5776
Vol. XI No. 24 | 11 Nisan, 5776 April 19, 2016 | njjewishnews.com
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NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS
THE JEWISH FEDERATION IN THE HEART OF NEW JERSEY
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Passover How to choose a Haggada
W
Happy
Julie Wiener MyJewishLearning via JTA
ith thousands of published Haggadas available for purchase, choosing the one that is best for your seder can be overwhelming. For an overview of the many possibilities, we recommend How Is This Haggadah Different? Here are some things you might want to consider when selecting a Haggada:
Cost Remember, you’ll need a copy of the Haggada for each guest (or every two guests, if people are comfortable sharing). Unless you plan to buy one copy and then do some extensive photocopying — we should note, that’s illegal for copyrighted publications — you’ll have to multiply the book’s price by the number of guests. There are also many free downloadable PDF versions online, like those found at mezuzahstore.com and chabad.org, or you could choose to make your own.
Length
Technology The first two days of Passover are yom tov, when traditional Jewish observance forbids activities like writing and using electronics. If this is not an issue for you, however, a number of Haggadas are now available as e-books and apps, usually at lower prices than printed versions (with the added advantage that you will not need to find a place to store them after the seder). While many are digital versions of printed Haggadas, others incorporate multimedia features. A free one from JewishBoston.com has music and other materials in addition to the text. One on iTunes has text and music, plus interactive commentary and games.
Beauty
If your guests are expecting the traditional seder, Haggadas come in an array of designs and styles, complete with Hebrew, they might be uncom- with art ranging from contemporary to ancient. The fortable with an abridged Haggada, an LGBTQ downside of a gorgeous tome, Haggada, or one that emphasizes contemporary however, is that there’s a good examples of oppression and slavery. On the other chance one of your guests will hand, if many are first-time seder-goers or lack the spill wine all over it. (That can patience for a really long seder, something like The happen with any Haggada, 30-Minute Seder or a book that relates the Exodus but you probably won’t mind to modern social issues might be just the thing. so much if it’s inexpensive or more about function than aesthetic.) Children For a beautiful (and modSince children generally don’t like sitting still at the ern) Haggada, check out the table for long, we recommend an abbreviated or New American Haggadah child-oriented Haggada. There are many great chiland The Bronfman Haggadah. The Syzk dren’s and “family” Haggadas that engage adults as Haggadah, created in the 1930s, features illustrations well as kids. Visit Kveller.com for a list of the best ■ in the style of illuminated manuscripts. Haggadas for kids. For the older kids, think about acting out skits from the seder. Julie Wiener is managing editor of MyJewishLearning.
Manalapan, NJ 732-446-3000 • sonsofisrael.com Rabbi Robert S. Pilavin • David Binder, President
Chag Sameach
Wishing you a happy & healthy Passover from Rabbi Melinda F. Panken, Cantor Wayne S. Siet, President Bonnie Kass-Viola, Temple Administrator Karen Silverman and our entire congregation.
Temple Shaari Emeth
400 Craig Road, Manalapan (732) 462-7744 www.shaariemeth.org
H A P P Y PA S S O V E R JEWISH WAR VETERANS OF THE USA MONMOUTH-OCEAN CO. COUNCIL POST COMMANDERS Stanley Shapiro 732-493-2948 Jersey Shore Post 125 David Kessler 732-367-3313 Ocean Co Post 178 Bernard Weinstein 732-363-8700 Freehold Post 359 Alvin Brown 732-972-7893 Englishtown-Covered Bridge
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Tom Renna 732-916-3565 Lt Seth Dvorin -Marlboro Post 972
Connect with Jewish women to effect change. For more informa on about HADASSAH chapters in our area, contact the HADASSAH Southern New Jersey office at 732-643-1100 or email southernnj@hadassah.org
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Passover Passover essence inside the box
