What, no Passover Threads?

[Dr_Strabismus]

..and I SO wanted to share my Matzo stories

 

[dr_mabeuse]

We've tried, but the first response always gets killed.

 

[Tom Collins]

I'd be interested, gentlemen. Truth be told, all I know about Passover from any perspective, be it Jewish or Christian, is what I learned from Heston in The Ten Commandments. I've never really trusted it, to be honest.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Good point.

Is it proper to wish a "Happy Passover?"

If so, then "so it is written, so it shall be done": Happy Passover!

 

[Nirvanadragones]

Too many birthdays that fall over Passover. And cake from Matzo meal just isn't the same

 

[R. Richard]

In my area, the locals worship the Easter Beaster. The EB is an egg-laying rabbit thought to possess certain magical qualities. In fact, after imbibing the sacramental white lightning, the locals claim to have seen things that could be easily interpreted as miracles. [The fact that they survive the next morning is, IMNTHO, a true miracle. The emergenmcy rooms at the local hospitals have a somewhat different interpretation.]

 

[shereads]

Is Passover the day when God agreed to kill only the babies of people who had pissed Him off? I love that Bible story. It inspires me to be a better person, and remain childless.

 

[gauchecritic]

If so, then "so it is written, so it shall be done": Happy Passover!

Sounds like you've been reading 'Sweeper's' book.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Sounds like you've been reading 'Sweeper's' book.

Fim reference: "The 10 Commandments."

 

[bluebell]

Kosher, of course.

Is it a sin if, during the seder, people sing "I Want It That Way" by The Backstreet Boys and can't pronounce all the names in the book of Exodus while reading them aloud?
'Cause if so, I know some people who might be in a pickle.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Passover's the most important holiday of the year for Jews and commemorates the Exodus, which was the birth of the Jewish people. It goes to the heart of what it means to be a Jew, which is that you're part of a special deal with God that was struck on Mt. Sinai as you were hot-footing it out of Egypt. The movie has the essential Moses story right as far as I know, but of course C.B. deMille pads it out with some subplots and love interest and gratuitous cheesecake, not to mention that scene where Anne Baxter's nipples steal the show as she plays some board game with Pharaoh Seti (& howC.B. got that scene past the censors in 1956 is the biggest miracle in the film - her ladyberries are clearly visible through her gown throughout.)

Given the unhappy history of the Jews over the last 2500 years or so, Passover's story of redemption and release from oppression always had powerful appeal, though I suppose it lost some of its impact to Jews who emigrated to America where there really wasn't any organized oppression to speak of. My family wasn't particularly religious - my parents even less than my grandparents - and I dropped the religion as soon as I was able, but I remember Passover services (seders) that were basically combination prayer services and ritualized meals that went on for 3-4 hours. For a kid of 9 or 10, they were pure agony.

Basically you gather around the table (strangely enough, for Passover, the most important holiday in the Jewish year, there are no services at the synogogue. It all happens at home) and go through the haggadah, a long mishmash text that everyone has a copy of that tells the story of Moses and the Exodus with commentaries by various famous rabbis and pauses to eat special foods that commemorate events from Israel's time in Egypt - bitter herbs to remind you of the bitterness of slavery, saltwater to remind you of tears, gefilte fish for some reason no one knows - and finally, after hours of this, you get to eat dinner. By this time your ass is all sweaty and your pants have permanent accordian pleats behind your knees. If you fall asleep at the table, the prophet Elijah comes and puts you in his sack and takes you away to Sleepy Jew Land or something and you're never heard from again.

Growing up a Jew in America is kind of weird, or it was for me. You know you're supposed to have a kick-ass God, but you only have to look around to know that he's kind of fallen on hard times and is no longer major league. Jesus is pretty much Top Dog and hangs around with kids and has Santa Claus on his team, while your God can only summon up these weird plagues (locusts? boils? flies? Doesn't he know about H-bombs and meteor showers?) and speaks and writes some language you don't understand. It's kind of discouraging, but then it also kind of brings God down to your level and makes him more approachable too because you have the feeling that he knows something about failure too. Jews often sympathize with their God. We understand he doesn't have it easy. It's not official dogma by any means, and officially He's still supposed to be King of the Universe and all that, but on a personal level, you kind of have to cut him some slack.

