HOLIDAY

Mini Matzah Makers

The Matzah Factory is a lot of fun — even if you have to ride with a lot of girls to get there.

Elizabeth Applebaum
Contributing Editor

Clockwise from left: Rabbi

Aaron Amzalak of Bais Chabad
of Oak Park holds up a timer so

E

than Adler was morti-
fied.
The 5-year-old
• student from Yeshivat Akiva in
Southfield thought he was riding
in the same car with his best pal
(a boy, of course), but instead
Mrs. Morris, his teacher, had him
go to the Matzah Factory in a car
with all girls. How much could
one boy endure?
Ethan, of West Bloomfield, just
shook his head in dismay. "Girls,"
he said. "Ugh."
Ethan was one of more than
1,300 children (and those are
just the ones already signed up)
who will visit the Matzah Factory
this year. The annual event, held
at the Jewish Community Center
in West Bloomfield, provides
children with an opportunity to
learn about Passover and make
their own matzah. Supervised
by members of Bais Chabad
of Oak Park, and with the sup-
port of Barbara and Douglas
Bloom of Bloomfield Hills, the
Matzah Factory is a program of
Federation's Alliance for Jewish
Education, Jewish Experiences
for Families, Shalom Street and
the JCC.
Keeping everything running
smoothly was Gail Greenberg of
the Alliance, who was constantly
busy, yet constantly pleasant.
"This is a wonderful, wonderful,
wonderful program:' she said.
And it gets more popular every
year, with 300 more students
signed up for a tour this year
than in 2005. Many of these are
school groups, including Ethan's
from Akiva last week.
Along with the Akiva students
were those from Hillel Day
School of Metropolitan Detroit,
including Isabella Rosenberg,
5, of Walled Lake, who said
she liked making the matzah
best. Sarah Mandel, 6, of West
Bloomfield is another Hillel stu-
dent who said making the mat-

-

the children can understand the
whole process of making mat-

zah must only take 18 minutes.

Andrew Weiss and Ruby Ruben,

both 5 and of West Bloomfield,
flatten their dough.

Atara Kresch, 4, of Southfield
colors as part of the workshop.

Benjamin Plotnick, 5, of
Farmington Hills moves his
dough on a dowel.

zah was really fun.
Ariel Safra, 5, is here from
Israel with his parents, who
are teaching for a year at
Akiva. Ariel speaks only
Hebrew, but he's got a lot to
say. Ask where he's from and
he'll mention a few places in
Israel, then tell you his family
came to the United States and
now he lives in Southfield ...
and do you know what he likes
best about Pesach? Kol hade-
varim (everything)! he says.
The tour began with a visit
to Shalom Street, where students
colored puzzles showing a frog,
for the plague, of course, and an
afikomen bag. Chloe Abrams,
5, of Oak Park colored her frog
purple and green. Yair Hyman,
4, of Southfield had fun color-
ing his frog, too, and made his
recommendation for the very
best way to eat matzah — "with
cream cheese on it:'
After that, children learned the
story of Pesach and how matzah
is made. "Do you know where
the Jews got the matzah [before
they went into the desert]?" the
host who? Rabbi Aaron Amzalak?
asked.

"From the Matzah Factory!" a
little girl called out.
After the children had a
chance to make their own mat-
zah, they heard all about the
seder plate and tasted some of
the yummy matzah they had
made. Then it was time to get
back to school.
Amazingly enough, Ethan sur-
vived the trip. And by the time
his visit to the Matzah Fktory
was over, he had had so much
fun he'admitted it was worth
being with all those girls to get
there.
Well, almost. ❑

More fun photos: JNonline.us.

iN

April 6 • 2006

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