Pesach Snap Shot

I love Passover, yes even the cleaning and the prep! It makes the week so much more satisfying when it arrives. We had a small seder just my parents and Grandparents this year, we had invited a couple others besides but unfortunately they were unable to come. So in the end Elijah had more room at the table :). 

The funny thing about our seder's is they are never quite the same. Yes of course we do the same things every year but it always looks a little different, it keeps things interesting :)

So here is a snap shot of our Seder this year!

I made bookmarks for each place setting, not only did it serve the practical purpose of seating but everyone was able to use them as haggadot markers as well.

I made them ahead so I went for a neutral coloured paper and used strips of scrap fabric for the fringe.

Do to our table being significantly decreased in size since last year I no longer had table room to put extra matzot on my silver plates as I have in the past so I improvised really quick the night of the seder and took a spare linen towel and covered the matzah box with it, tied blue and white cotton crochet thread around it and finished it with a white flower hair clip. I think this wins thrifty award for the year if I do say so myself!



For our seder plate I used our glass pedestal cake plate and three small square dishes we had in the cupboard in which I placed the charoset, maror, and karpas.

 In the middle I put parfait type dish in the centre with the salt water for dipping. The empty spaces I filled up with the remaining items: sheep wool, a stone, and a few springs of thyme(which I consider a bitter herb). We used the sheepskin wool in lieu of the traditional shank bone this year. We choose to leave the egg off the plate and have instead a stone to remind us of three things: Pharaoh's hard heart, G-d's promise to remove our stony hearts and give us hearts of flesh, and lastly that the stones of the Temple will once again be raised up when Mashiach returns!

The Echad

Aerial view of the table

 

After polishing the candle sticks I discovered I had used the last of our shabbat candles....hmmm well no problem I pulled out our trusty crown mason jars and a couple of the half burned votives from my sisters wedding last year (wow yes that was exactly a year ago!) and viola.


Menu for this year consisted of honey chicken, garlic-horseradish mashed potatoes, and Thai cucumber salad.

Homemade lemon ice cream and lemony coconut macaroons for dessert.

Chametz chamtez everywhere but not a crumb to eat

Pesach is rushing to arrive and we are once again hit with that question: "So what is chametz again and what do I need to take out?" 

Chametz is the Hebrew word almost universally translated "leaven" in our English bibles and most often is attributed to risen baked products or just bread that has been baked with yeast. While it's true that both these fall into the category of chametz it may not totally answer the question?".

Our ancestors in Egypt did not have "yeast" as we have today, instead they had to wait for their dough to "become leavened". So how does dough become leavened then? 

Naturally leavened breads rise over time as they draw in wild yeast spores from the air. As the unique and complex family of friendly bacteria thrive on the nutrient rich whole grain flour they produce carbon dioxide gas, this is was causes air bubbles in your dough and ultimately gives a finer texture to your bread. But while it takes some time to make a full fledged risen sourdough bread it doesn't take long for leavening to begin. Our sages of blessed memory observed this process closely noting that when rye, wheat, spelt, oat, or barely flour are mixed with water they naturally begin the leavening process in as little as 18min*. Therefore if dough was not rolled and cooked within that time frame it would not be matzah("unleavened bread") but it would in fact be chametz dough.

This is also why all chametz isn't necessarily full out risen bread. Yes all breads are chametz but all chametz isn't “risen” bread. Pasta, cookies, crackers, breaded fish, pitas, grain based alcohols, etc. are just a few other things that are chametz because they have all been allowed to become at least partially leavened. Which dawned on me this year that I can't stop at the obvious, I can't assume I know the appearance of sin or arrogance, it could very well be hiding behind the appearance of good. I need to be diligent to search it out because just because it doesn't possess the obvious appearance of leaven doesn't mean it isn't...a little bit of leavening still leavens the whole lump...hmm that sounds familiar..... :]

For more a more in depth article about chametz I recommend the below article written by Tim Hegg.