I didn't get interested in Judaism until I was an adult and then I was interested in the more cultural and secular aspects of it. I married a catholic girl and we were going to be all ecumenical and she was interested in going to a Passover service. Turned out the remnants of my extended famly was having a seder at a restaurant one year (not uncommon) and so we went.

I guess she was expecting something dignified and moving like a Catholic Mass or Eastern Orthodox service. What she wasn't expecting was a bunch of fractious and probably hungry Jews arguing and bitching about how fast to read the service and who got to go next and what order things should go in and whether they should skip this part or not and finally two sides of the family reading at different speeds trying to drown each other out. It all seemed eminently normal to me, but she was shocked.

 

[Tom Collins]

Great story, Doc. The last bit was funny, too.

It makes sense that Passover should be held in the home, after all, it was a situation where you couldn't go out, or the Angel of Death would get you. That is, if I'm recalling the story correctly.

 

[shereads]

Passover's the most important holiday of the year for Jews and commemorates the Exodus, which was the birth of the Jewish people. It goes to the heart of what it means to be a Jew, which is that you're part of a special deal with God that was struck on Mt. Sinai as you were hot-footing it out of Egypt. The movie has the essential Moses story right as far as I know, but of course C.B. deMille pads it out with some subplots and love interest and gratuitous cheesecake, not to mention that scene where Anne Baxter's nipples steal the show as she plays some board game with Pharaoh Seti (& howC.B. got that scene past the censors in 1956 is the biggest miracle in the film - her ladyberries are clearly visible through her gown throughout.)

Given the unhappy history of the Jews over the last 2500 years or so, Passover's story of redemption and release from oppression always had powerful appeal, though I suppose it lost some of its impact to Jews who emigrated to America where there really wasn't any organized oppression to speak of. My family wasn't particularly religious - my parents even less than my grandparents - and I dropped the religion as soon as I was able, but I remember Passover services (seders) that were basically combination prayer services and ritualized meals that went on for 3-4 hours. For a kid of 9 or 10, they were pure agony.

Basically you gather around the table (strangely enough, for Passover, the most important holiday in the Jewish year, there are no services at the synogogue. It all happens at home) and go through the haggadah, a long mishmash text that everyone has a copy of that tells the story of Moses and the Exodus with commentaries by various famous rabbis and pauses to eat special foods that commemorate events from Israel's time in Egypt - bitter herbs to remind you of the bitterness of slavery, saltwater to remind you of tears, gefilte fish for some reason no one knows - and finally, after hours of this, you get to eat dinner. By this time your ass is all sweaty and your pants have permanent accordian pleats behind your knees. If you fall asleep at the table, the prophet Elijah comes and puts you in his sack and takes you away to Sleepy Jew Land or something and you're never heard from again.

Growing up a Jew in America is kind of weird, or it was for me. You know you're supposed to have a kick-ass God, but you only have to look around to know that he's kind of fallen on hard times and is no longer major league. Jesus is pretty much Top Dog and hangs around with kids and has Santa Claus on his team, while your God can only summon up these weird plagues (locusts? boils? flies? Doesn't he know about H-bombs and meteor showers?) and speaks and writes some language you don't understand. It's kind of discouraging, but then it also kind of brings God down to your level and makes him more approachable too because you have the feeling that he knows something about failure too. Jews often sympathize with their God. We understand he doesn't have it easy. It's not official dogma by any means, and officially He's still supposed to be King of the Universe and all that, but on a personal level, you kind of have to cut him some slack.

I didn't get interested in Judaism until I was an adult and then I was interested in the more cultural and secular aspects of it. I married a catholic girl and we were going to be all ecumenical and she was interested in going to a Passover service. Turned out the remnants of my extended famly was having a seder at a restaurant one year (not uncommon) and so we went.

I guess she was expecting something dignified and moving like a Catholic Mass or Eastern Orthodox service. What she wasn't expecting was a bunch of fractious and probably hungry Jews arguing and bitching about how fast to read the service and who got to go next and what order things should go in and whether they should skip this part or not and finally two sides of the family reading at different speeds trying to drown each other out. It all seemed eminently normal to me, but she was shocked.

