Passover began this week and although it may be different this year as we celebrate it during a quarantine, it is still full of hope and promise!
We had our first Seder the other night, just my family. Then we will be having the second Seder (Conservative and Orthodox Jews generally host 2 seders, Reform Jews generally only host 1 along with those who live in Israel. This dates back to ancient days, the lunar calendar, and maybe a bit of confusion 🤣) My brother and sister-in-law will Zoom in with us.
This is the Haggadah, the book we use to tell the Passover story; from when the Jews were slaves in Egypt to their exodus to freedom. The word Haggadah literally means “the telling.” The silver tray is our Seder plate and holds the items that represent the holiday and are used during the Seder. Our Seder plate holds a special place in our family as it, along with many other important/valuable possessions, were actually returned to my grandmother after she survived the Holocaust. The koala bear, and a number of fun items in the next photo, are there as a way to keep kids interested. There are actually parts built into the Seder for kids specifically, but we tend to take it a bit farther.
These are the items on the Seder plate: Starting with the parsley and moving clockwise; parsley represents the spring time, the roasted egg and bone represent the sacrifice made, the brown balls (a Sephardic recipe), called charoset represent the mortar used when the Jews were slaves in Egypt, and the bitter herbs, called Maror, represents the bitter lives we had as slaves. The wine in the middle is for the prophet Elijah, who we hope will arrive each year. Our Matzah, the unleavened bread is actually in these little drawers that are below the items on the top.
My daughter got to lead the Seder this year! She was thrilled! She did a wonderful job (and don’t worry, that’s grape juice in her glass)
This is our matzah ball soup — very traditional Passover food! Ours is a bit different. My family are Sephardic Jews, which means that our ancestors came from Western Europe... for us, Holland. Many American Jews are Ashkenazi, which means their ancestors came from Eastern Europe. Our holidays and celebrations are the same, but a few of our recipes and traditions are different. While most people set forth to make very light and fluffy matzah balls, my family makes heavier, denser matzah balls. Still delicious (better if you ask me) but different than a lot of others.
Passover only happens once a year and lasts for 8 days. We always ask the question during the Seder, “what makes this night different from all others?” Most years we include things like the different foods and traditions during the holidays, that aren’t the same as we would do any other day of the year. My family and I always look forward to being together, enjoying yummy foods, and sharing in the fun and joy of the holiday — even if this year it meant that we had to do parts of that virtually.
I hope you enjoyed learning a bit about how we celebrate Passover!