I am very big on food. Juicy, tasty, colorful food. And guess what? Israel is THE place to find all those kinds of food. For one week, the Jewish people get SUPER creative & inventive with their menus. You think that avoiding mixing meat and dairy together is tough? Try cooking a meal without bread! ...more specifically, not a speck of yeast.
I tip my hat to Jewish households on Passover week. It was hard work getting the house ready for the week, & there were 5 of us ladies. Weeks in advance, the housekeeper (my next-door neighbor) began washing & cleaning everything. EVERYTHING. Sheets, floors, drapes, windows, cupboards. She made us all do the same. It is like the ultimate Spring cleaning. She assigned work for all of us. It was like Passover began a month before it actually started. Everything that was done was done with the mindset of preparation for Passover week.
A few days before Passover began, kitchens were cleaned out thoroughly, dishes were put away & another set taken out, dishes that were deemed kosher le pesach meaning that at no time did they have contact with hametz (yeast, bread stuff). I found out that it is common in Jewish households to just by new dishes every year & use them till next Passover. The day before, all food that was not kosher for Passover was bagged away & put into the bomb shelter under lock & key.
Here where I stay, we have more than one kitchen so by the decision of the chief, one kitchen was chosen to be the Pesach kitchen. It was to hold all the Passover dishes & food. The other kitchens were cleaned out but their use would be limited.
I apologize that I have made kitchens & housework the main focus of Passover but as a female & possibly a future house person, it is fascinating. But the whole deal of Passover is actually the commemoration of the Hebrews leaving Egypt. If you are familiar with the story then you must remember the part where God commanded them to not wait for bread to rise & to just get the heck out of the place. That's the bit about no yeast for a week. This Passover week began Friday evening, erev Shabbat. Once families return from synagogue, they conduct a special dinner or Ceder (say-derr) in Hebrew.
When I first came to Israel, I had the opportunity to go to a hotel & observe one with a Rabbi & his family leading it. They read & sang out of the Haggadah a kind of guidebook that is full of songs, explanations, blessings & most importantly the event of the Exodus & what happened beforehand (plagues, slavery, stubborn pharaoh, etc.). This time, we went to a hotel, but we were in a dinning hall with about 6 or 7 other families conducting their own ceders, which was great, but with Jewish families from different countries of origin (Europe's Ashkenazim & Spain's Sephardim for example) come different Ceder traditions. This being said, the dinning hall was pretty rowdy. The ceder at our table with about 18 of us was moderately unorganized. I felt a little bad for the first timers at our table because I am sure it was confusing if one had not researched a bit beforehand.
I wish I could explain everything but attention spans are short these days so I will point out highlights from my Passover week.
One: Passover in general includes children as much as possible. They have the spotlight throughout the Ceder. Throughout the week there were so many activities in the city for children to participate in celebrating & learning about the Exodus. This is something I think, other cultures & religions should learn from. Kids are kind of the future you know. Let's pass it on.
Two: Since there was no bread allowed, matzoh served as its substitute. Coconut & potato flour for cookies & cakes. Matzoh Ball Soup is also a hit at many if not all kosher le pesach tables. I was able to help Shlomo in the kitchen as he prepared the delicious soup. I know how to make Matzoh Ball Soup now!! His daughter, Naomi came from the States to spend Passover in Jerusalem. She is an absolute whiz in the kitchen! For a few days she was queen in that little Passover kitchen. Among many things she made an amazing batch of arroset which, symbolically during the Ceder, is the mortar that the Hebrews used for bricks whilst in Egypt. It generally includes apples, cinnamon, nuts & dates & goes amazing with matzoh.
Disclaimer: If I get anything wrong, please forgive me. I'm a goy after all, a typical Gentile.
Three: Saturday night we welcomed a group of Chinese Christians that were so very eager to be at a Ceder. They were so very excited & attentive to the explanations that were being given. They returned the next day with notepads, Bibles & pens for more. Of course it was Easter Sunday so there were songs & a message for them. We served and ate lunch together & afterwards another lecture was given. It was a long weekend, amazing, but exhausting.
Four: We took the week easy & did little work in the office. One day, Shlomo's daughter and her family invited Patti & I to walk with them to the Old City. It was a special thing going on called Birkat Kohanim where all the Kohanim make the trek to the Kotel or the Wailing Wall to say a special prayer. Turns out there are A LOT of them so the Old City was packed & the Wall teeming with people. It was a gorgeous day & the family decided to walk on the surrounding walls of the Old City. If ever you visit & have the opportunity, you must do the same. But I must warn you, it is not for the faint of heart nor for those horrified of heights.
Five: On Thursday, I was thrown a curve ball & told that Shabbat was to kind of start a day earlier. It's a thing called Yom Tov (literally translated as 'good day'). So we all had dinner together, Shabbat style Thursday, Friday & Saturday. By the time Sunday came, I had gotten used to being a hermit & found it tough to go back to the usual grind.
It was wonderful being in Jerusalem during Passover. Lord knows I did not expect to be here again.
But I was. Take a look at me now.
K
