A few thoughts on Passover

I am taking a break from Passover preparation. I do love this holiday though it is challenging for my back. Too much standing, as I cook, not to mention the bending in order to get the house ready is  tough, so I try to get off my feet every so often. Yesterday morning Jeff showed me an article from the Chronicle about  the places all over the world where you can go for Passover including Orlando, Scottsdale, Puerto Rico  or how about a kosher for Passover African Safari? (oy!)

Hmmm...that sounds a little tempting...not the safari, but going somewhere without feeling like a slave in Egypt doing all the shopping, cleaning and cooking. One year we were all with Devora and Andy  in Jerusalem which was quite an experience. I got to see some of the pre-Passover customs which are done in a communal fashion. For example, if you wanted to kosher a pot by immersing it in boiling water, you could do a drive by. You  got in your car, then handed your pot to someone  who would drop your pot in a gigantic pot of water on the street, circle around in your car and pick it back up. Then the last morning when the final remnants of the leavened foods had to be burned, there was a smoky pall over the city from the many little fires in every neighborhood. That is something we would never see here in Oakland!

As I prepare the house for Passover, getting rid of the chametz,  I do it in a certain way that I have been doing for years. It puts me in touch with the Jewish women who have prepared their homes for Passover for generations. I remember seeing very old etchings of women cleaning for Passover  in the Jewish museum of Amsterdam.

 My "tradition" is bringing in my housekeeper Vilma and her niece Patty for a day, and the three of us get down and dirty and do a major cleaning. Jeff  brings in the six boxes of our special Passover dishes and utensils which I store in the garage. I chuckle over last year's headlines from the newspapers which cover the dishes. I take out my mother's elegant gold rimmed Rosenthal china that I only use once a year for Seder.  I can't help but think about last year when I had just completed my radiation treatments.  I am filled with gratitude that I can do this holiday preparation even though it is tiring.

It is also a time I think about my mother. She began her Passover preparation a month before the holiday and she did everything, way more than me, from washing the curtains in the bedrooms to polishing the brass doorknobs. Once she turned over her kitchen we would have our meals in the garage. Her Passover Seders were legendary and she had several families who came to her every year treasuring her marvelous food. My mom's matzoh balls were dense, made of matzoh, the size of golf balls. I guess they could be classified as "sinkers." I make my matzoh balls (shhh, don't tell anyone) from one of the boxes I get at Safeway, either Streit's or Manichewitz. They are light, delicious and closer to the size of a  (small) baseball, and definitely "floaters."

The week before Passover I make Jeff crazy. I call it no man's land" because there is not much regular food left, the kitchen is mostly covered for Passover, and Jeff is stuck in a corner in the kitchen trying to figure out what to eat.

The neat thing about this holiday is that every family has its own particular traditions, recipes and interpretations of the customs, but it all seems to work. The important part is gathering around the table with family and friends. My son in law's family has a huge Seder and all the children even the big kids, gets a dollar for finding pieces of  afikomen wrapped in foil hidden all over. My daughter's wonderful father in law, wears a frog hat, has plague finger puppets and has his own funny sayings that he says every year.

This holiday makes us remember, not only the story of the Israelites leaving Egypt, which we are commanded to teach  in every generation, but our own family stories and especially those who are no longer sitting with us at the Seder table. My Uncle Herman used to say the Seder all in Hebrew and us kids thought it took days to finish. My aunt made a special raisin wine for the children. I think of them.  Another relative loved to sing the Passover songs.

Our Seder is a mix of English and Hebrew. One of the best Seder practices I like is if everyone takes the time to bring a little something to share at the Seder, a paragraph even, about some aspect of the story. It is not hard to do with so much available on the internet, just a click away. I learned this from a Seder I went to years ago. It really works well because everyone is more engaged. Our haggadahs are getting worn and the pages where we eat haroset have stains, but I love that too. I suppose I should replace them with something more modern but those books wouldn't feel like "home."  We will be treated this year to Elana and Saul's musical talent!!

