The BIG Story

lions) of Sefer Shmot (the first 15
chapters of Exodus), the story is
continued. Years later, after Joseph
dies, a new Pharaoh enslaves the
Jews. It lasts more than 400 years,
and the Jews are forced to build
entire cities. Then, to prevent a
prophecy that a Jewish deliverer
would arise, Pharaoh devises a hor-
rendous plan: the Egyptians are to
seize the new-born infants of Jewish
women and drown them.
A Jewish mother named Yocheved,
wife of Amram, secretly gives birth to
a boy. Knowing her son% fate if he
remains at home, she puts the infant
in a basket and casts him adrift on
the Nile River. He is found by none
other than the daughter of Pharaoh.
She pulls the baby from the water
and raises him as her own son. She
calls him Moses.
After Moses becomes an adult,
God calls him to bring the Jewish
people out of Egyptian slavery.
Pharaoh crudely rejects Moses'
demands; and under the instruction
of God, Moses introduces a series
of 10 plagues to force Pharaoh's
hand. The plagues, ranging from
weather disturbances to epidemics,
culminate in the sudden death of all
first-born beings — human and ani-
mal — in Egypt.
An anguished Pharaoh, whose
own son dies in the plague, orders
the Jews to go. In the middle of the
night, Moses gathers the thousands
of erstwhile slaves and leads them
out of Egypt.
Then Pharaoh has a change of
heart and his army pursues the
throng to the edge of the Sea of
Reeds (Red Sea). God causes the
sea to split apart so the Jews may
escape to the other side. When
Pharaoh's army begins to follow,
God brings the water together and
the Egyptian legions are drowned.
The Jews are finally free. At God's
command and instruction, they inau-
gurate a holiday of liberty and
redemption, the celebration of
Pesach.

❑

3/26
1999

72 Detroit Jewish News

Latza

Matzah

Sink your teeth into these tasy facts about the holiday.

Elizabeth Applebaum
AppleTree Editor

ven if you have read
the Haggadah 1,000
times, you might not
know ...
• In Jewish liturgy, Pesach
also is called Chog Ho-Mat-
zot (Festival of Matzot) and
Zman Cherutainu (Season of
Our Emancipation).
• According to Holochah
(Jewish law), we are obligated
to eat matzoh only on the first
night of Pesach. Although we
may not have ordinary bread,
the eating of matzah for the
rest of the holiday is optional.
• Originally, all matzoh was made
by hand and was round. Square
matzoh was an innovation of the
machine-made process.
• Matzah commonly
is made from wheat
flour. Jewish law
allows matzoh also
to be made from
oat, rye, barley and
spelt flour.
• Some people,
such as Lubavitcher
Chasidim, have a
tradition of not eat-
ing matzoh that
has come into con-
tact with liquid or
that has been
cooked in any
form, such as
matzoh balls, matzoh kugel Or
matzoh brei (matzoh scrambled
vvith eggs). The reason? They
believe that cooked

communities traditionally have
taken up collections to help
needy family provide for the yom
tov (holiday). The special Pesach
fund is called meot chitim or
wheat money.
• At Pesach time, consumers
often see various types of
matzah for sale: shmura
matzoh is produced under the
direct and continuous observa-
tion of a mashgiach (kosher
supervisor). It's watched from
the harvesting of the grain,
through the milling of the flour, the
mixing of the dough, the baking
of the matzah and the packaging
of the final product. Shmura
matzoh can be either hand made
or machine made.
"Eighteen-minute matzoh" is made
in new batches with clean utensils
within 18 minutes, the halachically
determined minimum
X:•!
time for dough to
avoid fermentation.
Most rabbis rule out
egg matzoh, salted
matzoh or the new
grape-juice matzah for
use at the seder or
even the entire holiday,
except for those with
special physical or
dietary needs.
• Back in the days
when he appeared in
movies, comedian
Bob Hope was never
nominated for an Academy
Award. As he once put it, the
gala evening when the awards
were presented for him was
Passover.

"

matzah (referred to by the Yiddish
word, gebrokt), may be susceptible
to fermentation and thus forbidden
on Pesach.

•

"

•Z•

• Because Pesach, more so than any
other Jewish holiday, can involve
extraordinary expenses (such as buy-
ing kosher-for-Passover food), Jewish