Tag Archives: passover

Recipe – Jewish

Nationality: Jewish-American
Age: 49
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Oak Park, CA
Performance Date: April 19, 2008
Primary Language: English

Sephardic Haroset

8 oz pitted dates

2 apples, peeled and finely chopped

wine and honey to moisten

8 oz of dark raisins

¼ cup chopped nuts

Ashkenazi Haroset

4 pared apples 1 cup chopped walnuts or mixed nuts

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

4 tablespoons of grape wine or grape juice

Betsy makes the Jewish dish haroset, every year for the holiday Passover.  She said that the dish itself represents the brick that the Jewish slaves had to create and use for King Pharaoh of Egypt before Moses freed them.  Betsy claims, “Haroset is only served during Passover, not any other time of the year.”  The dish actually dose look like it can be mixed and made into brick but in fact is very sweet.  Betsy learned this recipe from her mother, who learned it from her mother, as the tradition is to pass it down from mother to daughter.  Betsy uses the Ashkenazi recipe above, not the Sephardic recipe because she is an Ashkenazi Jew; however, she says that she is not sure what the difference is between Ashkenazis and Sephardics.  She was taught both recipes in case of having a Sephardic Jew over for Passover; in that case, she would make both recipes.  When making this part of the Passover meal, it reminds Betsy of the springtime with her family, particularly her children who love her haroset.

After discussing with several Jewish Americans the difference between Sephardic Jews and Ashkenazi Jews, there seems to be a consensus that Ashkenazi Jews came from the Eastern part of Europe, such as Russia and Germany, while the Sephardic Jews came from Spain and Portugal.  As far as the meaning behind haroset, it is universal and is not just Betsy’s individual meaning.  At the Passover Seder, there are several dishes that hold representation to the Jewish slavery in Egypt.  I personally have taken part in many Seder’s and have had haroset, and before each dish is eaten there is a prayer and explanation behind the dish told to the entire table.

Holiday Tradition – Jewish

Nationality: American
Age: 56
Occupation: Doctor
Residence: Brooklyn, NY
Performance Date: March 21, 2008
Primary Language: English

Religious Holiday Tradition

The Passover Seder – Jewish

My dad’s Jewish family observed this tradition during the mid 1900s. The Passover Seder is a very ritualized Jewish dinner during the first two nights of Passover. The first born, oldest male child of the family, my dad’s older brother, would read holy scripts while the family ate at designated times. Certain things were to be eaten during certain parts of the script. For example, bitter herbs were eaten during the bitter parts of the story.

There were strict rules— nobody could be sitting straight at the table, all must be leaning. For the more religious families, this process could take many hours. The more casual families, like my dad’s, would take shortcuts and skip parts of the script.

My dad remembers this ritual as very tedious. He used to get bored and extremely hungry while listening to the script. However, he enjoyed the hunt for a hidden matzah (unleavened bread) after the meal, because the person who discovered it would get a prize.

Other foods eaten during the traditional Seder include: Charoset, a mixture of chopped nuts, wine, cinnamon, and apples, which symbolizes mortar the Jews used for bricks; Karpas, a vegetable dipped in salt water to symbolize tears; Maror, bitter vegetables eaten to symbolize the bitterness of slavery; and matzah, the traditional unleavened bread symbolizing the poor man’s food. The scripts are from the Haggadah, a book which tells of the Jewish exodus from Egypt.

While I can understand that this tradition can be extremely lengthy and dull, especially for children, it seems very integral to the Jewish religion. Because my family does not recognize any strict religious traditions like this, hearing about the Passover Seder was intriguing. I find it to be a creative and respectful way to commemorate the suffering of one’s ancestors.

Holiday/Festival – Jewish

Nationality: Jewsih
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 2, 2008
Primary Language: English

Matzoh bread is a crisp, flat, and unleavened bread that Jews eat during an eight-day period.  Made not to rise, Matzoh commemorates the bread eaten by the Jews when they fled Egypt to escape the suffering of slavery.  To remember this important event no leavened bread is to be eaten or kept in the household.  Along with eating Matzoh during the holiday there are many other customs that go along with Passover, such as Afikomen.  Afikomen is a ritual, which consists of parents hiding a piece of Matzoh bread somewhere in the house for all of the kids to try and find.  The first one to find it is rewarded with some type of gift.  Jason says that his family participated in these traditions for his entire life and they take them very seriously.  Passover, although not considered one of the high holidays, is very important to the Jewish faith.

