You may have noticed a special section at your local grocer filled with brightly colored boxes containing matzah, an unleavened bread, matzah balls, Passover noodles, matzah cake meal and even chocolate. These treats represent the beginning of spring and the Jewish Passover holiday.
So what's the meaning behind this very large cracker? Passover is a holiday that celebrates the liberation of the ancient Israelites from 400 years of slavery in Egypt, approximately 3,000 years ago. Leaving quickly, they didn't have time for their bread to rise and, therefore, baked an unleavened bread known as matzah.
This joyous holiday brings families together from around the world to participate in a Seder, a celebration that helps them remember the story of their ancient people with symbolic foods, songs and different personal traditions.
Before Passover begins, Jews search their homes and remove anything made from the five major grains, also referred to as hametz. They replace them with products made from matzah. Isaac, a Seward Park resident, is a practicing Orthodox Jew and has a special way of removing hametz from his house.
"On the night before Passover, unless it's Shabbat, and then it's two nights before the holiday, we take our bread outside and burn it. Any bread left, we consider it garbage," Isaac explained. We also 'sell' our leftover hametz, and everyday dishes, to our rabbi. We agree on a legally binding contract, and then we buy it back after Passover."
The Passover holiday lasts eight days with a Seder held on the first two nights. According to the Orthodox Jewish tradition, the first two days and the last two days are the most holy and no work is permitted. However, work is permitted during the intermediate days.
"As the first-born male, I'm also obligated to fast on the day before Passover," Isaac said. "This commemorates the fact that the firstborn Jewish males in Egypt were not killed during the plague."
On April 23, Jewish families from Seward Park will celebrate the Jewish exodus from Egypt as it is told in the Haggadah, the traditional Passover text.
"We read from a traditional Haggadah, and mostly in Hebrew," Isaac commented. " My entire family leads the Seder and everyone chants out loud."
The Seder begins with a blessing over the wine. During the Seder, four glasses of wine are poured to represent the four stages of the exodus: freedom, deliverance, redemption and release.
After the blessing, participants recite the meaning behind the first symbolic food on the Seder plate, a vegetable, usually parsley. It is dipped into salt water, an act which represents the tears shed by Jewish slaves.
Following the parsley, one of the three matzahs on the table is broken. One section of the matzah is returned to its original pile and the other becomes the afikoman, or dessert. Parents usually hide the afikoman for the children to find after dinner.
"We never hid the afikoman, Isaac remarked. "In my family, it just wasn't done."
After the afikoman, the youngest participant is called upon to recite the Four Questions, a short overview of the story of Passover, in Hebrew and English. The story continues with a blessing over the matzah and bitter herbs. The Seder participants eat the bitter herbs in remembrance of the bitterness of slavery.
Next, the bitter herbs are eaten with a mixture of apples, nuts, cinnamon and wine called charoset, which symbolizes the mortar used to build Egyptian buildings. Sometimes this unusual combination is made into a charoset and bitter herb sandwich, using matzah of course.
And after the symbolic foods are consumed ... dinner is served.
"I always look forward to the Passover holiday," Isaac said. "I enjoy being together with my family and eating our traditional Passover food; fried leek patties."
After the meal, a fifth cup of wine is poured and set aside for Elijah, an ancient prophet believed to herald the messiah. The door is then left open in anticipation of his arrival.
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