This beautiful essay appeared in my local newspaper today. Love it!
I recommend though, if Elijah should come knocking don’t let him in this year.
Passover is not my favorite (that would be Purim). But this year was especially hard, because we didn’t “use down” all the chametz, so there was a lot to put away, and some of it we ended up just covering with towels, and duct-taping. We did sell it for a dollar to the friends we are co-isolating with, who are not Jewish-- and who had to have the whole thing explained, and I’m not sure still totally understand what’s going on. But they came to our seder, so it was the three of us, and two gentiles, matzah lasagna, broccoli quiche, and matzah ball soup. (Vegetarian dairy seder.) I don’t particularly like matzah, but matzah lasagna often turns out very well, and the matzah toffee and peppermint meringues I made (with chocolate chips) were a hit.
I rarely host a seder-- we throw a big Purim bash every year, and let ourselves be guests at other people’s seders, so it was an unfamiliar role, but I think I pulled it off.
Still not my favorite holiday, and being stuck at home eating matzah is no fun.
I hate matzah.
Just pass him his glass of wine through a crack in the door.
Matzo is so polarizing, isn’t it? Really seems to be a love it or hate it food.
Almost like gefilte fish.
I bought into the “Seder-to-Go” the local Jewish Federation had in place of their usual seder-style community lunch. Someone must have remembered me from last year - TWO helpings of gefilte fish and extra purple horseradish!
Strange year, though - although the whole “plagues of Egypt” thing feel s bit more relevant this year…
Anyone have a gluten-free matzoh recipe that you’ve actually tried and is okay?
Um… I thought matzoh was, by definition, made from one of the five grains named in the Bible with a definite preference for wheat. What information I could find talked about “gluten free” oats, but while oats may be relatively low in gluten they are not reliably so. If you can obtain gluten-free oat flour that would seem to permissible for Passover ritual purposes.
There is, apparently, a matzoh substitute made from tapioca and potato flours that is kosher-for-Passover but again, not considered suitable for the ritual part of the seder.
Then again, if you have a life-threatening medical condition that rules out any and all gluten then it would seem to me (who is not a rabbi and not qualified to give such an opinion) that the option would then be to recite the prescribed blessings over an authentic wheat matzoh but only eat the non-gluten flour matzoh. But do consult your local rabbinical authority on that.
The rest of Passover it would seem to me that you could substitute any non-leaved bread or bread-like product that otherwise meets the kosher requirements of the holiday. But, again, consult a rabbit or other appropriately qualified person regarding the rules.
As to whether or not any of the sanctioned substitutes taste any better than wheat matzoh… haven’t a clue. You’ll have to make your own judgement about that.
Passover is my favorite holiday, and I love matzah. My family held our virtual Seder on Zoom (apparently some people are calling it a Zeder, which I think is great). It was shorter than usual, and awkward because I don’t think the sound was synched up exactly, but it was meaningful for me to hear the familiar words, especially those spoken by my parents in the same way I have heard them for over 50 years.
I made my own haroset for the first time - it wasn’t bad. I had most, but not all of the ritual foods (I substituted parmesan cheese for horseradish).
Today I made matzah brei for myself, which is one of my favorite Passover activities. It bore only a slight resemblance to my Mom’s, but I think it will get better with practice.
I saw the gefilte fish in the supermarket, but since I don’t really like it anyway, I thought this was a good year to skip it.
Supermarket gefilte fish bears absolutely no resemblance to the real thing.
I’m Orthodox and just did an entire 3-day yom tov (first two days of Pesach and then Shabbos) all by myself. Including two solo seders. It was very weird, but I feel proud of myself that I managed it. Almost all of my social contact the last few weeks has been virtual or phone-based, so I was worried about going 3 days in complete and total isolation, but it was fine. I wonder if that means I’m already deranged and just never noticed.
And then the first thing I saw coming back online was that my local government is now requiring face covering while shopping as of Monday. I have masks on the way but they won’t get here in time for that, so my special Motzei Shabbos activity was cutting up old shirts. A stark reminder of the surreal world we’re living in now and why the challenge of spending Pesach by myself is one I just have to rise to and soldier through. It’ll be over way, way sooner than this pandemic.
Although we are devout atheists, we have always enjoyed attending my cousins’ seders. I assume they had some sort of seder this year, but we weren’t invited.
It means you like yourself well enough to spend three days with yourself without having the urge to punch yourself in the face. 