HER LADYBERRIES?



Good one. Jotting it down.

 

[Stella_Omega]

HER LADYBERRIES?



Good one. Jotting it down.

Not me, I'm hoping I never remember it again

 

[3113]

Too many birthdays that fall over Passover. And cake from Matzo meal just isn't the same

Which is why there are delicious recipes for flourless chocolate cakes made with ground hazelnuts or almonds. Alternately (and deliciously) one can serve up macaroons instead. Preferably with chocolate drizzled on top or chocolate chips within. Yum! Yum! Yum! I prefer coconut, myself (which my old world granddad insisted were for "peasants"), but they do make aristocratic almond macaroons that have that marzipan flavor

 

[3113]

The Passover Code

Basically you gather around the table ...go through the haggadah, a long mishmash text that everyone has a copy of that tells the story of Moses and the Exodus with commentaries by various famous rabbis and pauses to eat special foods that commemorate events from Israel's time in Egypt - bitter herbs to remind you of the bitterness of slavery, saltwater to remind you of tears, gefilte fish for some reason no one knows - and finally, after hours of this, you get to eat dinner.

You forgot some of the most important parts--all upon the Sedar plate:
1) Matzo to represent the unlevened bread, cause when you're rushing out of Egypt, who has time to wait for bread to rise. Also goes really good with chopped liver--yum!
2) Haroseth--symbolizing the mortar used to seal together the bricks--presumably that's what all those Jews in slavery were doing...bricklaying. Made of finely chopped walnuts, apples, honey, and a dash of wine (add in spices, chopped dried fruit if desired as well), it, too, is yummy.
3) Horseradish--might be the reason for the gefilte fish--these are those bitter herbs and you gotta eat something with them. Gefilte fish and horseradish are horrific to anyone who wasn't raised with them.
4) Parsley--the promise of spring.
5) Hardboiled/Roasted egg (life, rebirth, all that stuff...yep, we got the hardboiled egg in this holiday, too. Coincidence? I don't think so!)
6) Lamb Sankbone--not eaten, emblematic of the blood over the doorway that kept God from killing Jewish firstborn....which raises the question, why did God need markers? You might wonder why he couldn't tell Jewish from Egyptian houses...Ah-Ha! Tricked you! The Jewish God tends to do these things because he's really a teacher giving tests. He just wants to make sure you're listening and obeying. If he tells you to mark the door with lamb's blood you do it, or you lose your first born. That'll teach you to listen and obey!

And, finally, there is the cup of wine and empty seat for Elijah. Sometime during this interminably long dinner, the door is opened for Elijah to stroll on in and knock back a cup of Manischewitz. What he's suppose to do afterwards I've never figured out. Maybe give us all a date for the Messiah's coming?

Finish off with macaroons. See above post.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

And, finally, there is the cup of wine and empty seat for Elijah. Sometime during this interminably long dinner, the door is opened for Elijah to stroll on in and knock back a cup of Manischewitz. What he's suppose to do afterwards I've never figured out. Maybe give us all a date for the Messiah's coming?

You know, I don't think we did the empty seat thing. We did the open door and the cup, and the cup really impressed me as a kid.

You pour some wine in a silver cup (well, pewter, I guess. Jews never use gold though, because of the bad associations with the golden calf Edward G. Robinson made them worship in the wilderness. You'll never find gold in a synogogue) and leave it on the table for the prophet Elijah. By the time dinner's over, you can see some of the wine's disappeared, and supposedly Elijah's come in and had a sip. To a kid who doesn't know anything about evaporation and who has a couple of uncles who like to creep him out, that's kind of spooky.

 

[Grushenka]

Belated blessings, Dr. M. This year I could not attend a seder, but I have been a guest at many wonderful tables in the past.

My Easter this year was the same date as the Roman Catholic. Usually we do not coincide as the Russian Orthodox church stayed with the Julian calendar. Our Christmas is January 7, but it is Easter that is the 'bigger' holiday for us (non-Soviet types ).

Anyway, good health to you and your family.

Grushenka

p.s. you too, Dr. Strabismus