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Edmon J. Rodman JTA LOS ANGELES — Can the essence of Passover fit for and pride in a tradition that can be felt without into a box? Fans of Manischewitz and Streit’s will having to be incorporated in everyday behavior” — Schlesinger said one question driving the project undoubtedly answer, “Yes, in a matza box.” But a successful Kickstarter campaign called was: “How do we get Torah to more people and into Hello Mazel aims to reinvent that box, promising more people’s hands?” As an answer, The Kitchen’s crew created a Haga package filled with Passover-related “Jewish awesomeness” that will be delivered to your door (or gada, a prototype of which Schlesinger and others successfully tested at their own seders last year. someone else’s). “We reinvented and re-engineered a way of tellThe project was a smash on Kickstarter, to the ing the Passover story, which is what the seder and tune of more than $152,021 with 1,395 backers. Investors who pledged a minimum of $45 were to Haggada are meant to do,” he said. The Haggada could serve as either a supplement receive a box in April containing “three twists on the tastes of Passover, a Haggadah like none you’ve ever or a replacement, Schlesinger added. “For a seder newbie it cerused, and a seder plate that tainly would be an appropriate is not a seder plate,” said the first-level, Haggada-like experienigmatic pitch. ence,” he said. Thinking inside the box, I As for the seder plate, its wondered what would go into design has them reaching a box of my own creation. creatively, looking for a way Perhaps a jar filled with the to present something that is essence of full-strength maror “heavy, expensive, and beauto revive them to the awe of tiful” in a box that’s 10 by 12 liberation. Also a seder clock; by four inches (and also needs one that doesn’t mark the to contain the rest of the offertime but rather the steps of ings). the seder, so that people who Long accustomed to my had wandered off could find table’s round seder plate, I their place. Also, something began to picture how a new to clean wine stains from my shirt — that alone would be Investors who pledged a minimum of $45 will form might add difference receive a Hello Mazel box containing “three to this night of distinctions. worth 45 bucks. Would it be in the form of a I already have plenty of twists on the tastes of Passover.” Screenshot by Edmon J. Rodman hand? Would it come like a jigpackaged Passover foods saw puzzle for those seated at that twist my insides, a box the table to solve? of Haggadas I only use once a year, and so many seder plates we have a “discusThe food items are “kosher style,” so Schlesinger sion” each Passover on which one to use. So I was acknowledges the box “is not going to be for everycurious about what Hello Mazel was really offering. one.” He also realizes its limitations. He isn’t sure, Was it basically just a Jewish take on the trendy sub- for instance, that the hope of opening the box at the scription boxes of artisanal what-have-you? Or was seder table and “it releases magic” is a reasonable this a box that could also feed the soul? expectation, Schlesinger told me. What is reasonable, Most of all, I wondered: What could a box filled he said, is that it will create “some inspiration.” with Passover stuff do to actually bring Jews together? “What about putting an inflatable rabbi in the To get a better understanding of the Hello Mazel’s box?” I asked, jokingly wondering what kind of Passover box — one of four promised packages that magic I needed to keep everyone’s attention at my Hello Mazel plans to deliver this year — I spoke with own seder table. Yoav Schlesinger, executive director of The Kitchen, Unfazed, Schlesinger, whose father is a rabbi, the San Francisco-based, rabbinically-led spiritual liked the idea — he said it reminded him of the popcommunity that is putting the project together. ular novelty known as “snakes in a can.” The Kitchen, which describes itself as “a religious Yet I still wondered how even a brilliant new Hagstartup,” says on its website that Judaism is about gada could hold everyone’s interest — especially that “provoking awe and purpose.” of a generation used to doing practically everything To that end, they had to “rethink what might go online. in a box of Jewish stuff,” Schlesinger explained. As a Schlesinger responded that Judaism — contrary goal, they wanted something that was “unexpected to recent attempts to project it into virtual commuand inspirational,” he said. nities — has always been about the senses, the “tacFor now, the item-by-item contents of this tile” experience of “touch, feel, and taste.” “highly designed” box remain known only to The “What is a moment we can share?” he asked. “Not Kitchen. However, speaking about the box’s mix just a digital space”; how do we “recapture the expeof food, ritual object, and text, Schlesinger says he riential moment?” hopes the food will provide an entry point to the Opening a box — whether filled with objects Jewish content, and the Jewish content will provide from Hello Mazel or from our own imaginations — a “framework in which to understand why the foods might just be the way. n are relevant.” Moving beyond “symbolic ethnicity” — a term Edmon J. Rodman is a JTA columnist who writes on coined by sociologist Hebert Gans describing a nos- Jewish life from Los Angeles. Contact him at edmotalgic relationship with Judaism that relies on a “love jace@gmail.com.
