Well, we've reached the last night of Passover. During the weeklong celebration, Jews refrain from eating anything with leavening in it as a reminder of the unleavened bread the Jews carried when Moses led them out of slavery in Egypt. We inconvenience ourselves in this small way to remember the hardship our ancestors endured.
As with any religious interpretation, there are a number of schools of thought regarding what is and isn't kosher for Passover. Traditionally, any product containing wheats, oats, barley, spelt or rye that has been leavened is off limits. Ashkenazi Jews (those with roots in Eastern Europe) also forbid legumes, corn, rice and beans as flour could be made from these substances as well. Sephardic Jews (those with roots in the Spanish or North African countries) find these foods be acceptable for Passover. My ancestors come from Lithuania and Russia. Naturally, I consider myself Sephardic on Passover. (Look, I figure once I married a Hindu, all bets were off.)
We don't keep kosher in general, although I don't cook pork. Ritu, however, likes to fry up bacon on weekend mornings, and I find it quite tasty. Also, in my book, pizza just isn't pizza unless it has pepperoni. (My book apparently isn't the Torah.)
As the children grow older, I've tried gradually to incorporate more of the dietary observance of Passover. At first, it was "No Obvious Bread Products". So, they could still eat their cereal, but waffles were out. They had to have peanut butter and jelly on matzah, but they could have goldfish crackers with it. It was sort of the Don't Ask, Don''t Tell method of Passover. This year I've been more hard core and for the most part, we've all stuck with it. But for the love of God, you'd think my children were being tortured. The complaining, oy, the complaining! Slavery in Egypt would be a glimmer of hope for them.
We left San Francisco at 6 AM on Wednesday for our 11 hour drive home. About an hour into the drive, we stopped at a McDonald's to pick up breakfast. I prepped the kids that there would be no biscuits or pancakes. We all decided on the breakfast platter that had scrambled eggs, hash browns, and a sausage patty. (That's right, kids, no bread but eat up that pork!) Well, all of us except for Ritu who chose a sausage and egg biscuit on the argument that it would be easier to eat while he drove. Oh, that and the fact that he's NOT JEWISH. My mom helped Juliana with her tray of food in the back seat. She took a few bites of egg, then sat there staring at her food. I'm not sure there is a word in the English language to describe just how forlorn she was. She refused to take another bite of anything. She was so sad that she couldn't even muster the energy to cry. She just sat there, soulless, as if she'd been betrayed by her last friend on earth. I don't think she could've been more miserable had I cut up her blankie, used it to wrap up her pet guinea pig, cooked it and served it to her.
I think David summed up their attitude for this entire week when he said, "Mommy, I bet I know what the first ingredient in matzah is.....SUFFERING!"
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3 comments:
I will NEVER forget the look on Juliana's face. She said nary a word, just stared. Her face didn't look sad as much as stunned beyond speech. It was truly tragedy without words. David...he had words. My goodness, he had many words, most of which were variations on, "I WANT BREAD". Oy, our suffering!
OK Janet,
I can't believe that Momdeplume was in the backseat!!!!!! As you phrase it, "for the love of God"......... just let Juliana drive and let Mom in the passenger front seat! I mean, Juliana would not have been eating a sausage and egg biscuit to start with while driving (poor girl), and she can't possibly drive any worse than you used to!!!! LOL! Like seriously LOL!
Also, (don't you just hate "alsos""?) if you want to raise children who appreciates unleavened bread, just get rid of the toaster. I inadvertently 'toasted' a bic lighter a few weeks ago (bad thing to do)..and we no longer have a toaster. My kiddos like everything on toasted 'leavened' bread (even pb&j...tuna fish...yes, bologna...). They could be Jews during Passover simply because we haven't replaced the toaster. Hard to get them to touch bread now at all...........who would have guessed?
By the way, I remember spending a few Passovers with you and your family..I loved them. Hope everything went, this year, at least as wonderfully as I remember!! :)S
Hilarious. Poor wittle thing. Passover was much more torturous when my children were younger and on an all-pasta diet. Now they have learned that Mandelbrot makes up for many sacrifices. And chocolate covered matzoh. Just like your people ate while escaping Egypt. It also helps that they only have to deal with it while at Grandma's house.
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