The fine stores & shops
of Lincoln Center wish
everyone a Happy,
Healthy Passover

LINCOLN
CENTER

Matzah: a favorite Pesach food

Greenfield at 10 1 /2 Mile

Pesach and some do not. Here's why.
Years ago, Ashkenazic rabbis ruled
that rice and beans, corn, peanuts
and peas could be used to make
flour, which would'closely resemble
chametz. This, they declared, could
be confusing. So these particular veg-
etables and legumes, known as kitni-
yot, are not eaten in Ashkenazi homes.
Sephardic rabbis had no problem with
these food items, so Sephardi families
regularly enjoy everything from pea-
nut butter to corn-salad on Pesach.
• A number of families on Pesach
shun gebrokts, any matzah product
cooked with water. According to some
rabbinic sources, gebrokts foods are
not permitted (specifically during
the seders) because when the matzah
mixes with water it could accidentally
become chametz.
• Pesach has a charity of its own
called maot chittim, or "money
for wheat." This fund, to which one
should give in addition to (not in
place of) donations to tzedakah, helps
families who otherwise would not be
able to provide for all the items neces-
sary for a seder.
•Virtually all seder plates are round,
yet there are no regulations about how
to make this plate, providing it has
room for all the necessary seder items.
• Some Jews have the tradition of
placing a piece of matzah on their
walls as a constant reminder of the
Exodus, as stated in Deuteronomy
16:3: "Seven days shalt thou eat
unleavened bread ... to remember the
day when you came forth out of the
land of Egypt all the days of your
life."
• On Pesach, we are obligated to
drink four cups of wine (or at least

one cup of wine followed by grape
juice). But what constitutes "a cup"?
The rabbis determined that "one cup"
of wine on Pesach means at least
3.3 oz. or 5.2 oz., depending on your
source.
• Some Jews observe the Fast of
the First Born before the first seder.
This recalls the plague in which the
firstborn sons of the Egyptians were
slain — the plague that finally forced
Pharaoh to free the Jews. Today, Jewish
firstborn 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 commanded
meal), in honor of a celebration — a
bris or wedding, for example — then
the fast need not be observed. And if
there's no bris or wedding on this day,
a siyyum- Torah, completion of \read-
ing a tractate in the Talmud, also obli-
gates one to eat the seudat mitzvah.
• It's traditional to hide 10 pieces
of chametz to be "found" by chil-
dren, scooped up with a feather and
burned the night before Pesach. While
Judaism is filled with a great many
"10s" (think 10 Commandments, 10
Tribes), and certainly some see pow-
erful connections in numbers, no one
knows why it is that the number 10 is
used in this case.
• 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.
• Some Jews wear a long white robe
on the holiday, representing a life free
from bondage. It's called a kittel, and .
it's also often donned at a wedding or
on the High Holidays. ❑

• Advance America
• A.J. Wright
• Aldi
• Ashley Stewart
• Baskin Robbins
• Book Beat
• Bread Basket Deli
• Brenda's Beans & Greens
• Budget Uniform
• Dillman Chiropractic
• Dollar Castle
• Dots
• Errol Sherman Footcare
• Eyes Right Optical
• Glory Jewelers
• Jackie's Fashions
• Kmart
• L.A. Insurance
• Lincoln Barber Shop
• Lincoln Medical Center
& Skin Care
• Magic Touch Beauty Salon
• Metropolitan Dry Cleaners
• Payless Shoe Source
• Radio Shack
• Rainbow Apparel
• Rite Aid
• Secretary of State
• Strickley Kosher Meats
• T Nails

• White Castle/Church's Chicken

1101110

WISHING YOU
A HAPPY & HEALTHY
PASSOVER!

• 27659 Woodward Ave.
Berkley, MI 48072
(248)547-1000

21755 Michigan Ave.
Dearborn, MI 48124
(313)274-6100'

• 14925 Middlebelt
Livonia, MI 48154
(734)524-1000

21770 Michigan Ave.
Dearborn, MI 48124
(313)278-3815

1102880

iN

April 6 • 2006

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