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Passover Tames,
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Pizza Recipes
he gave it to Joseph. Upon
Joseph's death, it came into
Pharaoh's possession. At that time
my father was a scribe in Pharaoh's
court. From the moment my father
saw the Sapphire Rod, he longed to
own it. When he came here to
Midian to live, he took it from
Pharaoh and brought it here. One
day my father was walking in his
garden. He stuck the rod into the
ground. When he tried to pull it out,
he couldn't! It has rooted itself into
the ground and sprouted! It became
a tree!"
"I must ask your father to tell
me more!" Moses said, interested.
"Oh, no!" Zipporah begged,
"please do not let him know that I
have told you the history of the
tree."
"Very well. When I ask to marry
you, he will tell me about it
himself."
They reached Zipporah's house.
Zipporah had changed out of
her dripping wet dress into a lovely,
flowing pink gown, trying to get
back to Moses and her father as
quickly as she could. But, as she
entered the room where the two
men sat talking, her sisters came
running after her. As she
approached, Moses smiled at her.
Then he said. "Jethro, I want to
marry your daughter, Zipporah."
Jethro smiled.
"You seem to be a fine young
man," he said, "a man to make a
good husband for my daughter. But,
before I can give my consent, there
is one thing I must ask you to do."
"Ask," Moses answered. "I will
gladly do whatever you ask."
Jethro smiled again. "In my
garden there is a small tree. All I
ask is that you pull this tree out of
the ground."
"Certainly," Moses agreed.
"That can't be too hard."
All the girls shivered.
He smiled confidently at
Zipporah, then stood aside to let
Jethro precede them into the
garden. All the girls followed their
father. Zipporah came last. As she
passed Moses, she whispered, "Are
you sure you will try? At the risk of
your life?"
Moses smiled and nodded and
followed her out to the garden.
He looked at the tree. It was
just like any ordinary tree. It had a
trunk and branches and leaves.
Then suddenly, before his eyes, the
tree seemed to change. Now the
trunk looked like pitch and the
branches like coils of rope and the
leaves like steel-jawed traps! This
tree ate human beings! It devoured
anyone who touched it! And Moses
was afraid.
The leaves curled around his
fingers! The branches stretched out
like arms and hugged him to the
rough bark of the trunk. Then, as
he felt himself being drawn into the
tree, he whispered, "Tree, Tree, I
know you are no tree. You are the
Sapphire Rod which God gave to
Adam, which Adam gave to Enoch,
to Noah, to Shem, to Abraham, to
Isaac, to Jacob, and to Joseph. 0
Sapphire Tree, I am a descendant of
Joseph, of Jacob, of Isaac, and of
all those back to Adam. I am a child
of God."
The branches loosed their hold. "0
Sapphire Tree, do not devour me.
Do not hurt me." The leaves
uncurled from his fingers.
Then suddenly, before his
eyes, the tree seemed to
change. Now . . . the
branches looked like
coils of rope and the
leaves like steel-jew
traps! This tree ate
human beings! It
devoured anyone who
touched it!
Now Moses grasped the tree in
both his hands, leaned forward,
strained his muscles — and pulled
— and pulled - and suddenly, with a
shower of loose dirt, out from the
ground came the tree, roots and all!
And in his hand the branches
withdrew into the trunk, the trunk
grew slim, and the tree became
again the Sapphire Rod.
Quietly, without a word, Moses
handed the rod to Jethro.
"The tree. did not eat him!" the
sisters cried together.
"The tree is gone!" one of
them cried.
"Moses is safe!" cried another.
And then they all wept and
laughed. They danced and sang.
Because now someday they too
could be married. Moses had
destroyed the Devouring Tree and
Moses was their hero!
Because he had brought joy to
all of them, the sisters made his
wedding to Zipporah the most
wonderful wedding ever held in
Midian.
Do you have a favorite kosher
recipe? Each month in this space,
L'Chayim will print kosher recipes
that the whole family can prepare
together. To contribute to the
column, type your recipe on 8 1 /2x11"
paper and send it to L'Chayim,
The Jewish News, 20300 Civic
Center Dr., Southfield 48076.
This month's recipes were
contributed by Barbara Adler,
administrative assistant, B'nai B'rith
Council of Metropolitan Detroit.
Thmmes With
Matzah Balls
10-15 prunes
2 1 /2-3 lb. brisket or flanken
6 carrots halved
2 sweet potatoes cut into 1" rounds
6 small midget white potatoes
peeled
1 16-oz. can pineapple slices (cut
into chunks, or a fresh
pineapple)
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp. potato starch
oil
1 cup water
Cube meat, season with salt
and pepper. Place in pot covered
with water. Bring to a boil and
simmer for 2 hours. (Water can be
used for stock later.) Add vegetables
and cook for an additional 45
minutes. Remove meat and
vegetables and set aside. Prepare
your usual recipe for matzah balls.
Drop one at a time into the stock
that has been boiled. Watch closely,
and when water begins to boil
again, cover pot and boil for 1/2
hour. Remove and save stock for
later use.
Arrange the matzah balls, all
the fruit, vegetables and meat in a
large casserole greased lightly with
oil.
SAUCE: Take the water and stir
in the potato starch in a saucepan.
Heat slowly and add the sugar while
still stirring until sauce thickens.
Then pour over the meat and
vegetables. Bake at 350 degrees for
45 minutes or until golden. Serves 8
as an appetizer.
Passover Pizza
6 boards of matzah
2 lbx. mozzerella cheese
1 16-oz. jar of tomato sauce with or
without mushrooms
green pepper, onions
pepper, salt, garlic powder (if you
can find Italian seasoning, add)
Moisten boards of matzah with
warm water and place, whole, on a
greased cookie sheet. Place cheese
over the matzah. Pour tomato sauce
over the cheese and matzah.
Season with seasonings and
sprinkle vegetables over all. Bake at
350 degrees until cheese melts and
sauce looks brown, about 30
minutes.
.
Next Issue
Israel independence and
Holocaust remembrance will be
the dual themes of our next
L'Chayim. There will be special
articles, features and stories to
read children plus our regular
Du Redst Yiddish, Hava
Nedaber Ivrit and What's In
A Name columns. Coming
April 28.
The Afikoman Pledge
The American Jewish World
Service, the international Jewish
development and aid organization,
offers Jewish families a pledge to
read at their sedarim to remember
the hungry. The pledge is being
offered as part of the AJWS' third
afikoman pledge campaign in which
it hopes to educate American Jews
about the issues of world hunger
and poverty while raising money for
its self-help and community
development projects in Asia, Africa
and Latin America.
The pledge is inspired by the
words of the Haggadah, "Let all
who are hungry come and eat."
When redeeming the afikoman
at the end of the seder, renew the
commitment to help all who are
hungry around the world. Following
is the Afikoman Pledge:
Tonight we read together: This
is the bread of poverty that our
ancestors ate. Let all who are
hungry come and eat! Let all who
are in need share in the hope of
Passover! This year we all are
slaves. Next year may we all be
free. Tonight, to redeem the
afikoman: We renew our
commitment to help all who are
hungry around the world, so that
ilext year we all may be free.
,
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
L-7