By Erica Hoffman
This Passover, like everything else, is like no other I’ve ever celebrated. In the Beforintine (before + quarantine = Beforintine), my family would host what became our famously interesting sedar with 20 or sometimes 25 people. It morphed from a rigid, by the book (the book is the traditional Maxwell House Haggadah stained with decades of holidays past) service into a delightful gathering with our own Haggadah that we as a family wrote and updated each year. The points were still made; we just gave it some extra flair.
Passover is one of the most celebrated holidays in the Jewish religion. Its popularity is mainly because the holiday commemorates the biblical Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt (kind of a big deal to our people). We celebrate this with a Sedar, which I can only describe as an interactive service intertwined with a large meal.
For those unfamiliar with this holiday, I will quickly dive a little deeper into what it symbolizes. Passover honors the Biblical story of the Hebrew slaves exodus from Egypt. During the week-long holiday, Jews who observe do not eat any leavened foods. This includes breads, rice, oats, wheat, and barley. We refrain from eating these foods to remind us that the Jewish people had to leave in such haste they didn’t even have time for the dough they were to take with them to rise, leaving them with what we now know as matzoh, a flat unleavened bread.
This year our once loud and bustling dinner/service that usually involves three weeks of making lists, planning, and cooking, is now reduced to six people. I’ve concluded that most of our favorite traditions won’t be as prominent, specifically cooking.
Cooking was always the highlight of Passover. That’s when so many of our traditions, lifelong jokes, and memories were born, and sure, while the cooking was going on, I’d have to go to the store five or more times because we needed more eggs, butter, lemons, or something. One year, I was sent out to find more soup bowls because we didn’t realize how many people we had invited (My mom still uses them to this day.) On more than one occasion, I would walk into the house filled with the aroma of my family’s traditions with a dozen lemons. Even before I put my bags down, I had to get something else that we didn’t have enough of. That’s when the laughter would always ensue.
Cooking is the most cherished tradition I find myself reminiscing about and missing as Passover approaches at sundown March 27th.
There are still things to look forward to, though. It’s not all sad – maybe not at all sad, just different. This year, it will be my immediate family (and spouses) sitting around while my mom makes me embarrass myself when she forces me to sing “There’s no Sedar like Our Sedar” (to the tune of “there’s no business like show business”) in front of my boyfriend during his inaugural sedar. All the sudden I’m 13 again and I can feel my face turning red just thinking about it, so I will stop and leave you with one of my favorite Passover recipes.
If you’re Jewish or not, candy is candy is candy, so I urge you to try this recipe for Matzoh Candy. It’s the easiest of all the dishes we make and always the first to be devoured.
Alan King, the beloved Catskills comic, simply, eloquently, and accurately summed up so many Jewish holidays, “We fought, we won, let’s eat.” Yes, let’s.
Matzoh Candy
Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb. matzoh
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 8 ounces chocolate chips
Directions
Line a cookie sheet with foil and lay matzah on a pan.
Melt brown sugar with butter in saucepan; boil until mixture coats a spoon.
Brush matzah with brown sugar mixture.
Bake in a 350-degree oven for 3-4 minutes (watch closely-it burns easily!!!) until it starts to bubble.
Cover with chocolate chips and put back in the oven until the chips begin to melt.
Spread the chocolate to cover the matzah. Optional: Sprinkle with nuts, sprinkles, candy, etc.
Refrigerate chocolate-covered matzah until stiff, then break into pieces.
Enjoy!
Erica Hoffman was born in Atlantic City and is proud to be writing for Shore Local. She lives in South Jersey and enjoys finding and sharing the lighter side of life.
