A Jewish family in Rochester, New York began a family tradition six decades ago that has become a world-wide phenomenon. The first Saturday in February is known as “Ice Cream For Breakfast Day.”

Liba Kornfeld of Riverdale and granddaughter of the holiday’s founder stated, “There is so much bad in the world, and this is just a fun, good thing.” Kornfeld explained that her grandmother, Florence Rappaport, a mother of six children living in Rochester, founded this “holiday.”

Kornfeld described the harsh winters upstate in the 1960s. After a very snowy January, the first Saturday morning in February her grandmother offered the two youngest children who were still at home ice cream for breakfast. The idea was a hit with her children, who then requested it year after year.

Kornfeld explained that her mother and her five siblings and their families took this tradition from Rochester and spread it across the world. “I have a cousin who lives in China and she hosts an ice cream party every year in Shanghai. At my uncle’s parties in New York, he would have people come up with creative ice cream sundaes and name them.”

She added, “When I was a little girl, I lived in Haifa, and my aunt lived in Jerusalem. They would have these big parties in Jerusalem and I would go by myself to Jerusalem for Shabbat to go to these parties. At the parties, I would wear a sign, ‘granddaughter of the creator of the holiday.’ There was also an allure about it. Once I met somebody who said they knew the person that created the holiday. I said, ‘Anyone who knows about this somehow will connect back to Rochester and to my grandmother.’

“When my son went to Israel for a semester in high school during COVID, there was a woman who, through Facebook, knew that my son was there and that we were connected to ‘Ice Cream for Breakfast Day.’ Since it was COVID, she was not allowed on his base. She wanted to help him celebrate and brought him all these flavors of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and handed it to him through the gate,” Kornfeld added.

Reflecting on her grandmother, Kornfeld said, “You think about your grandparents all the time, but this is a special way every year I remember my grandmother. My grandmother was an extraordinary woman. She went back to college after having six kids. She was not a religious Jew, but she went to study Torah every single Shabbat. This is my way every year of making sure that I memorialize her in a way that I don’t do for all my other grandparents, and it is a very fun way to do that.”

On Shabbat, Feb. 1, Kornfeld and her family will be sponsoring an “Ice Cream Kiddush” at the Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale. Kornfeld said, “The kiddush will have different flavors, with as many crazy toppings as possible. It is definitely not a vanilla and chocolate situation.

“It’s a great holiday. It is not about halacha; it is just about fun!” She added that her son, who is studying this year at Orayta in Jerusalem, will also sponsor an ice cream kiddush at his yeshiva that Shabbat.

A fifth grade teacher at SAR Academy, Kornfeld also honors her grandmother each year by teaching her students about this holiday. In the Google Slide deck she created, she added links to Israeli media that has showcased this annual celebration and noted that last year over 100,000 people in Israel celebrated this holiday.

“I think my grandmother would be totally amused that this became an actual thing,” she said. “She would love it.” Her SAR students will celebrate the day in school the Friday before. “The holiday has no halachas. If you want to celebrate it the Friday before that is OK. If you want to celebrate two weeks later, that is also fine. The real goal is just to bring you joy … and ice cream.”

To learn more about Ice Cream For Breakfast Day, follow @icecreamforbreakfastday on Instagram. The Instagram page lists the rules for the day and has a link to the history.