April 17, 2011

Happy Passover



I will be traveling to NYC tomorrow to celebrate the Passover seders with my family, and to see a bit of art. Passover is a holiday that I enjoy: I like the ceremony of reading the haggadah (although I just listen) and eating the special foods. I even enjoy giving up bread for the week and eating lots and lots of matzoh, crumbled with milk and sugar for breakfast, made into pancakes, or slathered with the Sephardic version of haroseth, date butter.

So I wish all my Jewish friends a happy Passover and a pleasant spring week. This holiday, which is a celebration of the Jews' ancient release from bondage, is also a time to wish that all the peoples of the world who yearn for justice and freedom are able to achieve their goals.

8 comments:

  1. Thanks, and same to you! I will be maKing a very modifed seder for my 5 year old grandson. He is only 1/4 Jewish but interested in passover very much. I have made the chicken soup and he can help make Matzoh balls, which is such hands- on fun. It does not feel like spring here in VT which is why i have been painting forsythia this week. http://reesepaintings.blogspot.com

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  2. I hope you have a lovely seder with your grandson, Debbie. I love matzoh balls!
    Your forsythia paintings are brilliant flames; I hope we see the actual blooms soon.

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  3. Pesach same'ach Altoon. Art + matzoh = a delicious time. We will be having a quiet family Passover here--my favorite part of the dinner is the charoset--I love the blend of apples, dates, walnuts and the deep red wine; quintessential foods all.

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  4. Dear Altoon,

    And a happy and healthy Pesach to you and yours. Our seder now includes a choice of charoset - our traditional ashkenazi apples,nuts, wine and cinnamon, and the Morroccan style supplied by our mechutanim from Mekhnes , Morrocco- date- based charoset rolled into individual balls and served aestheticlaly. i love seeing how our traditions are dynamic as life brings us to new stages.

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  5. Ditto above: Morroccan date-based charoset sounds wonderful. I will be missing a seder this year...but sustained by a memory of another in the 1980s. We celebrated with some Guatemalan refugees in Chicago in Sanctuary in a synagogue during their civil war. Having real "strangers at the table" really brought home the meaning of freedom, or lack thereof.

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  6. Happy Passover to you and your family.

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  7. Passover wishes to you Altoon....justice and freedom to all! Today was a good Vermont day to miss. Enjoy seeing NYC art.

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