Chag somayach: now you're safe

Community alert for Passover:

"We are pleased to inform you that we have met with the Chicago Police Department, and there will be enhanced coverage around our neighborhoods, including all shuls, over Yom Tov. The additional police presence will be during the times that people will be walking to and from shul, and during the times that people are walking to meals. Also the Chicago Police Department, in conjunction with the Office of the Mayor, announced Jewish homes will be permitted to have loaded firearms on hand to deal with the increased occurrence of home invasions in the neighborhood."

As you may have guessed, the last sentence was my little joke. Of course Jewish homeowners in Chicago are not permitted to defend themselves, their families or their homes with handguns. The city took that right away decades ago, and the mayor is the law's staunchest supporter. Why should he need guns? He has taxpayer-financed 24-hour armed protection. The police presence in Jewish neighborhoods may succeed only in pushing crime to the east, away from the Jews. Nice for the Jews but not nice for ward residents across Western Avenue, who must feel like second-class citizens under their long-serving alderman.

"Too much matzah! I can't take it anymore!"

When does eight days feel like an eternity?

When it's Passover, and the matzah is making you ill.

Can't stand another bite of matzah? Then stop eating it.

It's okay to stop eating matzah without breaking the Passover leavened bread ban. The only requirement to eat matzah is at the seder and Sabbath meals. (Maybe the other yontif meals too. Check with your local rabbi.) But that's just part of Passover. Home alone, without the festive meal, it's possible to fill up on a plethora of food options that don't involve matzah at all. In fact, as a friend and fellow blogger pointed out, Passover is a wonderful time to begin a healthy diet. Off the top of my head, here are meal/snack options to satisfy one's appetite straight through to the end-of-Passover pizza party:

1. Salad! Dozens of salad dressings are kosher-for-Passover. Garnish with any number of items (check for the Pesach hechsher). Fresh or iceberg lettuce is fine; salad bags are not kosher-for-Passover. This is an easy do-it-yourself project.

2. Baked potato! And mashed potato! And hash browns! The humble potato has long been a Passover staple. It's possible to be creative and prepare it any number of different ways. Remember to use kosher-for-Passover butter or margarine if you plan on adding that to your potatoes--and please, keep the dairy products separate from the meat dishes.

3. Meat! If you're fortunate enough to live near a supermarket that sells whole kosher chickens, one chicken can keep you fed all through chol ha'moed. (Okay--maybe two.) Packaged kosher meat does not require Passover certification (unless it's flavored). There are hundreds of kosher-for-Passover chicken recipes. Remember when adding ingredients to check with a reliable Passover guide to confirm which ingredients need special Passover certification. There are online guides at www.crcweb.org and www.oukosher.org/index.php/passover. It would be a shame to find out later your chicken masterpiece has secret banned-on-Passover ingredients. If you want to make it easy on yourself and have a deli sandwich (on matzah? uh-oh), remember all condiments--ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise--must have Passover certification. These items are readily available in supermarket Passover aisles.

4. Eggs! There really is a book called 365 Ways to Cook Eggs by Elaine Corn. I assume the authoress' surname is not a pun. I would bet that more than half those recipes, from a non-Jewish cookbook, could be made kosher-for-Passover. Cooking is permitted on yontif, and yontif does not fall on the Sabbath at all this year, so there are opportunities aplenty to test your cooking mettle. As with meat recipes, remember to check with a Passover guide to determine if additional ingredients require Passover certification. If you make an omelette with kosher-for-Passover cheese, I'm coming over.

5. Fresh fruit and vegetables! Much to my chagrin, one of my snack staples, applesauce, does require Passover certification. But fresh fruits and vegetables do not. This is another opportunity for a healthy snack or side dish for a larger meal. Remember that Passover is not the time to revisit the celery, peanut butter and raisin snack from Rosh Hashanah ("raise in salary," ha ha ha), as peanut butter is never kosher-for-Passover.

If kosher-for-Passover consumers, even first-timers, plan carefully and make sure they have enough food--and enough variety--for the full eight days, the matzah indigestion will be a fading memory from previous years. Happy eating!

Make the exodus from non-kosher seders

It’s a shame that people gather for Passover seders that end up being not the slightest bit kosher and therefore not at all in the spirit of the joyous holiday that is so meaningful and central to the identity of the Jewish people.

