Sent this email to some co-workers who were interested this morning, thought it might be generally interesting to more (though I’ve posted similar things in the past)

Since you were interested, (or at least I discussed with you) in the crazy food rules of the next week for me for Passover – it’s once a year, so I may have sent similar links last year.

(The holiday of Pesach, or Passover, celebrates God’s freeing the Jews from bondage in Egypt (through the leadership of Moses). A lot of this is around making sure we eat only Matzah, and not bread, as Matzoh is made with flour and water, prepared and baked very quickly so that it never has the chance to rise. Matzoh is identified on the one hand as the “bread of affliction” and “poor man’s bread,” being an extremely humble, plain sort of food that recalls the days of slavery; on the other hand, it also symbolizes freedom, as it was eaten by the Jews as they hurriedly left Egypt for good.)

Here’s a good general overview of rules of food on Passover: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/kosher1.html

If you want a major detailed version, here’s the local Seattle (Orthodox, so more observant than I, but I follow most of these rules) guide: http://seattlevaad.org/uploads/passover_directory_5768-2008.pdf

non-pdf: http://seattlevaad.org/Passover_5768.html

Key words to understand that guide – let me know if you any other words you want translated:

  • Ashkenazim/Ashkenazic – Jews from an Eastern Europe background (I am)
  • Sephardim/Sephardic – Jews from a Spanish background (think Inquisition time period) – more liberal for the holiday rules
  • Chametz – bread, or technically, anything made from one of 5 biblical grains other than matzah
  • Kitniyot – legumes, corn, etc… okay for Sephardim to eat, but not Ashkenazim
  • Matzah – think a cracker like substance. I brought some in last year for all. Likely will do again. Or you can just see me eating lunch starting Monday for the week…

And no, we are not changing the food we feed Molly, our dog, though technically, we are supposed to. That rule is stupid. She’s a dog, not a person.

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