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holiday in 65 CE.

#18) Looking for a little something
different to dine on at Pesach? Among
Lithuanian Jews, it's traditional to eat
borscht rather than chicken soup.

#19) Some Jews observe the Fast of the
First Born before the first seder. This
recalls the slaying of the Egyptians'
first-born sons — the plague that final-
ly forced Pharaoh to free the Jews.
- Today, Jewish first-born sons fast
because they were spared this fate. But
there's a catch. If there's a special meal,
called a seudat mitzvah (literally, a com-
manded meal), in honor of a celebra-
tion — a bris or wedding, for example
— then the fasr need not be observed.
Understandably, this idea appeals to
many Jewish first-born sons. And if
there's no bris or wedding on this day?
A siyum Torah, completion of a reading
a tractate in the Talmud, also obligates
one to eat the seudat mitzvah.
Consequently, many thoughtful congre-
gations make it a point to involve first-
born sons in the completion of reading a
Talmudic tractate on the Fast of the First
Born.

#20) Do you really have to buy a whole
separate set of dishes for the holiday?
Not necessarily. Most people take this
option because, despite all the packing
and shlepping, believe it or not, it's more
convenient.
Yet a number of rabbis state that dish-
es and utensils that can be thoroughly
cleansed of chametz are permissible for
use on Pesach. But "thoroughly cleaned"
is a complex matter. China dishes might
appear to be easily washed of any
chametz, but china is a porous substance
that can absorb minuscule bits of food
throughout regular year-round use, mak-
ing it not acceptable for Pesach.
If, in fact, your rabbi determines that
some of your everyday dishes can be
used for the holiday, you will have to
lusher these for Pesach, which requires
one of four methods: placing the dishes
in boiling water, pouring boiling water
over the dishes, placing them in a hot
flame or, interestingly enough, soaking
them in cold water. (But please, read all
the details first. Koshering dishes for
Pesach is not an easy job.)

#21) Although there are no hard-and-
fast rules, its preferable to use red, rather
than white, wine at the seder because the
Talmud says that red is the superior of
the two. However, over the years a num-
ber of families developed the custom of
using white wine at Pesach. This is a

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2001

98

al is best handled by your rabbi. Do not
assume that just because an item is made
with alcohol it cannot be in your home
on Pesach (and may even be permissible
to use).
This is because some toiletries and
medicinal items contain alcohol, which
the rabbis have declared nifial me'achitht
kelev (literally, unfit even for animals),
and therefore do not fall under the tradi-
tional regulations of chametz.

Jews come to Jerusalem to observe the

A silver goblet of wine waits on
the Passover table.

matter of history and not Halachah
(Jewish law).
Throughout history, Jews have been
the target of blood-libel accusations,
namely, that they consumed the blood
of Christian children during a seder.
Because of the persistence of such lies,
rabbis asserted that Jews should specifi-
cally avoid red wine at the holiday and
instead use white.

#22) Afikoman is not Hebrew or even
Aramaic. It's a Greek word that means
"dessert."

#23) It's traditional to hide 10 pieces of
chametz to then be "found" by children,
scooped up with a feather and burned
the night before Pesach.
While Judaism is filled with a great
many "10s" (think Ten Commandments,
Ten Tribes), and certainly some see pow-
erful connections in numbers, no one
really knows why it is that the number
10 is used in this case.

#24) The first square matzah appeared
in 1875. Until then, all matzah had
been round and handmade. The square
matzah was produced on a machine
made in England.

#25) Those little dotted lines you see on
pieces of matzah are not there simply for
purposes of decoration. Instead, they
allow air to escape from the dough,
which prevents it from swelling and
slows fermentation.

#26) Although grain alcohol is, of
course, not permitted on Pesach, the
whole issue of alcohol products in gener-

#27) You've seen it all these years, but
you've never really known what it is. The
shank bone (zeroa in Hebrew) is a sym-
bol of God's "mighty arm" as He •
released the Israelites from bondage. It
also recalls the paschal lamb sacrifice
used in the days of the Beit HaMikdash,
the Holy Temple. Interestingly enough,
however, there's a great deal of flexibility
as to exactly what a "shank bone" consti-
tutes. Some families use a roasted lamb
bone; others prefer a chicken neck.
Technically, a shank is any cut of meat
that comes from the leg of a cow, sheep
or lamb.

#28) A number of Jewish families origi-
nally from Ukraine have a tradition of
creating a key, made of dough, atop the
first challah served after Pesach ends.
This recalls the key to freedom God gave
the Jewish people as they left Egypt.

#29) Some Jews wear a long white robe
on the holiday, representing a life free
from bondage. Today, everyone knows
this as a kittel, also often donned at a
wedding or on the High Holidays. Long
ago, however, it was called a sarginos,
meaning a garment made of wool or
linen.

#30) Today, virtually everyone ends his
seder (assuming all are still awake) with
a rousing version of "Chad Gadya," the
story of the father who bought a goat,
which was eaten by the cat, which was
bitten by a dog, etc. While the theme of
the story is the persistence of the Jewish
people (one nation tries to destroy us,
then another and another, but God's will
prevails), the music is based on a
German ballad.

#31) Although Pesach is today believed
to be the most widely observed Jewish
holiday (even surpassing Yom Kippur), it
also is the source of a great mystery. It is
the only Jewish holiday that most Jews
refer to by its English name of Passover,
rather than Pesach. (Imagine saying,
"I'm looking forward to the Festival of
Booths [Sukkot] or the Day of Lots
[Purim]." Alas, no one has yet been able
to explain why this is the case.

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