Monday, April 18, 2011
Passover
Seder. I've attended only one traditional seder. A Jewish family that observed the major holidays & probably not much else. So it was an informal atmosphere, the table was set beautifully, the family gathered, the traditional rituals observed. I doubt if they got rid of the chametz in the house - the bread-making grains & flours. Maybe those were symbolically put out of sight. We had the matzoh, the herbs, the horseradish, the parsley, the apple & nuts. The four questions were asked. The story was told. 
I may even have been invited to read a passage from the Haggadah. Nothing was sung. The Afikoman piece of matzoh was hidden. I remember the kid who found it received a small sum of money.
The menu was simple but ample. Good brisket & a roast chicken (the host family were chicken farmer parents of an apt mate), potatoes & some forgettable vegetable. I wasn't forced to eat gefilte fish, & I left most of the matzoh ball in the soup bowl. I prefer an Easter ham with strawberry shortcake for dessert. But the seder was lovely, warm, welcoming, & afterward I received a tour of a modest family chicken & egg farm of the type that's almost entirely disappeared from New Jersey. My friend was embarrassed to have grown up there; didn't understand how exotic it was to suburbanites.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
I may even have been invited to read a passage from the Haggadah. Nothing was sung. The Afikoman piece of matzoh was hidden. I remember the kid who found it received a small sum of money.
The menu was simple but ample. Good brisket & a roast chicken (the host family were chicken farmer parents of an apt mate), potatoes & some forgettable vegetable. I wasn't forced to eat gefilte fish, & I left most of the matzoh ball in the soup bowl. I prefer an Easter ham with strawberry shortcake for dessert. But the seder was lovely, warm, welcoming, & afterward I received a tour of a modest family chicken & egg farm of the type that's almost entirely disappeared from New Jersey. My friend was embarrassed to have grown up there; didn't understand how exotic it was to suburbanites.
