Spring Break
Column: Passover: Time to be thankful for freedom, family, pasta . . . matzah
Betsy Cohen
Issue date: 4/17/09 Section: Editorial/Opinion
04/17/09 - For Jews around the world, food has been the first thing on their minds for the last week or so. Last night, we all bit into the first starchy food in sight.
During Pesach - the common Jewish name for Passover - Jews are forbidden to eat chametz, or anything leavened. No bread, no pasta, no pizza and no bagels.
Personally, I broke Passover the traditional way last night with a slice of Ronzio's pizza. Picture me sitting behind an antique computer writing today's article, munching on my savory treat. But hey, now I can hide away my leftover Manischewitz Matzah in the back of my closet with the rest of my kosher for Passover food stash.
This holiday celebrates the freedom of the Jews from their enslavement by the Egyptians. According to the story of Exodus, God instructed the Jews to mark their doorposts with the blood of a slain lamb to protect themselves from the act of slaying the first borns. On the Jewish calendar, the holiday officially begins at sundown on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nissan.
For the past week I have trekked across campus to the University of Rhode Island Hillel in Fraternity Circle to pick up delicious Jewish foods such as matzah pizza and canadelachs (puffy matzah balls served in a chicken-broth soup, a traditional dish). Although I find my Jewish mother's cooking top of the line, (for anyone who's ever heard the line "Bam! Kick it up another notch!," we're talking the next Emeril Lagasse here, folks), the kosher for Passover food I ate at Hillel was on par.
Don't get me wrong, I miss my dad waking me up at 6:30 a.m. to make matzah breakfast style, mixed with eggs, but sleeping in and still managing to get some was pretty good too.
Growing up in a Jewish family, it became very clear to me at a young age that Passover must be just around the corner when we see half of our synagogue in the kosher foods aisle in the local supermarket. It's like we have a biological clock just for Passover, and the countdown is intense.
During Pesach - the common Jewish name for Passover - Jews are forbidden to eat chametz, or anything leavened. No bread, no pasta, no pizza and no bagels.
Personally, I broke Passover the traditional way last night with a slice of Ronzio's pizza. Picture me sitting behind an antique computer writing today's article, munching on my savory treat. But hey, now I can hide away my leftover Manischewitz Matzah in the back of my closet with the rest of my kosher for Passover food stash.
This holiday celebrates the freedom of the Jews from their enslavement by the Egyptians. According to the story of Exodus, God instructed the Jews to mark their doorposts with the blood of a slain lamb to protect themselves from the act of slaying the first borns. On the Jewish calendar, the holiday officially begins at sundown on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nissan.
For the past week I have trekked across campus to the University of Rhode Island Hillel in Fraternity Circle to pick up delicious Jewish foods such as matzah pizza and canadelachs (puffy matzah balls served in a chicken-broth soup, a traditional dish). Although I find my Jewish mother's cooking top of the line, (for anyone who's ever heard the line "Bam! Kick it up another notch!," we're talking the next Emeril Lagasse here, folks), the kosher for Passover food I ate at Hillel was on par.
Don't get me wrong, I miss my dad waking me up at 6:30 a.m. to make matzah breakfast style, mixed with eggs, but sleeping in and still managing to get some was pretty good too.
Growing up in a Jewish family, it became very clear to me at a young age that Passover must be just around the corner when we see half of our synagogue in the kosher foods aisle in the local supermarket. It's like we have a biological clock just for Passover, and the countdown is intense.
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