Schmeder
We haven't had a seder this year - various reasons (my breathing being #1 among them - it's irritating and annoying, but it does prevent me from planning any kind of a guest/invited event) but last night we had some friends over, folks we don't have to 'dress up' for, and had a little mini seder.
The most glaring deviation from the order - we ate first.
At a seder you sit through what amounts to a service (seder means "order") where you read from a haggada (book of stories about the exodus from Egypt) There are many different haggadas (haggadot? haggadim?) out there - a few years ago we actually wrote our own which embraced the interfaith aspects of the seder. There are feminist haggada, haggada which focus on Buddhist tenets, ones that are traditional and illustrated by Chagall and the familiar Maxwell House haggada that my husband's family used for years.
The through-line is the same, the sections differ slightly, but they're always there: The story of the pharoh and the plagues, the midwives who wouldn't kill the babies, the deliverance of the Jews, the four questions - traditionally asked by the youngest person at the table, the story of the four children (sons), songs, prayers, blessings, dipping (twice!), hand washing and "next year in Jerusalem!"
Matzoh is eaten for the period of Pesach because - in their haste - the Jews couldn't wait for their bread to rise. This has been extended to include any leavening (no flour or yeast products are taken, but what is allowed differs from one Jewish tradition to another.)
There's quite a market in flour-free products that seem leavened (kosher-for-passover quiche is my favorite - "and in their haste...") Desserts which are flour-less are abundant, and coconut or merringue macaroons are a big deal every Pesach.
When Gerry and I were dating we were shopping around Passover and he showed me a jar of Mrs. Adlers Gefilte Fish to me, which a photo of Mrs. Adler on the label. He nodded sagely at me, pointed to the words "gefilte fish" and said, "That's how they look in the wild."
Wild Gefilte
We didn't even open the haggada this year. We had our seder plate, Gerry roasted a turkey breast and an egg, made the charoset and got the gefilte fish and horseradish. We had a shankbone (okay, a mystery bone) and bowls of salt water for dipping. But we didn't do it very traditionally. I realized that my kids don't even know the questions - excellent mom.
But we had a very nice time - Hannah got to see her good friend, I got to see my good friend, Gerry got to clean up the kitchen and Maxie got to play on the computer. Today we color easter eggs before I leave for Yale and tomorrow when I get home we'll hide them in the backyard and hunt them up. An afternoon Easter Egg hunt - we feel compelled to change this tradition, too!
The Affi-Macaroon Hunt
How You Say...?
I just wanted to clarify the bit about the French translation, I wasn't as clear I should have been.
I've been approached by someone to have my pattern(s) translated into French - I was wondering if there were many readers out there who would appreciate this (basically, whether it would be worth the cost of the translation...)
Sorry about the misunderstanding! If you are a French speaker, or know folks who you think would be interested in my patterns in french, give a shout. I just want to get a feeling if there's a market out there.
The most glaring deviation from the order - we ate first.
At a seder you sit through what amounts to a service (seder means "order") where you read from a haggada (book of stories about the exodus from Egypt) There are many different haggadas (haggadot? haggadim?) out there - a few years ago we actually wrote our own which embraced the interfaith aspects of the seder. There are feminist haggada, haggada which focus on Buddhist tenets, ones that are traditional and illustrated by Chagall and the familiar Maxwell House haggada that my husband's family used for years.
The through-line is the same, the sections differ slightly, but they're always there: The story of the pharoh and the plagues, the midwives who wouldn't kill the babies, the deliverance of the Jews, the four questions - traditionally asked by the youngest person at the table, the story of the four children (sons), songs, prayers, blessings, dipping (twice!), hand washing and "next year in Jerusalem!"
Matzoh is eaten for the period of Pesach because - in their haste - the Jews couldn't wait for their bread to rise. This has been extended to include any leavening (no flour or yeast products are taken, but what is allowed differs from one Jewish tradition to another.)
There's quite a market in flour-free products that seem leavened (kosher-for-passover quiche is my favorite - "and in their haste...") Desserts which are flour-less are abundant, and coconut or merringue macaroons are a big deal every Pesach.
