I should have mentioned in my "fortification fridays" food post on Friday that Passover is all about being enslaved to building. I think we all understand that. The story goes that the Israelites were forced to labor for the Egyptians on their buildings by making bricks of mud and straw, and mortar of apples, walnuts, and honey. OK, who knows what the mortar was really made of, but one of the symbolic foods of Passover is charoset, a mix of the above-listed sweet things ground into a lumpy paste, that signifies the mortar used by the Israelites.
I've really been burdened by the thought of returning to my renovation labor lately. I've had some deadlines and a seriously severe disinterest in doing anything inside my house. I want a cloud of locusts or boils to come and the sea to part so I can run away from my bricks and mortar. But enslaved we are, and toil we must, with only the hope that it will one day be over and our houses will be a perfect as the garden of Paradise. Next year...
The image is my Passover seder plate. I only get to look at it once a year, so I'm making the most of it. Each of the little bowls holds a different symbolic food: charoset, parsley, romaine lettuce, an egg, horseradish, and a shank bone. The orange? It's a recent revisionist custom to add an orange to the seder plate to symbolize the people who have been excluded from certain Judaic practices and communities (such as gays/lesbians or female rabbis). To those I add the non-reluctant remodelers, the DIYers who enjoy the toil of renovation and restoration, and never complain about grit in their teeth and bricks falling on their toes. To you I raise a glass of achingly sweet kosher wine!
2 comments:
Hag same'ah! Happy Pesach! I'm sederless this year (as I've been most years since moving to a rural area) but I think I'll have some wine tonight at least (was too sick last night for anything).
Last week I did a presentation on Passover for my granddaughter's 5th grade class, and brought matzah (same brand!) and charoset for them to try. It was so funny to see them all want just a tiny piece of matzah at first, and only 3 were willing to try the charoset, but once they did and the others saw their response to it, I was swarmed by kids wanting more matzah and charoset. I used grape juice of course.
Anyway, I'm glad to sign onto houseblogs and see another houseblogger talking about preparing for Pesach. I hope you had a great seder!
Chag semeach to you, too! I'm glad you at least got to have some charoset. The last time I tried to do a presentation on Passover to students, I got comments on my teaching evaluations about how I was trying to convert them. Sigh. I guess if I weren't an atheist, that might be true, because I do love me some Passover.
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