Today marks the first day of Passover. It's an eight day holiday (though we don't officially get all those days off from work) celebrating the exodus of the Jews from Egypt back to Israel. Much of the country shuts down during this time, and we generally hear the phrase at work, "after Pessah." So many activities wind down even before Passover is here. I'm told half of the country ends up traveling abroad during this period while the other half tours Israel. And because of this, Jana and I have decided to simply stay here in Tel Aviv.
Tonight, Pessah Eve, we have been invited to our neighbor's father's home for our first ever Passover dinner. Now fortunately, Auntie Kim and Amy (Christians, by the way) gave Atom (also a non-Jew) a book titled "My First Passover." And since then, we have read the book two times. Now I have a better idea of what Passover is (and I especially like the story of the 10 plagues), but I think Atom still has no clue. And amusingly, my colleague summed it up that all Jewish holidays are based on some event in history where somebody wanted to kill the Jews but they managed to escape somehow.
Oh yeah back to the dinner we're going to tonight. During Passover, people become very strict about things being Kosher.
Another side note: I also participated in the selling and buying of "chametz." Chametz is any grain or yeast product and is forbidden to be consumed during Passover. They're actually not even supposed to have it in their house. But you know what? They can sell it to a non-Jew and then buy it back after Passover is over. The items don't even have to exchange hands. And of course they can only go into one of these contracts with a non-Jew. Normally you find your local Arab for this. But since they don't get along so well these days, I'm the next best thing. So for 1 shekel, I am currently the owner of all the Chametz in the office building. They didn't explain to me any of this before hand. While they were drafting up the contract, I asked, "Am I being sold all your sins right now?" But no, it was only grains but which happily enough includes beer!
Ok, back to the dinner story. It was recommended by a colleague to bring only Kosher wine to the dinner we were invited to. I never even knew there was such a thing as Kosher wine. We then heard that our neighbor's father loves foreign wines which I'm sure the majority of are not Kosher. So I went out to a special wine shop and split the difference. I purchased one Kosher wine, and one Chilean wine. It turns out though that Jana spoke with our neighbor today who said, "Don't bring any Kosher things. We're not religious at all. We'll even have pork there at dinner tonight."
So that will be my first Passover experience.
Tonight, Pessah Eve, we have been invited to our neighbor's father's home for our first ever Passover dinner. Now fortunately, Auntie Kim and Amy (Christians, by the way) gave Atom (also a non-Jew) a book titled "My First Passover." And since then, we have read the book two times. Now I have a better idea of what Passover is (and I especially like the story of the 10 plagues), but I think Atom still has no clue. And amusingly, my colleague summed it up that all Jewish holidays are based on some event in history where somebody wanted to kill the Jews but they managed to escape somehow.
Oh yeah back to the dinner we're going to tonight. During Passover, people become very strict about things being Kosher.
Another side note: I also participated in the selling and buying of "chametz." Chametz is any grain or yeast product and is forbidden to be consumed during Passover. They're actually not even supposed to have it in their house. But you know what? They can sell it to a non-Jew and then buy it back after Passover is over. The items don't even have to exchange hands. And of course they can only go into one of these contracts with a non-Jew. Normally you find your local Arab for this. But since they don't get along so well these days, I'm the next best thing. So for 1 shekel, I am currently the owner of all the Chametz in the office building. They didn't explain to me any of this before hand. While they were drafting up the contract, I asked, "Am I being sold all your sins right now?" But no, it was only grains but which happily enough includes beer!
Ok, back to the dinner story. It was recommended by a colleague to bring only Kosher wine to the dinner we were invited to. I never even knew there was such a thing as Kosher wine. We then heard that our neighbor's father loves foreign wines which I'm sure the majority of are not Kosher. So I went out to a special wine shop and split the difference. I purchased one Kosher wine, and one Chilean wine. It turns out though that Jana spoke with our neighbor today who said, "Don't bring any Kosher things. We're not religious at all. We'll even have pork there at dinner tonight."
So that will be my first Passover experience.
Trust us Jews to find a work around for rules and regulations :)
ReplyDeleteSince you asked (not really, but I'm sure you were wondering), there's your everyday Kosher, and then there is the passover kosher, which is a a branch of your everyday Kosher.
So in the Passover kosher (for the orthodox) you are only allowed to consume food and beverage that was prepared in specialty factories. These places operate only before and during passover, to avoid the risk of "Chametz" contaminating the food.