When Gerry and I were dating we were shopping around Passover and he showed me a jar of Mrs. Adlers Gefilte Fish to me, which a photo of Mrs. Adler on the label. He nodded sagely at me, pointed to the words "gefilte fish" and said, "That's how they look in the wild."
Wild Gefilte
We didn't even open the haggada this year. We had our seder plate, Gerry roasted a turkey breast and an egg, made the charoset and got the gefilte fish and horseradish. We had a shankbone (okay, a mystery bone) and bowls of salt water for dipping. But we didn't do it very traditionally. I realized that my kids don't even know the questions - excellent mom.
But we had a very nice time - Hannah got to see her good friend, I got to see my good friend, Gerry got to clean up the kitchen and Maxie got to play on the computer. Today we color easter eggs before I leave for Yale and tomorrow when I get home we'll hide them in the backyard and hunt them up. An afternoon Easter Egg hunt - we feel compelled to change this tradition, too!
The Affi-Macaroon Hunt
How You Say...?
I just wanted to clarify the bit about the French translation, I wasn't as clear I should have been.
I've been approached by someone to have my pattern(s) translated into French - I was wondering if there were many readers out there who would appreciate this (basically, whether it would be worth the cost of the translation...)
Sorry about the misunderstanding! If you are a French speaker, or know folks who you think would be interested in my patterns in french, give a shout. I just want to get a feeling if there's a market out there.
Feed me, baby!
8 Comments:
We are in the midst of preparing for our mini-seder on this weekend, as we like to say, "confuse the children weekend." We too are an interfaith (me=catholic, he=Jew) family, and my husband just revised our own little interfaith, abdriged, kid-friendly Haggadah. And this year, my husband will not be the only Jew at our seder, as I have invited the other member of my family's Shikse Society, my cousin, a Catholic who also married a Jew. After the seder, we'll put this kids to bed, and they'll help us with the Easter Baskets! Oy!
Been lurking at your blog for a while, and must say, I am a fan.
You know I was wondering why the store had a ton of macaroons everywhere. I like your chococovered macaroon filled eggs....
So glad I'm not the only one who went as bare bones as possible with the seder. I even had items missing from the seder plate. But I definitely didn't miss the four glasses of wine! :-)
Hi Annie, and thank you for the affi-macaroon hunt! I almost snorted my coffee. Those Maxwell house Haggadah-- my mom sent my boyfriend to me with some for my own 'passover' celebration (which I promptly forgot until everyone was saying 'it's easter!!' back at home. oops.) I don't know any fellow half-Jews or Jews in general who would be willing to do a Seder (and I have a hard enough time trying to translate everything...)-- which is really sad because that's one of my favourite holidays. And where can I get real Matzoh in Japan? ::sigh::
Hi Annie-
aaargh- you were down the street at Yale but I (and a half dozen friends) couldn't go 'cause it was Shabbat... Hope you had a great time.
When my kids were really little, Peschel, the Pesach Porcupine visited our house on the last day of Passover. And he did, indeed, leave macaroons in plastic eggs (which the kids wouldn't eat, anyway). Have a great rest of Pasover.
no problem, annie, i'll ask her that as well, lol. there's another lady who speaks french, but she's gone back to montreal for a month. i'll ask her when she comes back for the death tour (she comes back for memorial day, to visit all the cemetaries with her mother, lol)
i've begun translating my patterns into german.
french would be no harder and you can do this essentially w/o cost.
[1] go to www.altavista.com and babel fish.
enter your pattern in small bits and get a working translation.
[2] find a friendly native french speaker, who also speaks english and can help.
in my case, i'd studied german and also it was my required language for my phd. so i could check part of the work. i had a volunteer though to check the translation, a phd student in germany who's an avid sock knitter.
so claudia went over things and did a superb job.
bet you can find a dual-language person with some good skills [i.e. grammar and spelling] who can complete the babelfish work for you
best, :L
Next year in Jerusalem?
Well we're not exactly Jerusalem, but if y‡ll came, you'd be welcome at ours!
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