Easter is great and all, but since Passover is going on at the same time this year, I am opening up the Jewfriendly Passover thread.

For those who don't know, the dinner Jesus was eating for his "Last Supper" was actually Passover Seder! "Seder" means order, and every year Jews have 2 "Seders" which are meals that are eaten in a particular order. Part of the fun includes 4, yes I said 4 glasses of wine, eating reclining, and telling the long drawn out story of Moses, and how the Jews were freed from slavery.

The reason for two "Seders" is when the Jews outside of Israel did their seders, they were unsure which was the correct day for the seder (as Jews use a different calender than the Christian calendar, it gets very confusing). So rather than accidentally screw up and do the Seder on the wrong night, they decided to just do two, so they definately got the right date.

The seder has a special plate that has all kind of goodies on it, including some greenery, an egg, a shank bone, bitter herbs (horseraddish), a mixture of apples and nuts called haroset, etc.

Of course there is a ton of Matzoh, the unlevened bread...Kinda like eating a gigantic cracker without the salt...and flavor.

The seder talks about the 10 plagues, and the first recorded sandwich was a part of the seder, where a rabbi takes his bitter herbs and haroset and puts them between his matzoh.

The holiday lasts 7 days and nights, and different sects of Jews celebrate it differently. My family cuts out all corn or leavened bread products, and we have a week of trying to make crackers into bread products. BLEH!

Soooo, what's the thread...

Well, I am curious if anyone out there has been to a seder, has heard of them, and for those Jews out there, how does your family celebrate passonver and out of curiousity, what is your opinion of this holiday?

My personal opinion, I like the seders...getting to hear what the ancient rabbi's had to say, hearing their arguements and counter arguements, getting to see my family...but the rest I could seriously do without. A week of no leavened bread...BLEH! I also doubt that nomads wondering the desert had access to the amount of eggs we consume in attempt to sub out leavened breads. I also think a week of matzoh is a LOT over the top. Not to mention that my birthday falls on Passover almost every year, so instead of birthday cake, I get a kosher for passover brownie with a candle on top. It's like eating brown sawdust with frosting....NOT GOOD.

So yeah, there's my 0.02. What's your thoughts?

I've not had the pleasure of knowing many Jewish people (or at least, not many who mentioned it) either online or in real life, so I've never been to a seder - but it sounds pretty interesting. :3

I'm not sure religious debate is quite my thing - even among friends. But it'd be interesting to listen to for awhile, purely because it is interesting. I just would not feel comfortable entering into it... (Particularly for a religion I'm not familiar with except through television. D: )

I don't know what the traditional greeting is for Passover, but well-wishes regardless. :3 And I'll try to drop by this thread when I can because I think it'll be fun to read and participate in.

(And you have an awesome avatar/username combo, of course.)

Another non-Jewish person who is happy to see this thread :squee: I love reading about and even participating in traditions I'm not familiar with. Growing up, I had a number of friends who would also complain a bit of the lack of leavened bread.

heppy easter and happy new bunny year and stuff stuff meep meep :D

This may seem like an odd question, but do you say something like "Happy Passover" during this time of year? Feeling a bit clueless.

That was my question too, Elmira. XD

Originally Posted by Elmira Swift

This may seem like an odd question, but do you say something like "Happy Passover" during this time of year? Feeling a bit clueless.

Sure, you can say "Happy Passover"! It's not a sad holiday, it's about freedom and how "the Jews were slaves in Israel of the Egyptians, and then were set free".

The one holiday you don't want to wish someone a "Happy Day" to is Yom Kippur. That is the Jewish day of atonement (as in atoning for your wrongdoings/sins), and you really don't want to wish someone a "Happy day of atonement"! But other than that go for it!

Thank you! I could see how wishing someone a happy Yom Kippur would be a bit weird. Is this a holiday where you spend mostly with close family members or a huge get together? I know some religious events include things that are more intimate and done with immediate rather than extended family.

Do the older members of your family share their recollections of how they did things differently?

Originally Posted by Elmira Swift

Thank you! I could see how wishing someone a happy Yom Kippur would be a bit weird. Is this a holiday where you spend mostly with close family members or a huge get together? I know some religious events include things that are more intimate and done with immediate rather than extended family.

Do the older members of your family share their recollections of how they did things differently?

I am assuming you are asking about Passover and not Yom Kippur, but I'll answer for both. Passover usually has people getting together for the "Seders". My family gets together for both nights and has two Seders. It is a holiday tho where we are suppose to invite anyone who needs a place to go for dinner in. So I have spent it with people who aren't my family when I was not near them (i.e. living in another state). After the Seders tho, folks scatter and go about their lives following the dietary restrictions of their upbringing.