24 April 19, 2016 o NJJN
Passover Jerusalem, maybe next year: Bookings see decline TEL AVIV — By mid-March, Gil Azoulay would have expected his hotels would be 80 percent booked for Passover. Instead, Azoulay — who runs a chain of boutique hotels — had roughly half his rooms still available. Azoulay opened Smart Hotels — a mini-chain of three small, midrange hotels that focus on providing personal attention to guests — in May 2014. Two months later, war broke out in Gaza, stunting Israel’s tourism industry. The months that followed saw a string of terror attacks in Jerusalem. Then, after a lull, a wave of stabbing and shooting attacks began last September and has yet to ease. The conflict has taken a toll on Azoulay’s business, driving down Passover reservations 30 percent. Within the tourism industry, he’s not alone. “The whole city is experiencing this decline,” he said of Jerusalem. “If once it was sold out for Passover and hol hamo’ed (the holiday’s intermediate days), that’s happening less now.” The Passover season is a significant income source for Jerusalem hotels. Bookings in April 2014 and 2015, the months of Passover, accounted for
Ben Sales JTA nearly 10 percent of the total hotel income for western Jerusalem in those years, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics. Hotels across Jerusalem have seen a fall in Passover bookings this year, according to Arieh Sommer, director of the Israel Hotel Association. While he estimated that hotels would have about 85 percent of their rooms booked ahead of Passover in a normal year, this year he says the average could be as low as 70 percent. It’s a drop that began with the July 2014 Gaza war, known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge. Prior to the conflict, in April 2014 — the month of Passover — Jerusalem hotels took in about $40 million. April 2015 saw a 10 percent decline, to approximately $36 million. “Since Protective Edge, there have been problems in incoming tourism to Israel,” Sommer said. “We saw that after Protective Edge, tourism rose again. But because of [recent] difficulties in Jerusalem, there is a slowdown in tourists coming to Israel.” Violence isn’t the only factor hurting Jerusa-
The exterior of the Inbal Jerusalem Hotel
Photo by Pinybal/Wikimedia Commons
lem’s hotels. Apartment rentals, booked through companies like Airbnb, have cut into hotels’ market share since long before the Gaza war. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, Jerusalem hotels peaked at 10 million foreign guests in 2010. Since
Continued on next page
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Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. Representing the people of the 6th District of New Jersey
EL AL cooks for Pesach
L AL Israel Airlines is helping passengers celebrate Passover by adding flights worldwide to accommodate holiday traffic. As the world’s only kosher airline, EL AL will serve Passover meals in accordance with dietary laws under Rabbinic supervision. Catering for EL AL flights from New York (JFK/ Newark) is provided by Borenstein, a daughter company of EL AL, with dishes prepared by executive chef Steven Weintraub. Award-winning chef and TV personality Moshe Segev, who oversees catering operations for EL AL flights departing Israel, has provided his favorite kosher recipes for Passover.
Add peppers and garlic and mix. Add tomatoes and cook until peppers are soft. Add spices (paprika, salt, turmeric, white pepper). Mix well. Add three quarters of herbs (coriander and parsley). Place fish carefully near each other. Pour on water and cook for 20 minutes. Sprinkle remaining herbs on fish. Cover pot and continue cooking for 10 minutes.
ORANGE SOUP Paid for by Pallone For Congress, Warren Goode, Treasurer
CHRAIME FISH
Have a Happy and Healthy Passover Steven Berkowitz, M.D. Roy Mittman, M.D. Arthur Vasen, M.D., Ph.D. Kenneth Chern, M.D. Haralambos Demetriades, M.D. Arthur Mark, M.D. Christopher Spagnuola, M.D. Hoan-Vu Nguyen, M.D. Aron Green, M.D. Frederick DePaola, M.D.
Sunil Thacker, M.D. Kevin McDaid, M.D. Joel Fechisin, M.D. Paul Haynes II, M.D. Praveen Yalamanchili, M.D. Robert Pannullo, M.D. Adam Meyers, D.O Keiron Greaves, M.D. Vinay Chopra, M.D. Sudha Garla, M.D. George Fahoury, D.P.M.
