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. 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