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Apr
9
What do Jews do, Passover, Part I
Jewish holidays involve a lot of music and a lot of food, except when they involve a fast, in which case, it involves no food until after the music, and then you get to have food.
Passover is no exception. As I put my youngest to bed this evening, we cuddled and sang two of the most well-known Passover songs – Ma Nishtanah and Dayenu (my kids sound better, btw, and see if you can catch the “hametz” and “matzah” words; then, when you sing Dayenu, slam the table with your palm and syncopate). Then, I promised to find the cassette tapes we’ve had for years with different versions of the music and story so that we can play them until I can’t take it anymore, I mean, until their memories are refreshed enough to sing loud and proud at the seders.
How I know these songs reminds me of how I know how to read: I remember sitting in a group with four or six other first graders in the front of the classroom near the teacher’s desk reading from, yes, Dick and Jane, but that’s it – I don’t remember the sounding out or learning the alphabet.
Likewise, I recall singing the Jewish holiday songs every year but I don’t even remember when I was the youngest and got to sing Ma Nishtanah by myself (although that is probably because my cousin David is just a few months older than me and our parents probably made us sing it together, so much for individuality).
And though maybe I wasn’t always attentive, somehow, the annual recitation of the same songs and prayers resulted in me now at least knowing the tunes, if not the words (gotta love transliterations, because I read Hebrew too slowly).
With only three full days left before the first seder, I have several chores to complete: I’m making Rocky Road Brownies that are kosher for passover (you’ll have to go to the next blogger meetup if you want to taste mine):
And Caramel Matzoh Crunch:
We’ll also bring Kosher for Passover wine (many excellent choices in the last five to ten years) that’s not Manishewitz (if you ever attend a seder and you’re made to drink four glasses of Manishewitz wine, check to see if it’s also April Fool’s Day) and some Bartons candies (typically, solid chocolate, fruit slices and mints). There’ll also be an assortment of macaroons, which many people like, but I don’t. Too…straw-y – I always feel like there are strings in the little mini-cup-shaped cakes.
Isn’t it interesting how I started with the desserts and wine? Of course, however, we have to sit through about an hour or so of the service first. The length depends on the leader. When I was a child, my Papa led the seder and I couldn’t understand a blessed word. Supposedly, back in that day in Poland, when he was a child, every male Jew knew nearly as much as a rebbe. I don’t know for sure because, as I said, I could never understand his mumbling. My brothers and I and our cousins enjoyed making fun of Papa’s mumbling, but the worst part was that because of it, we couldn’t figure out how many pages he would garble before we could eat.
Or at least get to the Hillel sandwich, in which you place haroset, a crushed apple and nut mixture, between two pieces of matzah. No one will admit it, but I’m sure that God created this part of the service to tide us over.
Another problem with Papa’s hebrew, and a pronounciation difference that continues to decline in occurance and relevance, is the “t” versus the “s” as in Shabbos versus Shabbat or “sov” instead of “tov.” Apparently, this pronounciation has to do both with being Ashkenazic, from the old country and speaking Yiddish, versus speaking Modern Hebrew. Many people are unaware that Hebrew only came into being as a spoken, conversational language in the late 1800s. The Hebrew-English dictionary I have from when I was a teen is called the Ben-Yehuda Dictionary, after Eliezar Ben-Yehuda, the man who revived Hebrew as a conversational language.
In any case, Papa had a mean Eastern European Yiddish/Ashkenazi accent that still oys in my ears. If you’ve seen any movies or shows that feature Holocaust survivors or other Jews native to Eastern Europe, you’ve heard this accent too. Listening to Carl Reiner or Mel Brooks, or even Billy Crystal doing Miracle Max in The Princess Bride would also give you a good example.
My husband and son have finished watching The Phantom Menace and so I must stop for the night. Luckily, with eight nights of Passover, and this being only Part II, there’s six more for me to talk about the rest of the meal.
I’ll close with this picture of my seder table, before the seder began. I actually really love looking at a table set like this, in the mid to late afternoon, the calm before the roar of the guests and the smell of the matzah ball soup.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:47 am April 9th, 2006 in Politics
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5 Responses to “What do Jews do, Passover, Part II”
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Jill,
How lovely it all looks, you sound like a dedicated cook and gifted hostess.
Thanks, Daniella. I’m actually a kind of lazy hostess, my mom being an “I’ll do it myself!” type, and my husband being more…specific in his tastes. But, as my parents age and my family here in Ohio ends up being the largest at five, I’m trying to grow into a hostess. Being welcoming isn’t so hard – but I find I need such focus sometimes!
The brownies look yummy! I wish I could taste them from here.
Thanks, Steven. I’d be happy to email you the recipe if you like. As I’ve said, my kids enjoy those brownies year round. This year, the worst part was that I left the leftovers in CT with my parents while we went to Boston to do the second seder, and when we got back barely 24 hours later? No more brownies!
[...] This post from Passover 2006 has some good photos of the crunch, the brownies and what our home looks like when we host the seder. [...]