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Passover Traditions
Sephardic Style
M. Sempliner
ost Jews of Ashkenazi
background, informal
surveys reveal, would
find the celebration of
Passover, Sephardic style, a to-
tally unfamiliar experience.
Although Sephardim, narrow-
ly defined as Jews whose ances-
tors lived in medieval Spain and
Portugal, never differed from the
Ashkenazim regarding basic
tenets of Judaism—both credit
the Babylonian Talmud as the ul-
timate authority,there are nu-
merous distinctions concerning
the interpretation of law, cus-
toms, rituals and the culinary
arts.
For starters at the seder, for-
get about the traditional gefilte
fish and the fluffy, featherweight
kneidlach or matzah balls. They
are virtually unknown to our
Sephardic brethren.
Marcella, from Alexandria,
Egypt, points out that even their
charoses—the symbol for mor-
tar—is not the same. "We use
dates and raisins, nuts and wine,
never apples. Instead of horse-
radish for the maror, which re-
minds us of the bitterness of
slavery our ancestors were forced
to endure, we have shredded
leaves of romaine or endive.
Rather than roasted shankbone,
symbol of the sacrifice offered to
God, we use a roasted veal shoul-
der, actually two pieces that are
connected. For the karpas, signi-
fying springtime, we dip celery in
vinegar and water. The tray with
the symbolic food is passed over
our heads three times. We always
have rice, not eaten by Ashke-
nasim. We save the egg for the
next day to eat.
"Dessert is some type of white
cake, to represent light and
brightness, never chocolate. With
the cake we serve a jam from
ground almonds and coconut,
cooked with sugar and water."
Asked about the reward for those
finding the afikomen, the three
matzot placed together to indi-
cate the unity of the Jewish peo-
ple", Marcella said, "I never heard
of giving money. They win; that's
all."
Michael Azose, rabbi of a
Sephardic congregation, clears
up some of the controversy per-
taining to what is appropriate,
since one group looks upon cer-
tain foods to be a violation of
Passover laws while the other
does not.
"Sephardim follow the codifi-
cation of Rabbi Joseph Caro, who
came from Turkey to Safad in the
16th century and presented a
more liberal and permissive in-
terpretation of religious law. The
Ashkenazim accepted the rules
and customs of the eminent rab-
bi and codifier Moses Isserles, a
contemporary of Caro, who lived
in Krakow, Poland. Thus there
have been departures in certain
observances and detail. It was a
halachic decision to abstain from
legumes during Passover because
in powdered form they resembled
the forbidden grain. Sephardim
are allowed to eat legumes, as
long as they are fresh and not
dried."
There is an additional reason
for the ban on legumes, Rabbi
Azose explains. "Because the
rules governing Passover are very
stringent, it is possible that at the
market the scoops in the recep-
tacles might have been contami-
nated or touched by a banned
particle." The rabbi, whose par-
ents were born in Turkey, notes
that in Israel the rice is checked
three times to ensure it didn't
come in contact with the prohib-
ited grain.
As for the Sephardim not us-
ing horseradish, Rabbi Azose re-
flects that "our rabbinic sources
felt that horseradish was not bit-
ter, but extremely sharp. More-
over, it is difficult to fulfill one's
obligation of eating the proper
amount, since it is so strong." Al-
luding to symbolism of the shoul-
der, the Zeroa, "God mentions
taking the Israelites out of Egypt
with outstretched arm. Thus the
significance."
Rabbi Azose concedes there is
a cross-pollenization of customs
that have trickled down to the
Sephardim here. "Nevertheless,
there are still differences, in food
and customs," he indicates. "The
Ashkenasim say a prayer over
every one of the four cups of wine.
We say a prayer only for the Kid-
dish and the blessing following
grace after meals. And we sing
both in Hebrew and Ladino. (A
linguistic blend largely of Castil-
ian Spanish and Hebrew.) We lift
up the tray at appropriate inter-
vals during the service. Mainly,
we learn through re-living the ex-
odus experience."
A Conservative rabbi, Victor
Mirelman, whose maternal lin-
eage is Sephardic—his mother
came from Turkey—acknowl-
edges that differences are chiefly
in food and song. "Customs vary
from community to community,"
he suggests. "Some were more lib-
eral in regard to legumes." In his
own family, they didn't pass the
tray containing symbols of the
service, but many friends did.
They, too, sang in Ladino as well
PASSOVER page 110
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