SC - Re: seder menu.

[Margo Hablutzel]

With spacing and all, I had a little trouble reading Philippa's messages,
and in case someone else did also, I summarize:

Ashkenazic = Eastern European (Russia, Poland, Hungary, Germany, etc.) Jew
Sephardic = Western European (Spanish, Portuguese) Jew

The Sephardim are the ones with the "typical Jewish" darker skins and big
noses.

For Sephardim, eating rice and legumes at Passover is OK.  For Ashkenazi, it
is not.  This may have to do with regional differences in diet which make
this ingredients more important to the Sephardim than to the Ashkenazi.

The Passover meal is eaten in the middle of the Seder.  You have the first
half of the Seder, which does include some eating (bitter herbs, maror
(horseradish) on matzoh, charoset (apple-and-stuff mixture, yum!, and
recipes differ by ethnicity and family) on matzoh), all symbolic foods, and
two glasses of wine (or grape juice).  Then you eat, and eat, all the good
things that seder meals contain.  Then you have the second half of the Seder
service, with the other two glasses of wine or juice (and sometimes a
symbolic fifth glass, for the future); during this part you share the
afikomen, which is a matzoh used earlier in the service, after which you are
not allowed to eat anything else until morning.  Some families eat dessert
after the Seder is over, which I find weird (not to mention, inappropriate).
The second half usually concludes with songs, including "An Only Kid," in
which the different elements symbolize those who tried to off the Jews, and
ends with The Holy One, Blessed be He, killing all of them so the Jews
triumph.  One of my favourites is "Who Knows One?" a counting song, and the
goal is always to sing your answer all the way through on one breath - after
we get to about eight or nine, people tend to cheat but I, a swimmer, could
do thirteen (the last one) on one breath AND comprehensibly.

I've digressed.

While on the subject, the meals this weekend that had been trumpeted as
"kosher" were unfortunately inedible from that standpoint.  The cook had
apparently refused all offers of help and information.  I didn't like the
soup offered (I found it watery, greasy, and the meat of poor quality), but
some people did.  The boiled eggs were plentiful, luckily.  The matzoh was
NOT KfP (Kosher for Passover) and so could not be eaten by the observant;
luckily someone in the kitchen notified us, and two persons had brought
extra matzohs for lunch and we shared.  (Someone asked how you can tell.  I
pointed out that regular matzoh says on the box that it cannot be eaten at
Passover, and showed my box which read in inch-and-a-half high letters,
"PASSOVER MATZOHS.")  The above-the-salt feast could have been eaten if you
skipped the crab-stuffed mushrooms (crab being treyf) and the breads and
grain dishes.  Roast lamb is not only acceptable, but traditional in some
families at the Seder (the cleanup crew got to snarf the leftovers, yum!).
Unfortunately, a lack of information from the cooks prevented a number of
persons from enjoying a meal that they could well have eaten.

I won't describe the other problems from the kitchen, as they are OT and
numerous.

                                           ---= Morgan



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	                      Morgan Cain * Steppes, Ansteorra


	                     May God have mercy on my enemies
	                     For they shall certainly need it.

	      For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.

                I intend to live forever -- so far, so good!
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