Passover Thoughts and Preparations

Here's my menu for the first night at my house:  brisket (easy), chicken (left over from a shul event and donated to my family), kugel (I will make) and some sort of vegetable (my sister-in-law will make).  I will be only 3 days post chemo - I don't get sick, but I less my appetite majorly and when I'm like that I can't even look at food.  If I feel okay, I may even put together the sedar plate.  But I'm definitely going easy on myself and then we've been invited out for the second night.

A zissan Pesach to all.

Back at you Debbie (and everyone else!).

My kitchen is turned over..KLP.....DS is not pleased but he was warned it was coming!!!! Now its time to start cooking.....think I'll do the baking today and maybe the chicken soup....and maybe the gefilte fish (I buy the frozen rolls, then  need to boil them)....tomorrow the turkey and the brisket etc.....

I'm bummed....the sedar plate we've had for most of our married life is broken......I"m not without one as my kids bought me a new sedar plate and matzo plate from Israel last year (I'll tell you the story about it another time...too funny)....I really didn''t like the sedar plate anymore, but I didn't want to get rid of it either.....I have a small area in the crawl place where I put a few of my pesach things....and the matzo cover was stuffed into a box with my electric skillet and in it was the sedar plate broken in 1/2.....asked my DD if she remembers it breaking last year and she said NO.....DH has a lot of  his stereo stuff in that part of the crawlspace....I think when he was organizing his things, it got broken....I'm so annoyed but what can I do....had this plate for over 30 years.....its glass so it can't be fixed....not sure if there is anything that can be done with it other than the trash!!!  Oh well...I'll get over it....

Well...time to get off the computer...thanks for letting me whine as this really isn't anything compared to the health isses some are dealing with........Hugs,,,,Karen

Beans are legumes. According to Ashkenazi custom, they're not permitted, but for Sephardim they are (I think?). I know rice is permitted. My mom is Sephardi and my dad was Ashkenazi, and when they married she had to give up her customs and adopt his. Quite a misogynist tactic, if you ask me.

But back to the green beans. Basically the thought process is that because legumes grow in a manner that's similar to wheat and grains, they COULD be mistaken for them. So archaic confusion dictates present and modern custom. Doesn't sound to "modern" to me, but hey, I'm not going to get on that soapbox now...

Boy, have I learned alot from this group.  As I said it before, I am not religious, I knew there was work involved, but you girls are unbelievable!!, undergoing chemo and still preparing.

Don't laugh, I don't feel well, none of my friends feel well, so we are all going to a deli called "Irvings" for first night. Happy Pesach all.

I have the Jewish Book of Why, and I should really open it up.

Hugs,

Good Pesach to you all. I'm in the middle of 12 week taxol and contemplating a dilemma! (stop reading here if you don't want to read TMI) My worst symptom has been constipation. Matzah is rather binding...not sure if I can even add anymore of the prunes, Miralax, smooth move...etc. What to do?

Ronna - you are cracking me up!

I don't turn over my house.  Tomorrow I need to cook the brisket, make a matzoh kugel and maybe some charoses.  I am 2 days past chemo and very, very tired - the first time I have felt this way.  God understands.  

Hello MOTs,

 I semi- turn over my kitchen - that means I change my dishes, clean out my pantry, and put masking tape over the cupboards/drawers with my regular dishes/cutlery that we won't use during the week.

I am in a "mixed" marriage... lol.. my parents were both born in Canada, my in-laws are Holocaust survivors from Poland, but DH is born here.  So I'm the "heige" he's the "greene" - I had a modern conservative upbringing, we lived in a smaller town, 150 Jewish families, and my parents were very involved in the local Shule - my Dad was president of the Men's Sunday Morning breakfast club (he cooked breakfast for all the fathers who took their kids to Cheder on Sunday mornings), my mother was President of the Sisterhood etc.  My husband's family were totally non-religious, more cultural/epicurious Jews - my DH went to Arbeitering (Workman's Circle) Cheder, his Bar Mitzvah speech was in Yiddish. They never went to Shule ( I think after the Holocaust my FIL was totally turned off religion). My MIL is 20 years older than my mother, so big difference in outlook on many issues. 

