Springtime is a special time for many.
For some, it signifies Christian Easter church services, family gatherings and egg hunts with bunnies and chocolate, while others look forward to the blooming flowers and the start of a new year.
For some, it is the weeklong break from school with a chance to get away or relax.
For me, it means sitting around the table with my family and enjoying a Seder with my favorite Passover foods.
Passover, starting on the 1st of April, is a Jewish celebration of the liberation of the Israelites from being slaves in Egypt and their journey to the Holy Land. Passover is a week-long holiday accompanied by family, friends and lots of food! The food eaten on Passover is very egg heavy and strictly forbids leavened bread or fermented grain products. Instead, we eat matza – also spelled matzo, matzah, or matzoch – unleavened bread that the Israelites ate when fleeing from Egypt with no time to let their bread rise.
On Passover in my house, my sisters and I spend all day making egg noodles and shaping our delicious matzo balls. The soup is part of a ritual meal that includes stories and prayers.
What do other students do for this tradition?
Senior Zach Shanker says his favorite Passover tradition is not necessarily Passover specific: “Every Jewish holiday my family and I will go to my grandparents’ house, and we all just sit around a table, and it’s really nice because my uncle will start off our meal by giving a big toast saying, ‘so grateful that we’re all here together’, and we all get to spend this time together.”
Freshman Zelena Katz says her favorite Passover tradition is a matzo ball-eating competition with her older cousin, and her favorite food is “a dessert we have-it’s matza, caramel and chocolate and it’s really good!”
Freshman Hanna Berger looks forward to finding and hiding the afikoman – a fun, competitive search for an envelope filled with matza! (The prize is often then handed over to a hosting adult in exchange for some cash.)
Chag Pesach Sameach!