http://torahresource.com/EnglishArticles/Chameitz&Pesach.pdf

The following is a list taken from the above article and what we personally go by when it comes to removing the chametz from our dwellings:

1.Any of the five grains or flour made from them, to which water has been added and allowed to sit long enough to begin the fermentation process (18 minutes is the accepted time according to the Sages). If fermentation occurs, they have become leavening agents. They are not to be used during the festival.
2. All prepared foods that contain any of the five grains (sandwich breads, even pita bread, since it may have been allowed to sit too long before being baked; cereals, cookies, crackers, etc.) are prohibited. Prepared foods made from kitniyot do not need to be removed (unless one wants to adhere to the additional Ashkenazic rabbinic fences). So, for instance, corn tortillas are okay, as are foods made from rice.
3. Noodles purchased from the store, made from one of the five grains are prohibited, unless they are marked as Kosher for Pesach. (You can make your own noodles as long as they are cooked right away after water is added to the flour, if you are using flour ground from one of the five grains).
34. Beer, whiskey and the like, which are made from fermented grains, are prohibited. (Not all alcoholic beverages are prohibited. For instance, some vodka is made from potatoes and does not therefore contain chameitz).
5. Substances containing leaven or leavening agents but which are never eaten do not need to be removed, since the primary commandment is that one is not to eat leavened foods nor have leavening agents that would be added to foods. Thus, cleaning agents, pet food, etc. that contain one of the five grains do not need to be removed. 
6. Medicines containing leaven are not prohibited during the festival, on the principle (pikuach nefesh) that those things necessary to sustain life generally take precedents over other commandments.
7. Wine and vinegar (other than grain vinegar) are not considered chameitz because they are not made from grain products, and are therefore useable during the festival
                         -excerpt from "What Foods are Prohibited During Chag HaMatzot?" by Tim Hegg

* note that the 18min is calculated using cold water only. If one uses hot water the fermentation begins much faster! When making matzah coldest is best!

Pesach

COMING UP....

The next holiday on the calender is Pesach and Chag HaMatzot!

Pesach is a celebration of our great deliverance from the brutal slavery we endured in the land of Egypt.

Pesach in it's common usage generally includes Chag HaMatzot but technically Pesach is more of a point in time rather than a day. Pesach is the time when the plague went through Egypt and "passed over" the blood on our doorposts. Chag HaMatzot overlaps Pesach as it begins at sunset on the 14th of Nisan. 

HaShem gave the instructions this way in Vayikra/Leviticus 23:5,6

"In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at dusk, is the LORD'S passover.
And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD; seven days ye shall eat unleavened bread."

We are also instructed in Shemot/Exodus that we are to remove "all Chametz(commonly translated: "leaven") out of your houses; for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel." Shemot/Exodus 12:15

A month before (or after Purim is a good marker) many people cease from buying chametz products so they can start to finish up the ones in the home. A thorough clean of the house ensues in the month leading up to the feast to purge all areas of the home of the chametz. Hmm....did you ever wonder where "Spring Cleaning" came from?


The basic Pesach activities are:
 - Purging the house of chametz prior to the Feast
 - The Sedar meal on the 14th of Nisan at evening in which we eat the matzah, bitter herbs ( to commemorate the bitter bondage in Egypt), drink four cups of wine or grape juice (cup of sanctification, deliverance, redemption, and praise) representing the four "I wills" of HaShem (I will bring you out, I will redeem you, I will deliver you, and I will take you to Myself for a people) in ShemotExodus 6:6,7, and reading through the Haggadah (lit. telling) of history of the exodus from Egypt.

 - Feasting and rejoicing in the miracles that HaShem has done on our behalf
- And last but certainly not least, remembering the great deeds of our Mashiach Yeshua and the great salvation He has wrought on our behalf

Chag HaMatzot

- The first and last days are to be holy convocations:

 "And in the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you." Shemot/Exodus 12:16

- Eating bread without chametz/unleavened bread

- Remembering what the L-rd did for us in Egypt

*It is very difficult to touch on everything! This is only meant to be a quick summary on the holiday.