Pbenjay's Blog

Well for one thing I didn’t have to cook! And yes that can be a blessing!! We were invited to participate in a Seder dinner hosted by one of our friends.  A delightful evening with excellent food and old friends as well as some new.

Tonight ( I started to write this last night)  is the first night of Passover and it is quite powerful to think that all over the world where ever Jews have gathered together, the ritualistic meal and ceremony being celebrated will be virtually identical.  There are variations;  shortened versions, some more religious and some more guest interactive than others.  Over the years I’ve been privileged to attend many Seders and I’m partial to the full blown ceremony – where there is a leader and all of the guests read a passage from the Haggadah.  Our friend, Ellen always hosted the most elaborate and meaningful Seder dinners.  The table is set traditionally and explanations are given for the meaning of the symbolic foods and tableware.  It’s true that this type of Seder can lead to some seat squirming by the younger set and there is a point where you get really hungry and hope that the gifilte fish will be coming out of the kitchen soon!! But I ‘m Catholic and old enough to have been raised with the Latin Mass  and I like ceremony…. High Mass with its incense is still a clear memory in my mind.  I digress slightly….  Passover is the story of celebrating the freedom the Jews obtained when they fled Egypt.  Passover is literally the story of the Angel of Death passing over the households that had the blood of the Paschal lamb above the doorway indicating that there were Jews living there and the first born male should be spared from the Tenth Plague.  The Seder plate, a traditional platter on the table holds the following items: Maror – the bitter herb symbolizing the bitterness of their slavery, Karpas – the vegetable, usually parsley which is dipped into salt water (symbolizing the tears of slavery) as an appetizer dates back to biblical times, Charoset –apples, nuts, spices ground together and mixed with wine symbolizes the mortar the Hebrew slaves used to build the Egyptian structures, Zeroa – shank bone of a lamb symbolizing the Paschal lamb sacrificed for Passover, and Beitzah- a roasted egg symbolizing mourning of the loss of the Temple and also spring, the season when Passover is celebrated.  There is Matzoh served in lieu of any bread because when the Jews fled Egypt they didn’t have any time to leaven their bread.  Conservative Jews refrain from eating any leavened bread for the full week of Passover.

Matzoh

Some of the courses include Gifilte fish, often served as the first course and accompanied by the bitter herb, horseradish, followed by Matzoh Ball soup, delicious in homemade chicken broth, which has now become a New York coffee shop staple, and followed by an array of dishes; brisket, stuffed breast of veal, kugel, potatoes and way too much more! There are the 4 questions, the most well known of which is the title of this blog and asked by the youngest person at the table and finally the Afikomen hunt which is the official ending of the Seder.  At the beginning of the Seder, the leader breaks a piece of Matzoh in threes and hides the largest piece.  At the conclusion of the Seder, the leader asks the children at the meal to look through out the house for the Afikomen and bring it to him so that the Seder can end.  There is so much more to this traditional holiday but Dayenu or enough.  Dayenu is a traditional Passover song; the essence is It would have been enough for us…. further meaning to thank God for his many gifts – it would have been enough for us just to have received the Torah or it would have been enough for us just to be freed.

As a Gentile and Catholic sitting through and listening to the Seder, I am always struck by the similarity of many of the Easter traditions and those of Passover.  Take for instance the time of the year, both occur annually in the spring. The green vegetable always a sign of spring is always present at the Easter meal, often asparagus as they are the forerunners of the fresh vegetable season.  Many Christians serve an Easter ham for their dinner, however, just as many serve a Leg of Lamb.  Both slaughters of a newborn animal done traditionally in the spring.  Then there’s the Easter Egg, for us the egg symbolizes birth, rebirth, new life – very much in keeping with the season when the trees, flowers and plant life are all coming back to life.  Do you  see a parallel  between the annual Easter Egg hunts and finding the Afikomen?

Easter as a Christian holiday universally celebrates the Risen Christ, however, after that the holiday takes on many cultural and ethnic traditions.  As an Italian-American, Easter in my home included Pizzagaina, a traditional Italian Easter pie.   My Grandmother used to make it and we always looked forward to this once a year treat.  It is a pie or bread that is stuffed with various meats such as ham, proscuitto, sopressatto, mortadella and cheeses and eggs.  The story as it has been told is that the women of the household would gather on Good Friday and make and bake the pie.  It was then cooled and chilled and could not be eaten before noon on Holy Saturday.

There are other ethnic traditions such as the intricately decorated eggs of Czechoslovakia, the Passion Plays in South America, in Austria eggs are dyed green on Maundy Thursday and crullers are fried, in Russia pussy willow branches are picked and used to tap friends on the shoulder bringing them good luck.  There is Paasbrood in the Netherlands, a yeasty bread made with currants and raisins – sound familiar? Hot Cross Buns!

Hot Cross Buns

My husband and I have our own tradition, one shared by hundreds of other New Yorkers – we walk in the Easter Parade down Fifth Avenue.  We don our Easter bonnets, well in his case, a Straw Boater and we stroll up and down the Avenue.  It is great fun and I love making an outrageously floral and ribbon concoction  for my Easter Bonnet. This year is going to be thrilling for me because ever since Finley Ray was born (19 months ago) I have been waiting for the Easter Sunday that she would be able to walk or maybe stroll – er with us.  This Easter Sunday, little Finny will be with us, all decked out in a traditional Easter outfit a la my past – She will be wearing a mint green dress with a matching coat and hat – pink roses on the hat and all!!  Look for a future blog with photos.

In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it,
You’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter Parade.
I’ll be all in clover and when they look you over,
I’ll be the proudest fellow in the Easter Parade.
On the avenue, Fifth Avenue, the photographers will snap us,
And you’ll find that you’re in the rotogravure.
Oh, I could write a sonnet about your Easter bonnet,
And of the girl I’m taking to the Easter Parade.

Happy Easter to all and a Guten Pesach!