Passover

Happy Passover everyone!

Happy Passover to you, too, and everyone out there.

Hey Girl

Happy Happy... hope yours is the best!!

Abby

Thanks guys, ditto to every one. Man I want some bread!

Happy Passover !

Micha, Happy Passover to you too! I meant to send out a message on Saturday night when we got back from the Seder, but was too tired and totally forgot. I have to say that we haven't been good at all about avoiding Hametz LOL. But I've also been eating my weight in butter slathered garlic matzas too LOL. Those are Y-U-M-M-Y! 'scuse me while I go get the box of matsas and butter ;-).......

-Julie

Oh come on now Julie. I bet in Israel it's a whole alot easier to find kosher than here in the states! Why fill up on Matza when you can have just about anything else you could want? Cept bread of course!

Happy Passover to you too!

Of course....actually it's near impossible to buy anything not kosher for Passover right now. I couldn't even buy COFFEE FILTERS today....because they touch food (coffee) and the package hadn't been stamped as kosher for Passover. How on earth can a coffee filter NOT be kosher?!?!?! In any case, I can't live without my yoghurt and granola. And since I don't observe kashrut the rest of the year, I kind of see it as hypocritical for me myself and I (no judgements about anyone else here, so no one get mad at me here please LOL) to suddenly start avoiding things like the plague for 1 week of the year. That's just MHO. But hey, matzot are yummy! I'd eat them all year if they were available all year :-). We do eat a lot of rice during Passover though ;-)

-Julie

I often wonder why we have to eat matzoh too. I understand the other things, like the sedar plate but not really the matzoh.

My mom has the BEST recipe for chocolate matzoh cake! I'll send it to you tomorrow.

About 3000 years ago the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians under the rule of the Pharaoh Ramses II. According to the Book of Exodus - Moses, a simple Jewish shepherd, was instructed by G-d to go to the pharaoh and demand the freedom of his people
Moses' plea of let my people go was ignored. Moses warned the Pharaoh that G-d would send severe punishments to the people of Egypt if the Israelites were not freed. Again the Pharaoh ignored Moses' request of freedom. In response G-d unleashed a series of 10 terrible plagues on the people of Egypt

Blood
Frogs
Lice (vermin)
Wild Beasts(flies)
Blight (Cattle Disease)
Boils
Hail
Locusts
Darkness
Slaying of the First Born

The holiday's name - Pesach, meaning "passing over" or "protection" in Hebrew, is derived from the instructions given to Moses by G-d . In order to encourage the Pharaoh to free the Israelites, G-d intended to kill the first-born of both man and beast. To protect themselves, the Israelites were told to mark their dwellings with lamb's blood so that G-d could identify and "pass over" their homes
The Pharaoh was unconvinced and refused to free the Jewish slaves

Until the last plague

When the Pharaoh finally agreed to freedom, the Israelites left their homes so quickly that there wasn't even time to bake their breads. So they packed the raw dough to take with them on their journey. As they fled through the desert they would quickly bake the dough in the hot sun into hard crackers called matzohs. Today to commemorate this event, Jews eat matzoh in place of bread during Passover

The shank bone is symbolic of the sacrificial lamb offering, the bone can come from whatever the family is eating, such as the leg bone of a roasted turkey

The egg symbolizes spring.

Haroseth represents the mortar the Jewish slaves used to assemble the Pharaoh's bricks.

Parsley, symbolizing Springtime, it is dipped in salt water to remind us of for the tears of the Jewish slaves.

Bitter herbs (often freshly grated horseradish) reflects the bitter affliction of slavery

The four glasses of wine represent freedom, deliverance, redemption, and release.

-Julie

This message was edited Apr 28, 2005 1:12 PM

I remember all that from my days in hebrew school. It seems such a long time ago. Where has the time gone?

Hmm.. I can't find the origional recipe but this looks pretty close if not the same: http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,186,145175-231195,00.html

Happy Passover!