Yom Kippur is more of a "go to temple/synagogue and pray kinda day". I personally do not buy that kinda thing either, so I usually try to go somewhere in nature and think about the past year. That is just a thing I personally do. Most other Jews go to a synagugue or temple and pray the day away. You are also expected to fast (no food or water) for 24 hours. The idea behind that, from what I understand, is you are suppose to get so lost in thinking of all the things you need to atone for, that you forget to eat, or deprive yourself of food so you can concentrate on atoning. I personally find that when I don't eat/drink anything...I only think of food...

There are at least 2 major "groups" of Jews, the European decedent Jews (the Ashcanizi) and the middle eastern jews (Sephardic). From what I understand the Sphardic Jews go without desserts during passover. I am from the Ashcanizi group, so no breads or corn for me.
Either way, it makes birthday cake a real bummer...Sucks to be me!

There are some other flours - rice, tritacale (sp?) and a couple of others that aren't wheat or corn-based. Not sure if they have a leavening agent added or not. My sister's son is allergic to wheat, so they have to get really creative when it comes to birthdays. What about fudge or even ice cream cakes - there are some that are entirely ice cream.

It sounds like Yom Kippur is a much more private, contemplative holy day with Passover being more focused on family.

No...no cake????? :cry: How cruel! Do you at least get 'make-up cake' after the dietary restrictions ease up? :o

I guess with the diatary restrictions it depends on how "conservative" you are about it. Some people will only eat foods that say on them "Kosher for Passover" meaning that they are guarded during the process of being made, by a special rabbi, and that there is no need to worry about what is inside. Foods that are Kosher for Passover will have a "KP" on them. My family goes that far. Other people will just watch the ingredient labels.

Passover is more of a light hearted holiday but it is one of the three "Major" holidays, the other two are Yom Kippur (the day of atonement) and "Rosh Hanshana" (the Jewish new year).

Yeah, I usually had a birthday cake AFTER the holiday ended and a Kosher for Passover brownie with a candle on my birthday. Take a second tho, and imangine a brownie made without anything that could make it light and fluffy in it...Yeah...NOT good. Mostly it was the consistency of sawdust while being the color of brownies. NOT fun!

Hi! I'm jewish as well. I like matzah but it's so hard to go without bread for a week. I usually end up eating some without remembering that it's Passover. ^^; My family doesn't eat matzah only though, we eat rice and stuff too. We're not very strict.

Matzah-meal brownies for your birthday? That's no fun. What about an icecream cake or something? :P

I was just about to post a thread entitled 'Um... What about Passover?? Jew Hangout' but you beat me to it xD

Hey!
I'm super religious so I haven't even used electricity the past three days.
And I want cookies :cry:
DAMN YOU MATZA

Aww... :x At least you get something a bit sweet on the actual day itself, though. They try! And then they make up for it later. XD At least it's not like some families (speaking for Christmas babies, here) who celebrate only on the day in a kind of half-hearted way. Tis' awful. :/

Aw CK, that sucks.

Daria, I have a really good Passover chocolate cake recipe if you'd like xD

lol

I don't mind matzah at first, but i get so sick of it after a couple days.

Matzah-ball soup is my favorite food ever though. :D

I had that last night!
My family only eats pure matzoh the first two days of the holiday but I finally was allowed to make some matzoh balls for my moms chicken soup. Yumm <3
They're my favorite!

Ah, it's good to see a Passover thread here. I've always admired how Menewshans are so accepting of everyone's cultures and values. I'm glad that you have set this topic up for everyone to enjoy.

Hey Jeryck, have you ever tried matzah ball soup? It's delicious. :)

Oh my, I haven't had any in years. I once tried to cook some for myself and Cessy, but soups are awfully tricky. It didn't come out quite right. *chuckles*

Oh, that's too bad. Cause it's so good!
And generally pretty easy to cook.
Are you generally a bad cook? o_O

While I am no Master Chef, I can follow a recipe.
My problem is simply that I am stuck in my ways. New dishes tend to end in disaster, I'm afraid.

Aww...
Poor Jeryck!
That's so sad! You don't like trying new things???
I LOVE NEW THINGS! <3 <3

I quite like to try new things, but it is always difficult to pull off a new dish for the first time, especially when you have no one to show you how. Do you have that problem, too?