April 8, 2009, - 6:34 pm
On Passover 2009
By Debbie Schlussel
To my friends and readers:
If you are Jewish, a Happy and Kosher Passover to you. If you are not, please note that at sundown tonight, Passover, the Jewish holiday marking the freedom of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt, begins. Therefore, I’ll be out of blog commission for the next three days. Rest assured, however, that I’ve prepared some stuff I think is good, timely, and interesting, which will be up during the next couple of days in my absence.
On Passover, for eight days, we don’t eat leavened bread, and instead, eat a flat, cracker-like bread (of which the dough doesn’t have time to rise), called “matzoh.” (It’s not a low-carb holiday.) For the first two nights, we hold a special ceremonial dinner, called the “Seder” (which means “order”) during which we tell the story of the Jews’ enslavement and how G-d performed miracles and freed them from Egypt, taking them to the land of Israel (yes, Jews have been in Israel since then, not just after the Holocaust as the Muslims would have you believe). We eat certain foods, such as bitter herbs and vegetables dipped in salt water, to remember the bitterness and tears of slavery.
Here’s a cute music video that explains the basics:
I’ve written about Passover many times in years past (see also here), and you can read even more details here, here, and here. But for now, please note that the holiday has special meaning, especially at this time. The Jews beat their Middle Eastern oppressors then and every enemy since. We’ve always survived. And I hope and pray we will survive our Mid-Eastern enemies now. The Jews’ Egyptian slavers then are no longer around (the current Egyptians are not of the same people).
One other note: a lot of companies, including Coca-Cola and Pepsi, make special Kosher for Passover versions of some of their products. I especially like the kosher for Passover Coke because, since corn syrup is not kosher, it’s made with a purer form of sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup.
See you back on Saturday Night or Sunday. And until then, please stay tuned to the stuff I’ve written for you in my absence. I have one other thing to post today, too.
Thanks for your continued readership. Although I always joke that “these Jewish holidays are killing me,” this holiday is truly the time of my freedom because I will be away from my computer and reading and relaxing. Thanks for sticking and staying while I’m away.
Here’s a hilarious “Curb Your Enthusiasm” Passover video from the Jewish Chabad Lubavitch movement, brought to my attention by my brilliant friend and great blogster, Vicious Babushka:
Happy Passover & best wishes.
Dave Fourputt on April 8, 2009 at 9:13 pm