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72

FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 1990

P
A

S
S
O

V
E
R

Randy
Marcuson

Matzah's No Mitzvah
For Infants And Toddlers

ELLEN BERNSTEIN

Special to The Jewish News

E

liyahu turned blue.
The 20-month-old
boy was choking on a
piece of matzah until his
mother, Jody Kassorla of
Rockville, Md., yanked him
out of his high chair and ap-
plied the Heimlich maneu-
ver. The quick upward
thrust to his mid-section
forced the baby's diaphragm
to push up air and expel the
matzah.
Kassorla, the wife of a
Sephardic rabbi, said the
Heimlich maneuver saved
her son's life during
Passover in 1988. This new
mother also learned that
while matzah may be a
mitzvah, even the smallest
piece can make a baby
choke.
During Passover, the
abundance of matzah on din-
ing tables and floors can be
dangerous for infants and
toddlers up to age four, said
Noel Merenstein, a former
New York City emergency
medical technician who
founded Baby-Life, a cardio-
pulmonary resuscitation
(CPR) class for infants and
children. The nationally
offered CPR course, begun in
1982, also teaches other life-
saving techniques and ways
to prevent accidents and
choking.
Babies under 2 years do
not have the molars (back
teeth) to chew the finger
foods they want, said
Merenstein, who gives
parents in his classes a list of
foods that are safe. "Babies
gum the matzah. It becomes
mealy and doughy and very
easy to choke on."
As a rule of thumb,
Merenstein recommends
that parents test the food
before giving it to a child
under 2 years. "Give them
food that melts, dissolves or
crumbles easily. If you have
to chew it with your back
teeth, don't give it to them."
According to Merenstein,
foods that seem safe, but can
block a baby's pinky-size
windpipe include raisins,
grapes, cut-up hot dogs and,
to many parent's surprise,
baby teething crackers.
The vulnerable internal
organs of infants cannot
withstand the Heimlich ma-

Ellen Bernstein reports for our
sister publication, the Atlanta
Jewish Times.

neuver taught in CPR
courses, warns Merenstein.
If an infant is less than a
year old, parents are taught
to place the baby face down
with head lowered across
their laps and give back
blows. If a chest thrust is
necessary, the parent should
have extensive training. A
thrust too high in a little
triangular patch could kill
the infant, he said.
In CPR courses, parents
are also taught how to tell if
a baby is choking. One of the
signs is not coughing effec-
tively. A choking victim
usually turns blue or grey,
Merenstein said.
After her son's choking
accident, Jody Kassorla took
a 3 1/2-hour Baby-Life class at
the Jewish Community
Center of Greater Washing-
ton D.C. It helped her last
month when her 2-year-old
son Naftali began choking at
a kosher Chinese restaurant
— on a won ton noodle. ❑

NEWS

Author Admits
Anti-Semitism

London (JTA) — Best-
selling writer Roald Dahl,
author of several popular
children's books, has ad-
mitted to being anti-Semitic,
and says it is so because
Jews support Zionism.
Dahl, author of the highly
popular Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory and James
and the Giant Peach, also be-
lieves "there aren't any non-
Jewish publishers
anywhere."
Dahl admitted his bias
after years of denying it, in
an interview he gave to a
British newspaper.
"I'm certainly anti-Israel
and I've become anti-
Semitic, inasmuch as you
get a Jewish person in an-
other country like England
strongly supporting Zion-
ism," he said in the inter-
view.
The Board of Deputies of
British Jews promptly la-
beled Dahl "potty and
paranoid." "Potty" is a
British word meaning
"slightly crazy."
In the interview, the au-
thor rambled and raved
against Israel, which he
claimed "killed 22,000
civilians when they bombed
Beirut.
"It was very much hushed
up in the newspapers be-
cause they are primarily