44 April 18 • 2019
jn
Matzah Madness continued from page 42
passover
Passover Haggadot rewritten to incor-
porate the hiding of the bitter herbs.
I’
m looking forward to our family’
s
two seders. And frankly, since I reg-
ularly put my keys, glasses and cell
phone somewhere where I can’
t find
them; I will volunteer as the most qual-
ified to hide the afikoman. As a matter
of fact, I think I’
ll just hide my keys
with the matzah and give the kid who
finds them an extra buck.
Speaking of which, this year, as an
act of tzedakah, our family has agreed
to pool all the afikoman prize money
and donate it to Lori Loughlin and
Felicity Huffman’
s kids to pay for their
new university admissions.
I hope your families create their
own great afikoman-finding stories
this Passover. For a final word about
matzah, I leave you with the sage
advice of the one and only Jeff Zaslow
who reminded people in his speeches
that matzah could be very binding.
That’
s why he created Fiber Matzah,
whose slogan is “Let My People Go.
” ■
Alan Muskovitz is a writer, voice-over/acting
talent, speaker, and emcee. Visit his website at
laughwithbigal.com,“Like” Al on Facebook and
reach him at amuskovitz@renmedia.us.
seder asked, “Where are the green
onions?” That is how the Finkelman
family learned to strike each other with
scallions during “Dayyenu,
” a practice
which most of us look forward to con-
tinuing at our next seder.
One family in the Detroit suburbs
does so well at welcoming people who
would otherwise be alone that one year
they wound up hosting both ex-spous-
es after a bitter divorce. They sat the
former couple at opposite ends of a
long table.
An Israeli professor, stranded in
South Africa for a conference that
took place on Passover, arranged to
spend the second seder with Jeffrey
Dorfman, a professor of immunology
in Johannesburg. The guest shared
lovely stories, charmed the hosts’
chil-
dren and then took a taxi back to his
hotel room (an Israeli, he was not real-
ly observing the second day as a festi-
val). Only then did the hosts find out
that the guest had spent the first night
alone in his hotel room. Dorfman calls
this “an unfortunate missed opportu-
nity.
”
Rabbi Sid Vineburg of Oak Park
used to lead the Jewish synagogue in
Green Bay, Wis. As the only rabbi for
many miles around, he maintained
community relations with religious
and political leaders throughout the
state and often had them as guests
at the Vineburg family seder. Bishop
Robert Banks, head of the Roman
Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, sat
next to the rabbi at a seder. When it
came time to wash before HaMotzi,
the bishop washed the rabbi’
s hands.
Rabbi Vineburg remembers this as a
profound spiritual moment: “
A feeling
of God’
s presence: the way it should be,
peaceful cooperation.
”
Mark Saul of New York reports
that his daughter Susanna has friends
from Luxor who attended their
seder. Saul found it “interesting” to
conduct a seder with real Egyptians.
Similarly, Mike and Roz Grand (active
at Congregation B’
nai Moshe) hosted
some Saudi classmates of their son
at Wayne State University; the guests
were thrilled with the home-cooked
meal and with how many of the rituals
reminded them of Islamic practices.
A family reports: “When we opened
the door for Elijah the prophet, our
neighbor’
s friend showed up. Our
neighbor’
s seder ended too soon for his
taste, so he hopped over to our house
for more.
”
At the end of the seder, the
Haggadah serves up a series of medi-
eval poems, which participants try to
sing, after a feast and four brimming
cups of wine.
“Our family has a handicap in sing-
ing these songs,
” they said. “We learned
them at the seder each year of child-
hood, from our aunts, lovely people
who could not carry a tune. One year,
we apologized for having no melody
at all for a song. One of our guests, a
musician, replied, ‘
Give me a minute.
I’
ll compose a tune.
’
Literally a minute
later, he had a beautiful musical setting
for the poem and proceeded to sing it
in a lovely voice. How sad that we do
not still remember the tune he invent-
ed that night.
” ■
2 for Seder is a concept launched by the
daughter of one of the people murdered at Tree
of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. The idea is to
encourage families to open their seders to two
non-Jews to experience the holiday and to pro-
mote better understanding as a way to tackle
anti-Semitism at the grassroots level. To learn
more and receive a kit, go to 2forseder.org.
A Seat at the Table continued from page 42
Garage Floors
Basement Floors
Pool Decks
Commercial Floors
Wood Decks
Kitchen Floors & Counters
Easy on line ordering at: www.epoxy-coat.com or phone-in orders welcome at: 1-800-841-5580
Our highest rated interior and exterior epoxy has been
installed at NASA and is now available in Do-It-Yourself kits.
Installation services are available.
Use code
JN10 for
FREE SHIPPING
and 10% off!
Our experienced team is
available to provide you
with a quick and accurate
estimate for any storm
damage repair. We also
offer free, no obligation
estimates for all types of
roof repairs, replacements,
or installations, as well
as gutter, siding and
window installation and
repairs. Contact us
today to speak to a
roofing expert!
31476 West Stonewood Ct.
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
248-563-9387
cornerstoneroofingmi@gmail.com
cornerstoneroofingmi.com