Jason said that his first memory of Passover as a child was of Matzoh bread and Afikomen.  While it was not until he was older that he fully understood the meaning of Passover as a child he was able to comprehend what Matzoh symbolized.  At about the age of five Jason’s grandmother explained to him that the reason for eating the flat bread was to remember the Jews that had escaped slavery from Egypt long ago.  She went on to explain that the flat Matzoh bread was the only food available to the Jews escaping Egypt, because they did not have enough time to allow the bread to rise before they had to leave there homes and flee the country.

While I have never experienced the holiday of Passover the meaning of Matzoh is easily understandable.  Not being able to eat leavened bread is an example of how the Jews sacrifice a food that we take for-granted to show their appreciation to those who suffered for their wellbeing.  It is symbol of making a small sacrifice in your daily life to remember and appreciate those who risked their lives escaping their lives as slaves in Egypt.

Although Afikomen is not preformed by all practicing Jews it is very popular among families with younger children.  The reason ritual is that most kids are still too young to understand the magnitude of such a meaningful celebration as Passover, but this game is a way to get them involved with the festivities.  While the meaning of Passover can be found in the Torah, the traditions and rituals of this holiday are instead past down from one generation to the next through example.  Jason went on to explain that he did not learn how to participate in Passover through the Torah, but by learning from his Rabbi and parents.

Herman, Debbie, Ann Koffsky, and Nancy Lane. More Than Matzah: a Passover Feast of Fun, Facts, and Activities. Barron’s Educational Series, 006.

Recipe – USA

Nationality: American
Age: 52
Occupation: Real Estate Developer
Residence: New York, NY
Performance Date: February 20, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Hebrew, Chinese, Russian

Recipe—USA

“Matzah Brie”
Philip informed me that he first learned the recipe for Matzah Brie during Passover, a Jewish holiday that takes place on the 15th day of Nisan (from the Hebrew Calendar), and celebrates the Jews’ exodus from slavery in Egypt.  As the story goes, the Jews were in such a hurry to leave that they had no time to wait for their bread to rise and were forced to eat unleavened bread.  As a result, Jews are not allowed to consume leavened bread, yeast, flour, or grain for one week.  Matzah, the cracker like unleavened bread that Jews eat during this week is dry and has virtually no taste.  As a result, Jews have been coming up with different recipes and ways to mix and experiment with it for several years.  One such creation consisting of matzah is known as “Matzah Brie,” or the “kosher for Passover” French toast to some (something that is “Kosher for Passover” is ok to eat during the holiday).  The creation has no definite recipe, but generally is made with matzah soaked in eggs, just like French toast.  Philip however, has added his own ingredients to the already folk recipe to create his own “Matzah Brie.”  He begins by mashing the matzah up into small pieces.  He then soaks the matzah in beaten eggs (the number of eggs depends on the amount of matzah used, which depends on the number of people he is cooking for).  Then he adds 3 different types of cheese; American, Swiss, and Cheddar, as well as chopped tomato, onion, garlic, and mushrooms.  After he lets this stand for 5 minutes, he puts it all into a frying pan and slowly adds butter as everything cooks.  He cooks the food for about 10 minutes, until everything is hot, and then serves.  Fortunately for those who don’t like vegetables and cheese, he has devised different ways of altering the recipe  One such way is to follow the more traditional, “French toast” type, in which he doesn’t add cheese or vegetables, but instead substitutes sugar, a bit of honey, and then after cooked, some powdered sugar.  This obviously has a much sweeter taste and can be served with either jam or syrup.  Then there’s another way that he makes it, “with an Asian twist to it” as he states.  This way, he doesn’t add cheese, but does add the vegetables of his choosing.  Instead of adding butter, he adds soy sauce, and scallions as he lets the dish cook in the pan.

Philip first learned this recipe on Passover when he was in his early twenties.  His mother was a terrific cook, and had all sorts of recipes for special dishes on Jewish holidays.  She showed him “Matzah Brie” when he was hungry and looking for something to eat one Passover.  She also described, in detail, the different ways that the dish could be cooked and prepared, and as a result, he was able to devise the three different ways of making it.  This dish is a great example of folklore because while there are published recipes for “Matzah Brie,” on the website “My Jewish Learning” for example, no one knows where the original recipe came from.  Furthermore, it has certainly evolved as it has been passed down from generation to generation, Philip recalls that his mother learned it from her mother, and this pattern likely continued as mothers and fathers passed down the recipe to their children on Passover.  As years have gone by, the recipe has certainly evolved and improved in different ways to the liking of those who cook and eat it.

Mason, Lee.  “Matzah Brie” My Jewish Learning.com. 2005
http://myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Passover/TO_Pesach_Home/Passover_Foods
/Matzah_Brei.htm.