And as a member of the Jewish tribe, I see the spring holiday Passover as a week of celebration and renewal. Passover not only commemorates the Jewish people’s declaration of independence from slavery in Egypt but being that it always falls on the first full moon after the spring equinox, it’s also about honoring the renewal of the sun.
Still, there’s a part of the holiday that makes my stomach churn: matzah. Since the Jews’ midnight exodus from Egypt left them with no time to let the dough they prepared rise, the bread was sun-baked in the desert while they traveled.
To commemorate this pivotal moment in history, every Passover, Jews spend one week subjected to a diet of this unleavened flat bread. Although matzo can be skillfully manipulated into cookies, pancakes and lasagna, of course one of my most favorite parts of this holiday is eating the traditional hand-made “Shmurah Matzah” at the Seder table; this Matzah added a special richness, an historic authenticity and religious beauty to their Seders.
The word “Shmurah” means “watched.” From the moment of harvest, all the way through the milling, sifting and packaging, the grain (and subsequently the flour) used in this Matzah is supervised so that no water or moisture comes into contact with it. Any such contact would cause leavening and disqualify it from use on Passover. The Matzah is then kneaded, shaped and baked completely by hand so that it never falls beyond immediate personal supervision.
“Shmurah Matzah” represents the finest efforts of a people whose desire to fulfill G-d’s will does not permit the intrusion, complications and impersonality of a machine and the magnanimous Chabad.org has sent me some to share with my family at our Seder table this year. This year Chabad will also be bringing their personal touch to hundreds of thousands of Jews around the world who would otherwise not have a seder, by conducting communal seders as far away as Vladivostok and the Himalayas. For more information about some of the seders globally, click on http://www.chabad.org/seders And check out http://www.passover.org for all the Passover info you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask!
And while this year’s seder will be bittersweet, as it will be the second one without my dad, I am confident that somewhere he will be listening to my Jackson reciting the four questions and he will be smiling Z”l.
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