I’m hardly the expert of tact. Nevertheless, seder guests unsure of their hosts’ kashrus (kosher) standards should ask the hosts: is your seder strictly kosher for Passover? The host should be able to answer emphatically “Yes” and explain:
1. The matzah to be used at the seder is kosher for Passover. That would seem to go without saying, but matzah sold year-round is not intended for Passover use. It says so on the box.
2. The meat (beef, chicken or both) is kosher-certified. (Passover certification is not necessary for kosher meat.)
3. The side dishes are raw materials, legume-free, or certified kosher-for-Passover.
4. The wine and soft drinks are certified kosher.
5. There are no dairy products on the table. If the seder is vegetarian, all dairy products are also certified kosher for Passover.
6. The kitchen, including the oven, was cleaned and kaschered prior to the seder.

If the host explains the meal will be like any other but without challah, then it’s not kosher, and guests should make other arrangements. Also carryout seder meals from “kosher-style” restaurants are not kosher. Here are two people who would be more than happy to host you:

Rabbi Yosef Moscowitz 773-772-3770
Rabbi Yochanan Posner 847-677-1770

Also Rabbi Zev Kahn can send you to a family who would be happy to host you: 773-817-4406.

FAQ:
1. I don’t know what to wear.
Men: shirt, tie and kipah. Ladies: skirt and blouse.
2. I won’t know anyone.
A great opportunity to network and meet others who may be experiencing a kosher seder for the first time.
3. I don’t know what to bring.
Supermarkets have packaged desserts in their Passover aisles; check for the circled “U” with the “P” next to it on the label.
3. I lost my Haggadah.
The hosts will be happy to lend you one. Also you can buy one from any bookstore.
4. I’m afraid it will run so late I won’t be able to go to work the next day.
Ask your boss if you can come in late due to the holiday.
5. I need to drive home.
Ask for grape juice instead of wine. And many hosts don’t insist on guests staying within walking distance.

Attend a non-kosher seder? Why?

From the ultra-orthodox to the non-observant, Jews across the spectrum complain about keeping Passover. Some say they can make it five days out of a total of eight. Some "keep" it all week but eat out at non-kosher restaurants and ask the kitchen to hold the bread. (Seriously. Please do not do this.) Some keep it seven days and say, "If seven days is good enough for Israel, it's good enough for me."

Stop the kvetch and think for a moment.

The Passover story in Exodus is that the Jews were slaves in Egypt. G-d told Moses to lead His people out of Egypt. Moses told the Pharaoh, "Let my people go," and with the assistance of numerous open miracles, the Jewish slaves escaped from Egypt after nearly three centuries of enslavement. Eventually they made it to what is now modern-day Israel and have been living there ever since.

Whether one believes the story in the Torah or not, one historical fact is unmistakable: at one point in history, there were no Jews. Later, there were Jews, and that hasn't changed.

The Haggadah (seder book companion) points out that in every generation, people attempt to destroy the Jewish people. The Pharaoh who knew not Joseph tried it. In the Purim story, Haman, the Persian leader's viceroy, tried it. Most famously, the leader of the previous German government tried it. Today, President Ahmadinejad of Iran wants to wipe out the Jews. Yet the Jews persevere, and the ancestors of the Jews make it despite the temptation to pretend they are not Jews and to assimilate into the non-Jewish majority.

In honor of the Jews who came before the current generation, I believe it is incumbent upon the Jewish people to give up challah and normal food for eight days.

That means not attending a non-kosher seder. I don't know why people hold non-kosher seders. I've never asked someone, so maybe the reply is, "We don't keep kosher during the rest of the year. What's the point?" Or, "It's just for the family to get together for a festive meal." But the non-kosher festive meal ruins the whole point of the holiday, in my opinion. The Jews came from Egypt, and now American Jews live in a country that allows us to celebrate and worship in the open, in peace. And we thank G-d by placing the chometzdik* butter next to the non-kosher meat, which is covered in chometzdik sauce? And that is appropriate just because of the family at the table?

I don't think it is. To make matters worse, many area synagogues further endorse this practice by hosting their own non-kosher seders. I was very surprised to find this schedule.

Just curious: as I recall, taking communion in a Catholic Church requires eating a wafer and drinking wine. How many Catholic churches substitute candy and diet Coke? Probably none of them. But dozens of synagogues can't be bothered with serving a kosher for Passover seder. They also have a ready excuse--that they are not kosher during the year.

The solution is to avoid seders are not absolutely, positively strictly kosher for Passover. Ask the organizer point-blank if the seder is kosher. If so, participants are entitled to ask who the caterer is or what the source kitchen is, and when it was kaschered (cleaned for Passover), or who the mashgiach is (kosher supervisor). If those questions cannot be answered directly, then it's time to move on to the next seder.


*"Chometz" is Hebrew for bread or any food product containing bread that is not kosher for Passover. "Chometzdik" is a Yiddishized adjective form.