I have a special box where I keep the haggadahs and some of the things my daughters made in Hebrew school like decorated matzoh covers as well as the "visual aids" they used to bring to the
Seder. They are precious mementos.  Our Israeli grandchildren are very well versed in the songs and the haggadah which they study in school. They have the week off before Passover as well as during Passover. The entire country, secular and religious, seems to take off and when we were there traffic was crazy as were places to visit like the zoo in Jerusalem. It was filled with families, from Hasidic clans to Ethiopian groups picnicking with Passover food. This was something to see. It was such a mob that I was afraid we would lose one of our kids. Large families "color coded" their children and had them wearing matching shirts. I could understand why.

When Jeff sees me in the midst of all the preparation, he is tempted to go back to Israel for Seder. That might be a plan for next year but I'm sure some part of me would miss all the preparation which puts me in the spirit of the holiday. Happy Passover!!

A Taste of Paris

We are sitting at the airport waiting for our plane to Tel Aviv after wending our way through the maze of custom control then security. It is time to breathe and reflect on the last six days. We had not been to Paris for more than forty years . When we came the first time, we were kids in our twenties. I had blonde hair to my shoulders. I still have the picture of when we left at the airport (Jeff in 70's style plaid pants) with our parents gathered around us saying good bye. Remember the days when your family could bring you to the gate?

 It was my first trip abroad and we were on an American Express two-week blitz through Europe, then we were going to Israel for two weeks.Though some of the sites of Europe were viewed breezing by looking out the bus window, it was a trip I can never forget. We visited London, Rome, Florence, Lucerne and Paris,  a dream come true for me as I had not done very much travel. Our guide told us he was a count and we believed him. He looked a tad aristocratic, albeit a bit run down, but count or not he knew his history.

I’m not sure why in all of our travels over the years we had not been back to Paris. Maybe there was a little of the rumor, ”Parisians are not friendly” or you’ll have to spend $20 for a coke. Anyway we decided to combine Paris this time as we have with other European stops (London, Amsterdam, Madrid) on our way to see our family . It is a great way to adjust to the time and arriving in Israel we are not hit with the full-on jet lag. We had scheduled this trip two years ago but had to cancel because of my cancer treatment so this journey felt like an important milestone.

Because of the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, we were a bit apprehensive but didn’t think too much about anything once we got here, caught up in the bustle and magic of this city. There were some armed police around, otherwise we did not notice too much else in the way of security. Perhaps ignorance is bliss… When we took the train to Normandy, I was concerned that there was no security at the train station before getting on the train or metal detectors or anything. However, what caused me a little chill was the blaring of emergency vehicles.That alternating sound of horns  reminds me of every World War II war movie and Nazi nightmare.

I have to say that Paris is a city that is easy to love. First let’s get rid of the notion that Parisians are not friendly. Everyone we met, from waiters to the concierge in our hotel, to people we asked for directions on the street, was friendly. What is very nice here is that there is no overt tipping. Before I could even hand the bellman who brought our bags to the room some Euros, he was out the door. We only had one experience with a cab driver who took us for a “ride”, but that was it.

                For me, the best part of being in Paris is the ability to walk and discover and then walk more. And we did walk. I had my Fitbit on and some days we hit over seven or eight miles. One can’t describe the feeling of stumbling upon a magnificent edifice, hundreds of years old whether it be an ancient cathedral or a humble home with stables in the courtyard hidden behind a wall. In the United States, even our oldest historical sites are “babies’ compared to the buildings here. Our first hotel was near the Notre Dame. We were in awe of the medieval builders and craftsmen who could construct a cathedral without electricity, modern machinery and cranes. We marveled at this over and over.