When we got married, we decided to keep a kosher style kitchen (2 sets of dishes), won't mix milk and meat when cooking, sent our 2 daughters to a Conservative Egalitarian Day School up to grade 8 - Public High School. They both had big Bat Mitzvahs and read from the Torah.  We are members of a Conservative Egalitarian Shule. I guess I am rambling here, but I find it so interesting to hear about everyone's Jewish backgrounds.

I am going to my SIL for 1st seder tomorrow night, made sweet and sour turkey meatballs, also bringing Pesadik choc. chips cookies which I mixed up tonight and put in the fridge, will bake them tomorrow.  Saturday night we go to my cousin, I'm bringing chicken soup with matzo balls and the choc. chip cookies.

 A zissen Pesach to all.  To everyone going through chemo/Herceptin - take it easy gals and don't overdue it.  Your health is more important than anything.

 Chag Sameach!

Caryn(from Canada)

Caya, looks like your inlaws and my parents were of the same background for the same reasons. But I wasn't bat mitzvah'd because I was a girl. My first and basically only lesson of what being Jewish means was "remember the Holocaust". My mother taught me how to light candles and how to say the sh'ma and that was it (because that's what children in the camps were taught, that one and only prayer). Took me over 45 years to finally realize that that's not how all American Jewish children grow up feeling. Tough stuff.

But I have to ask, what does MOT stand for?

Half my kitchen (the meat half) is turned over and about half a dozen cakes were baked last night. Compared to previous years, I'm ahead of the game! 

Orangemat:  MOT = Member of (the) Tribe!

JoanQuits, I am now learning.

Actually, my mother (first generation)  came from an orthodox home, my father did not, although I remember him burning the bread at Passover as a young child. For some reason, we became traditional Jews, yes, always remember the Holocaust and please stay with your own kind. That was it.

Not ashamed to say, I married a gentile the first time, huge mistake, but was lucky to find a nice Jewish guy second time.

I enjoy reading everyone's posts. I also admire the folks on Sat. morning who walk under the wire??? going to the orthodox shul in next town as I am driving to do errands. The Chabbad light the town candles in my Italian neighborhood for Chanukkah right next to the Baby Jesus site. I wonder, after they leave after lighting the inital candles, there are no Jews at City Hall to light the rest. I am also afraid of fire, (my house burnt down as a kid) so I use plug ins for Yuretzheit.

Last night we were invited to the local temple for a Sedar, and it was my mother's death date, but the funeral parlor failed to include this year and next on Yuretzheit chart, so during services I got up for Yiskor. Boy, was I good last night.

Again, learning from you gals.

Hugs,

I love reading all of your backgrounds and Pesach experiences.  I am a daughter of a survivor, and grew up Orthodox.  I was educated in a Conservative shul after our little Talmud Torah folded.  When I became an adult I chose Reform as my best fit.  Being from Santa Cruz, a very liberal town (understatement) that means Ju-Bu (Jewish with a Buddist aftertaste.) I sent my kids to a conservative day school and then later to hebrew school at our reform shul.

Exbrn-My Rebetzen was so wonderful I used to cuddle up to her in the pews and follow the hebrew with my finger.  When people asked me what I wanted to be I said "a Rebbetzen!" I practically lived at that temple. 

My family traveled for seder, carrying the charoses and some desserts that I made with my younger DD.  We were 24 people and my brother led a beautiful first seder. He is still Orthodox, and so the seder was long.  I was so happy though, that he put a modern tilt to a lot of the traditional segments with lively discussions...it made the service very relevent.

The food was amazing.  All the good stuff.  Wore it home. 

Orangemat, I went for a walk in the neighborhood after dinner and saw "your shirt" the one you wear on your avatar...double take!  Were you in Los Angeles?  It would be too weird, but I have to ask! 

Rachel, I have never known a Rabbi ever (remember I've practiced all three mainstream threads!) that would tell you to put your health second to a holiday.  Take care!