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3 pieces fish fillet (salmon, locus, or any other fish preferred) 1/2 C. olive oil 7 red peppers (sliced slim) 9 sweet tomatoes, peeled and sliced into cubes 9 garlic cloves, chopped 1 C. chopped coriander 1 C. chopped parsley 1 heaping Tbsp. Moroccan paprika 1 heaping Tbsp. salt 1 tsp. turmeric 1 tsp. white pepper 2 C. water Handful of toasted pine nuts
2 lg. pumpkins 2 lg. sweet potatoes 1 carrot 6 1/2 C. water (more hot water can be added at the end if a thinner soup is preferred) Add salt and ground white pepper to taste Cut vegetables into 2x2 centimeter cubes. Steam vegetables in a pot with a little butter. Add water, cover pot, and cook until vegetables are completely soft. Drain vegetables and keep cooking water aside. Blend cooked vegetables until texture is smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste (Segev recommends adding more pepper to balance sweet potato sweetness). If the soup is too thick, add some cooking water saved earlier until the right texture is reached.
For more information and to book flights, visit elal.com or call 800-223-6700. Learn more about promotions, activities, special events, and travel tips to Israel by following EL AL on Facebook, ELALIsraelAirlinesUSA, Heat a flat and wide pot with olive oil (high heat). and Twitter, @ELALUSA.
Bookings from previous page then, there’s been a steady decline. “There was an assumption that the city was collapsing,” said Ilanit Melchior, director of tourism for the Jerusalem Development Authority. “The bottom line is that there was a decline, but it was not dramatic. During the intifada of the 2000s, the city proved it knows how to recover fast. There’s terror all over the world, not just in Jerusalem.” And not all Jerusalem hotels are suffering. The Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem, which opened in 2014, has reported a 200 percent increase in bookings over last year. General manager Guy Kleiman attributes the rise to the hotel’s brand name and the praise in reviews. The Inbal, another five-star hotel, expects bookings to remain relatively stable this year. Alex Herman, Inbal’s vice president of sales and marketing, said that many of its Passover guests are repeat visitors to Israel who remain relatively unfazed by the unrest. “This is a population that comes,” Herman said. “A lot of people have family here. Life goes on, life is OK.”
26 April 19, 2016 o NJJN
None of the hotels contacted by JTA have advised guests to avoid certain areas, nor changed their security protocols in any way. Kleiman echoed Herman, saying the Passover tourists in Jerusalem are often repeat visitors, and they know to avoid more dangerous areas. “People are mature enough to know where to go, where not to go,” Kleiman said. “People who come to Jerusalem in these times know the city.” Azoulay expects his hotels to withstand the decline, though he hopes calm will return soon and tourists will again feel comfortable walking the streets. Like other hoteliers, he’s also counting on Israelis to support the Jerusalem hotels by choosing to spend Passover in the capital. While overall hotel bookings have declined in Israel in recent years, domestic Israeli tourism is on a steady upswing. Internal Israeli hotel bookings increased 9 percent between 2014 and 2015. “We want the Israeli tourist to come, to reassure him that there’s nothing to worry about,” he said. “We need them. They should come to Jerusalem.” n
Passover I celebrate Passover because my parents couldn’t
M
Olga Chernov-Gitin Kveller via JTA in Ukraine. (When I was little, there were no matza bakeries in Dnepropetrovsk.) That morning, as I was getting my tortilla out of the fridge, I mentioned to Will that once Passover
first person starts, I won’t be eating any tortillas and we giggled about the difficulty of spreading peanut butter and jelly on matza without breaking it. Somewhat thoughtfully, Will remarked: “You’ll probably be really sick of matza by the end of Pesach! Aaaaaand, you can’t have pancakes!” Even though I was already risking being late for work, I decided that the moment was right to share my thoughts on Passover with my son since he had brought it up.