                Our first day in Paris we took the Hop on Hop off bus to get our bearings. We visited the Eiffel Tower, the ultimate icon of Paris. It is still awe inspiring. The weather was cool and we were glad to have brought the right clothes; long underwear, warm jackets, hats and gloves. That first afternoon we went to the Musee d’Orsay filled with my favorite Impressionist works. I had selected this museum because it was highly recommended by Trip Advisor and much more compact than the Louvre. I find the walking and stopping in museums to be difficult on my back but I did great in this museum. We saw our fill of Manet and Monet; Degas and Pisarro. Jeff, who doesn’t rank museums as his favorite thing to do, thoroughly enjoyed this museum as well.

                On the second day we had a tour of Le Marais, the old Jewish neighborhood, now very artsy and a treasure of old homes, courtyards, captivating history, boutiques and restaurants. By chance the tour was just us and our guide Corey, from the states, now a French citizen, and it was fantastic. We learned about gargoyles and heard stories from when Paris was occupied by the Nazis. A private tour is a real treat and we were able to ask tons of questions. Corey also was interested in finding out about what it means to “keep kosher,” and he had lots of questions for us.

                Paris boasts more than 250 kosher restaurants. Some are falafel or sushi but compare that to the Bay Area were there currently isn’t one kosher restaurant to go to for a good meal. However, we unfortunately picked two bad restaurants, one a kosher Chinese and one a deli. ( How could a hot pastrami sandwich be  bad?)  Anyway, we did enjoy our share of crepes and loved the baguettes, a little sweeter than our sourdough baguettes.

                We took the train to the Normandy area and were met by our private guide Sylvain Kast at the train station in Bayeux. I had found his name on-line and we had him booked two years ago when we cancelled our plans and were glad to finally meet him. We had an intensive nine hour tour of the D-Day beaches, Utah and Omaha as well as the cemetery which was both sad and inspiring. There was much to learn about this historic invasion and once again we could ask many questions of our extremely knowledgeable guide. At the end of a long day, Sylvain dropped us off at our Bed and Breakfast in Bayeux, a very charming home.

We were only a short distance away from an incredible soaring cathedral. Bayeux is an ancient town with evidence of structures like city walls centuries old which we just came upon strolling around. Though there is a famous tapestry here, we missed it as we had to catch the early train back to Paris. Train travel is really pleasant and I had booked our seats on-line very easily.

                Back in Paris, we moved to a fancy hotel (nice to have IHG hotel points!!), the Grand Hotel Intercontinental directly across from the Paris opera building also a magnificent structure with classical statues decorating the outside of the incredible building. It was convenient as well because we walked there from the Gare St. Lazare (train station.) This hotel is in a bustling area surrounded by department stores such as the venerable Galleries Lafayette, that I enjoyed visiting. We had decadent hot dark chocolate at the Linz chocolate shop. There were too many tempting chocolate shops with colorful Easter eggs in the windows and bakeries with pastel shaded macaroons (yum). The Galleries Lafayette had a separate gourmet food store jammed with everything one could imagine; rows of chocolates, pizza, dim sum, a butcher shop, caviar and slabs of lox and refrigerators of ready to eat food for purchase. It was fun to just cruise through the store. The Intercontinental Hotel was elegant, think the Fairmont and very pricey in every way.

                For Shabbat we went to a local Chabad house for dinner. It was located directly on the Champs Elysees. There were many people from all over and Chabad provided a very nice dinner. Saturday morning we walked to the Grand Synagogue of Paris which was close to our hotel. This synagogue is the nearest to a grand cathedral, Jewish variety, that I have ever seen. There were soaring stained glass windows, incredible chandeliers, an enormous sanctuary, a world class cantor and choir who were definitely not California style. There were not many people in attendance, and we decided we way prefer our cozy synagogue on Park Blvd. in Oakland sans cathedral trimmings. Jeff was honored to be called up to the Torah for an Aliyah and the locals at the synagogue were quite friendly. We stayed the first half of the service until the Rabbi started his sermon in French . That afternoon we took a long walk from our hotel down the Champs Elysees up to the Arc de Triomphe, a fitting way to end our trip to Paris.

               Next chapter...our trip to Israel to see our family.