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JENNIFER FINER STAFF WRITER

Making matzah has
become a pre-Passover ritual
at the JCC.

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Making matzah is hard work.

Children from the Lubavitch Cheder follow directions.

n Sunday, 7-year-old
Jessica Newman
and her classmates
learned the fine art
of matzah making.
As participants in
the Matzah Factory,
they baked in a make-
shift kitchen at the Maple/
Drake Jewish Community Cen-
ter.
Upon their arrival, they were
greeted by Rabbi Elimelech Sil-

berberg of Bais Chabad of West
Bloomfield, who after a brief ex-
planation, showed the children
how to make shmurah, or
watched, matzah. This means
the flour used in the matzot is
watched from the moment the
wheat is cut in the field until
it comes out of the oven. While
the matzah they made was not
shmurah, each child was given
a piece of shmurah matzah.
By the time the Matzah Fac-
tory "closes" on Sunday, March
20, more than 1,500 children
will have participated in the

More than 1,500
children will have
participated in the
program.

4

Chanie Wolf, 4, learns the skill of baking matzah.

program, including individual
families and classes from as far
away as Lansing.
Jessica used a rolling pin to
completely flatten her piece of
dough. When she was done, she
used a fork to poke holes in it,
then watched as it was baked
in an oven outside the front
doors of the Center.
"I had a lot of fun at the
Matzah Factory because I got
to learn how to make matzah
and learn about what the Jews
-did when they were in the
desert," she said.

The children liked the activ-
ity because they had a good
time, but the educators appre-
ciated it because hands-on ac-
tivities are the best way for
their students to learn.
"This is a great experience for
kids because it gives them a
firsthand opportunity to do
something that relates to the
holiday of Passover," said David
Weisberg, a part-time Sunday
School teacher at Shaarey
Zedek. "Even for myself, I en-
joyed this activity because you
don't often get to see how
matzah is made."
This type of hands-on pro-
gram helps clarify the informa-
tion taught about Passover,
added Simcha State, a third-
grade teacher at Shaarey
Zedek.
For the past 10 years, Rab-
bi Silberberg and Rabbi Chaim
Bergstein of Bais Chabad of
Farmington Hills have been
running the Matzah Factory. It
was adopted from an interna-
tional Chabad program.
Third-graders Mark Adler
and Jonathan Stulberg said
they had a great time making
matzah and were eager to dis-
cuss the significance of the un-
leavened bread.
"When the Jews got out of
Egypt, they did not have time
to bake bread because they
were in a hurry to get out, so
that's why we eat matzah,"
Jonathan said.

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