what Mendel does.
The practical solution is simple: Try your best to follow the recipe, but be suspicious of yourself, especially when things seem familiar or unimportant.
Over time, a certain wisdom is acquired - a refinement of the filter so that it can become more intuitive, more sensitive when asking “what is important here?”