Passover is here again.  People are shopping for “Kosher for Passover” goods to replace the chometz (non-kosher food as well as items being made with wheat that had leavening in its preparation).  One of my correspondents reported her frenetic activity to do everything needed to go north to be with the kids including “kashering” her kitchen (she spelled it that way).   Another, a student from many years ago sent a “Happy Passover” greeting card in cartoon form with action and music celebrating the story that the Jews had escaped Egypt.

There are all kinds of goodies made in such a way as to be Kosher for Passover. To avoid the dreaded leaven, resort is made to apples, nuts, honey and chocolate macaroons as well as plates of matzo which you can get in many different varieties. This is flat bread with no leavening and tastes best (according to those who know) when made into matzobrie (with milk and eggs and fried into a pancake) after the holiday when there are left-overs. I like mine with cinnamon and sugar.

That is the way it looks from where I am sitting before going out to a friend’s house to share with her family the traditional meal and probably botching up the telling of the story of Passover as the meal (the Passover Seder) progresses and the children cannot wait for the ritual to be over so they can eat.

This is an historic story.  Whether it happened in the Hollywood versions or not, the Jews fled slavery in Egypt and went into an inhospitable desert to wander for 40 years so that the generation knowing slavery would die off and their children would be allowed to enter the “promised land”. At that time it was inhabited by city states that did not know of the One God (“Jehovah” in some circles). They practiced abominations that the Jews were warned not to copy.  The Jews (Hebrews) were selected to receive commandments and holy words telling the history in a book called the Torah.  All its five books are attributed to Moses. Moses led them out of slavery but he never got to cross over into the land on the other side of the Jordan.

It is a truly marvelous story and known by most people in the world. The Temple they built in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans.  They were forced into exile to   become the first recorded Diaspora. They filtered throughout the world touching many peoples. Their most unusual custom was celebrating the final plague in Egypt where the first male born to any family was killed if there was no blood of a lamb smeared on the doorposts of their home. The homes of the Jews were passed over. Passover brought the message of freedom that that still resonates in the homes of Jews and non-Jews. Slavery in Egypt or anywhere else is an abomination but it still goes on in many places in the world despite the story of Passover and its special message being retold every year.