Wednesday, April 15, 2009

From Slavery to Freedom...

We've had a great Passover around here.

Our Seder was a lot of fun! (we actually did two Sedarim, the first with our family, and the kids made it through that one entirely. So I really consider that to be our "real Seder." The second night, I helped lead the Seder at the synagogue. My kids didn't really make it through that one....)

 Our Seder table, featuring the huevos haminados that I made with David. They were beautiful but interestingly enough, didn't taste any different from regular hard-boiled eggs!
 
  
My kids had a great time with the plague masks. I felt that the lice plague was most fitting for them...
Everyone always wants to know if I conduct our family's Seder, being a rabbi and all. Nope. My dad (who wrote my omer counter) has always done it and he does a great job! I pipe up occasionally with new ideas and comments, and sometimes move things along...
 
Each year, we open the Seder with a reading from Mark Twain's "Concerning the Jews." My 93-year-old grandmother offers this reading, which she found many years ago and brought to the Seder.
And....David offered the Four Questions:




The rest of the week has been relatively uneventful. Sam has persisted in asking each day for waffles. I'm quite sure that he did not eat a single bite of matzah in protest. Luckily, he's only 3 so it doesn't matter too much. Our digestive tracts were, um, healthy all week. We made popovers, toasted farfel, grilled fish, potatoes, eggs, tuna, and ate a lot of babaghanoush and cream cheese on matzah. I think I made matzah pizza 4 or 5 times and I made matzah brei twice. (For the Matzah Brei cookoff at the shul, I made Matzah Brei Italian - with marinara sauce, onions, garlic, basil and mozzarella - garnished with Salad Caprese. A huge hit!)

The dishes are packed away, the crumbs are swept off the counter, and another Pesach has come and gone. So much work to prepare and it all seems to end so quickly. But it really is one of my favorite weeks of the year. It is a total change of routine and behavior that consumes us and reminds us with every mouthful of the meaning of freedom.

How was your Pesach?

9 comments:

Sara said...

What a lovely picture of my hair getting in my face! At least Yael looks cute. :)

Robin said...

We had a lovely holiday - seder was here, we were 14 I think? Did some day trips, spent time just enjoying my parents visit, etc. Today (last day of school vacation) my parents took the kids to a (human performers only) circus while I stayed home to work.

All in all a good week, but if I never see another piece of matza again it will be too soon. Itai is much too strict for his (my) own good...

Amanda said...

My daughter (3-1/2) made it through the first seder...very excited to see the end. The second night when we carried her into her bed after she had been asleep since the meal she cried, "BUT I didn't find the afikomen!" and fell back to sleep.

Yesterday she seemed to finally get the whole chametz/matzah thing. And is really looking forward to "real" pizza tomorrow. Though matzah pizza was a huge hit.

I am wondering where you found/made the masks. I saw them in someone else's photos from seder and I think they would be a hit next year. We use finger puppets for the afikomen and frogs, lots and lots of frogs, for the plagues. But the mask would be something new.

It is my favorite holiday and despite the work, I am always sad when it is over.

Amanda said...

"We use finger puppets for the afikomen" I meant we use finger puppets for the ma nishtanah...oops.

Phyllis Sommer said...

amanda - i actually got the plague masks at our local grocery store (!) but i know they're available online, for example: http://www.jewishsource.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=247320&Cat=

i couldn't access your blog to respond, so i hope you see this!;-)

Anonymous said...

I love the masks!

Beth @ TheAngelForever said...

Gorgeous photos of your family's Seder. Love seeing the Plague masks in action. We saved ours to use another year since we had the finger puppets to keep the boys busy.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful photos!

The best part of my Passover, besides our seder, was the discovery of Sabra Vegetarian Chopped Liver.

Jew Wishes said...

What a lovely post! The photos are wonderful, the video is wonderful. Such a beautiful family.

Thank you for sharing your Seder with us.