holiday 101
You've been celebrating Pesach ever since you were the youngest person at
the seder. You successfully delivered the Four Questions to the adulation of
your family. Now that you are teenager, you may still have some questions
about Passover that have not yet been answered. Here are some facts that
will lift the cloth from your eyes and wrap it around the afikomen.
did you
know?
Test your Passover
knowledge against
these facts.
by Spencer Kent
1.Matzah has a required
shape and can only be
square.
FALSE. In 1875, a mat-
zah-baking machine was
invented in England.
The machine made
square matzot. Until
modem times,
matzah
was Square matzot are the norm these days.
usually round instead of square. Exodus 12:39 required the eating
of ugot matzah. The word ugot means "cakes," but it can also mean
"round." The reason why matzah is now usually square is because it is
easier to mass-produce and package.
2. During the Middle Ages, Jews used the afikomen as a good luck
charm.
TRUE. Jews often would hang part of the afikomen in their homes in
order to ward off demons. During long sea voyages, they would often
bring part of the afikoman with them, thinking that it would prevent
violent storms. To this day, the tradition is still customary to North Afri-
can Jews.
3. Passover has five different names.
TRUE, 1. Chag HaMatzot (The festival of Unleavened Bread) 2. Chag
HaPesach (The Festival of Paschal Offering) 3. Chag HaAviv (The Festival
of Spring) 4. Z'man Cheiruteinu (Season of Our Liberation) 5. Pesach (Pass-
over)
1. Why do we eat unleavened bread on this night when all other nights we
eat either leavened bread or matzah?
2. Why do we eat only bitter herbs on this night when all other nights we eat
all kinds of vegetables?
3. I'Vhy do we clip our vegetables twice on this night when we do not dip our
vegetables even once all other nights?
4. Why do we eat our meals reclining on this night when on all other nights
we eat our meals sitting or reclining?
The fifth question that we no longer ask: Why is it that on all other nights we
eat meat either roasted, marinated or cooked, but on this night it is entirely
roasted?
5. More Jews celebrate Chanukah than Passover.
FALSE, Pesach is the most celebrated holiday by the Jewish people. Ap-
proximately 80 percent of Jews worldwide celebrate Pesach.
6. The Coca Cola bottling
company of New York
halts production during
Pesach.
FALSE. During Passover,
it makes Coke that is ko-
sher for Passover. Sugar is
used instead of corn syrup
because corn is not consid-
ered kosher for Passover.
7.Jews drink four cups of
wine at the seder.
T The four cups at the Passover Coke uses sugar, not corn syrup.
seder represent the four expressions of redemption — bring, deliver, redeem
and take. The first cup is called the cup of sanctification; the
second, the cup of judgment; the third, the cup of redemp-
tion; and the fourth, the cup of the kingdom. A fifth cup was
later added by rabbis, called the cup of Elijah.
4. There were originally five questions, but we only use four.
The current four questions are:
Spencer Kent, 18, is a senior at Birmingham Groves High
School.
the spiritual path
by Danielle DePriest
Passover lesson
For most of us, the miracles and escape from oppres-
Passover story. As Pharaoh's soldiers heeded his calls to
miracle of the parting of the Red Sea offers a valuable les-
sion and slavery that fills the pages of our Haggadahs on
chase after the Jewish slaves, who Pharaoh himself had
son. Despite the fact that the Egyptians had enslaved our
Passover receive only a scant piece of our attention as we
so recently freed, we find ourselves on the banks of one of
people, God still chastises the angels for singing as they
daydream of the pasta we'll enjoy as we break Pesach. The
Passover's greatest miracles.
drown in the sea. It becomes even clearer though the lens of
story of our ancestors' struggle under Pharaoh becomes
What is referred to in the Torah as "a mighty wind"
Passover that our people would not be where we are today
little more than background noise emanating from the head
divides the sea in two, creating two walls of water the Jews
had we focused our energies on celebrating the downfalls
of the table as we chat with cousins or see who can endure
pass through and the Egyptians are drowned in. Surely, there
of our enemies. Created in the image of God, each of us
is much more to this miracle than what lies at the surface.
holds a moral responsibility to our friends and enemies alike
the most horseradish on one piece of matzah.
How can we be expected to find something meaningful in
According to a Midrash on this story, as the angels begin
not to celebrate our downfalls but rather to
to praise God for his miraculous liberation of the Jews from
treat each other with the same respect God
so far beyond any stretch of our imaginations? The parting
danger, God retorts with frustration to their praises: "My
demanded from the angels in the Passover
of an entire sea at just the right moment — "Come on!"
creatures are drowning and you're singing songs!"
the same story, year after year, that describes phenomena
However, it is from this splitting of the Red Sea that we can
Amidst the wars between nations and competition
learn one of the most valuable lessons offered though the
between neighbors we find in our daily lives, the Passover
B2 teen2teen April • 2008
story.
Danielle DePriest, 17, is a senior at the Fran-
kel Jewish Academy in West Bloomfield.