When I was a youngster, Passover was a yearly holiday that changed everything. All the dishes in the cupboards needed to be unpacked, they had been stored away from the last Passover. The house had to be cleansed from top to bottom and chumetz, food unkosher for Passover had to be found, sold to someone who would agree to sell it back to us at the conclusion of the holiday or discarded or stored away. All food for this annual holiday expressing our gratitude for our release from slavery in Egypt could only be ingested if it had a label stating it was not only kosher, but kosher for Passover. In the early years, candy was off limits and we missed it. Today many manufacturers offer delicious sweets that bear the required label, so that’s how we would finish our meal, along with the Afikomin, a special matza that Papa had to find and agree to give us a reward. There was a great deal of negotiation for the Afikomen, but without it Papa couldn’t conclude the seder, so we kept upping the price. This was all in good fun and we looked forward to dealing with Papa.
We were not rolling in money, but I got a new dress for Passover. This year the dress had a lace collar and a patent leather belt. I felt grown up and pretty, even Papa said so. When Papa came home from shul, we began the seder with my father making Kiddish over the wine. Then we started reading from the Haggadah a special book with the Passover story. The youngest child asked the four required questions. Papa listened patiently and responded with lengthy answers to each query, till we wanted to ask the fifth question which wasn’t in the Haggadah. The question that wanted to be asked at every seder table. The question was, “When do we eat?” There was a lot of dipping going on, in the salt water and out, but no food. Not a mouthful. Papa for his part, could not answer a question in ten words that he could as easily answer in a hundred, so the seder went on endlessly. Papa wore a long white robe, a high silk yarmulka and leaned back comfortably on several pillows, so he was in no hurry to move this pleasant interlude along.
Finally, as the children grew restless Mama intervened and Papa hurriedly concluded his responses and we could finally eat. That seemed to us to be the Passover miracle. Mama served special egg noodles she only cooked for this holiday and we gobbled up the gefilteh fish, the chicken soup and the brisket with vegetables. We were Ashkenazi Jews so we didn’t have any rice the way the Saphardim did. But, there was so much food to eat we didn’t even notice that.
Before the dessert I was given the honor of opening the door for Elijah the Prophet. A silver cup filled with wine was in the center of the table for this honored guest. When I opened the door, instead of Elijah, our cat walked in with her tail high in the air. We broke out into laughter. Papa slammed his hand on the table shouting “Sha, sha!” But it was so funny even Papa had to finally laugh.
We had macaroons, Passover candy awaiting us. But not till Papa found the afikomen. Papa looked everywhere, except under his chair and that’s where wrapped in a napkin was the matza he required, without which he could not conclude the seder. We asked for a dollar for each child to relinquish the matza he needed. With ten children that was too expensive, so we settled on a quarter for each youngster and we produced the afikomen. Papa smiled, he hadn’t thought to look under his chair, or perhaps he had and just wanted to be a good sport.
The Passover holiday lasted eight days. We ate matza, matza and more matza. Bread was off limits and we missed it. Finally, Passover was over. We bought our chumetz back, put away all the holiday dishes and silverware and got back to our regular lives. Strengthened in our lesson of the pricelessness of freedom we went on looking forward to our next holiday which would come in seven weeks. That’s why it’s called Shavuot, meaning seven.
Still, though years have passed we always laugh about the fifth question we wanted to ask at every seder. “When do we eat?” For the conservative members of the tribe I hear there’s a condensed version, a ten-minute seder, so the fifth question may not be needed. Seems, if you live long enough you see everything. Eat up! Enjoy our freedom from bondage in the land of Egypt and rejoice that our people, the Jewish people, are always trying to make the world a better place. I wish you a sweet, kosher for Passover holiday. Judith Levy is the New York Times best-selling author of GRANDMOTHER REMEMBERS, which has sold four million copies to date. Her newest offering is the beautifully illustrated GREAT-GRANDMOTHER REMEMBERS, a perfect gift, now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It’s bound to be another best-seller.
