Wednesday's Wanderings #16 -Passover

We celebrate the start of Passover with a sedar.  The sedar is really the retelling of the story of the exodus of the Jews from slavery in Egypt.  It is really a story about freedom.  It is a combination of thanksgiving and reminder. We use a book called a Haggadah to retell it every year so that future generations do not forget. 

Passover lasts 8 days.  As with most holidays that many people celebrate, it is centered around food.  We are not allowed to eat leavened products like bread, since the Jews had to rush out of Egypt and their bread did not have a chance to rise. There are some other restrictions too, including most grains. It becomes quite complicated with differing points of view.  Suffice it to say, it becomes a challenge to come up with meals that don't include American staples such as bread and pasta.  So we eat matzah.

 

But my childhood memories of Passover are happy ones.  My mother was very concerned with my weight.  I was a bit of a chubby kid.  I wasn't allowed to have cake or other goodies. Every once in a while, I was allowed to have 3 cookies.  Passover was an exception.  We had special kosher for Passover cakes.  They were boxed mixes.  My mom made a lot of them.  And there were certain Passover candies.  I was in heaven.

I wanted to use matzah fabric for my WW block.  Yes, believe it or not, there is matzah fabric.  It is used to make all sorts of items to celebrate this holiday, including potholders and tablecloths and aprons and ties.  The list goes on and on.  When I went to the best website to buy Judaic fabric:

1-800-Dreidel, I found they were sold out.  Sold Out????

I did the next best thing. I made my own matzah fabric. First I took a photo of a sheet of matzah, uploaded it to my computer and then printed it on fabric!  Now I had my fabric. 

And I also included the recipe as a reminder for years to come.

So my WW block this week is based on a journey back in time. A view of Passover goodies. A tradition that I started a few years ago. It is one of the few things I don't make from a boxed mix: Chocolate Toffee Matzah Candy and my block is a tribute to this goodie:

Happy Passover

Passover begins Monday, March 29th, at sundown. The Jewish holiday starts with a meal called a sedar. The sedar is a ritual meal that is guided by a book telling the story of the Jew's exodus from Egypt. It reminds us of how we went from being slaves to this wonderful thing called freedom.

To me, the Jewish religion is so much about tradition. I no longer have parents and have no siblings living near me, so the ritual of a sedar becomes my responsibility and my honor to pass on to my children. In simple terms, Passover lasts 8 days and during the holiday we are not allowed to eat leavened products and certain types of wheat and vegetables. This ban on leavening is symbolic of the quickness with which the Jews had to leave. There was no time for the bread to rise. So we eat Matzoh, unleavened bread.

As a child, I remember my mother cleaning the house of all types of bread and non-Passover products. She scoured the kitchen countertops and covered them with oilcloth. Then she placed a set of glass dishes that we only used for Passover on top of the counters. We were no longer allowed to open any of the doors. There was also a separate set of utensils and pots and pans. Then there were the special foods mostly made by Manischewitz that were placed on top of the counters. We were only allowed to eat food that was labeled Kosher for Passover. It was hard as a kid. No bread, no sandwiches for school lunch, none of our regular cereal, no pasta. So there was always some type of little treat that we never had during the rest of the year to make us feel a little less deprived.

Setting up my kitchen for Passover is not as rigorous a process as in my Mother's day. I do not follow all of the rules that she followed 40 years ago. My homage to my Mom are my glass dishes. Each year at the end of Passover, they are washed, wrapped in paper towels and put away in boxes. The day before Passover, I take them out of the box, wash them and lovingly place them on my kitchen counter. I think of my Mom.

I bought a beautiful handmade glass sedar plate that holds all of the symbolic foods for the sedar.

I take out my Matzah cover

that I made from a pattern I designed as OyVey! Quilt Designs.

I now have my own special treat that I make for my family called Caramel Matzoh Crunch.

And I am so happy to have my children and husband around my sedar table as we celebrate our freedom together.

A little treat for them to take home. And if you'd like to send a cute greeting to some of your family or friends that couldn't be with you, send a free e-card. (s0me of them are better than others.)

Happy Passover to all those that celebrate it.