Photo courtesy iStock
y son is four and a half, a delightful age where he is still full of sometimes grammatically incorrect sentences that provide a glimpse into the magical and unique way that children see the world. In everything, my husband and I look for teaching moments. Our policy is to tell the truth, even if we need to simplify it a little bit. Like most first-generation Americans, he hears the words “when I was little…” from us a lot. It’s followed by a comparison of how different his American childhood is from our Soviet childhoods: everything from toys and food, to freedom of religion and celebrating diversity. Once we went to our local Chabad for a model matza baking. At the end, the kids received real shmura matza and the rabbi even mentioned to us that it comes from Dnepropetrovsk,
“You know what? freedom. Freedom of my You’re right, by the end, Jewish people from slavI do miss real bread,” ery, freedom of refugees/ I said. “But you know Americans by choice what else? I’m really like us to be Jewish, and happy when I eat matza. most recently, freedom It reminds me that I’m of self-determination free to eat it and free to for Jews in Ukraine, celebrate Pesach. Did who joined Ukrainiyou know that when I ans of all backgrounds was little, we weren’t to proclaim that they, allowed to?” too, want to live free of Aha! I saw the spark corruption and outside of interest in his eyes; my political influence. Olga Chernov-Gitin cue to continue. My son is the new “When I was litgeneration that will not tle, and even when know political oppresGrandma Yana was little, we weren’t sion and religious suppression. He allowed to celebrate Pesach and eat is the pure generation that hears matza,” I said. “In the Soviet Union, about things so unthinkable to him the government didn’t want Jews to that he probably assumes we exagcelebrate their holidays. We couldn’t gerate. Watching him grow up free go to the library and learn to make and teaching him what it means to matza. And Jews couldn’t even speak be Jewish is an honor and a joy. It is Yiddish in public. Can you imagine something I do openly, buying Jewish what it would be like if you were only books in Barnes & Noble and celeallowed to speak Russian at home and brating holidays in public spaces. never, ever outside?” These are such simple things, yet so Confused surprise flashed across unthinkable for my parents and grandmy son’s face. parents. They managed to pass on “Is that why everyone only remem- what little they knew out of sight and bers some words in Yiddish but not with some apprehension. I eat matza all?” he asked. “And is that why you for them, to be reminded that Jewish want me to speak Russian? So I don’t freedom comes with a heavy price. But forget it like they forgot Yiddish?” in today’s America, passing on the sigBingo! A connection had been nificance of that freedom is both my made. It was imperfect, but I’ll take it. luxury and my responsibility. n I came back to eating matza. Yes, I Olga Chernov-Gitin is a first-generation miss hametz by about day five. But the truth is, Passover is one of my favorite American who lives with her husband holidays precisely because it celebrates and two children in Conshohocken, Pa.
WISHING YOU A
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A sweet and happy Passover
Passover Why shmura matza is so expensive Uriel Heilman JTA
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Come Join Our Community for Pesach Services
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t costs more per pound than filet mignon. It might be burnt or taste like cardboard. It’s so delicate it often breaks in the box, rendering it unfit for Passover ritual use. Yet every year, Jews from Brooklyn to B’nei Brak line up to fork over their hard-earned money to buy boxes and boxes of the stuff. This isn’t your regular box of Streit’s matza. We’re talking, of course, about handmade shmura matza: the artisanal, disc-shaped matzas considered extra special because the ingredients are “guarded” against leavening, or hametz, not just from the time the wheat is ground into flour, but from before the wheat is even harvested. “Shmura” is Hebrew for guarded. The extra level of scrutiny — and the labor-intensive process required to make handcrafted matza — is largely what accounts for its high price: anywhere from $20 to $60 for a single pound. “The amount of hours of labor going into this between me and my staff is incomparable,” said Yisroel Bass, who runs a farm in Goshen, NY, that produces organically grown shmura matza ($34 per pound for regular shmura, $37 for spelt). “Renting out a bakery costs a lot of money — the space and the staff. Equipment breaks every year. Every farm has its expenses, and organic farms end up having more overhead. We can’t buy the synthetic fertilizer; we have manure,” Bass said. “And God forbid I have a bad year and the rabbi comes and says the wheat is no good, I just spent a whole lot of time and money on a product nobody wants. The cost has to reflect that.”
It takes about 20 seconds in a 1,300-degree, coaland-wood-fired oven to bake shmura matza to perfection. Photos by Uriel Heilman
Despite its price — and, some say, its taste — there’s a thriving market for handmade shmura matza (there’s also machine-made shmura, which is cheaper and usually square but more strictly scrutinized than regular matza). Many observant Jews won’t use anything other than handmade shmura matza on their seder table. Some won’t eat nonshmura anytime during Passover. The same Jews who light expensive olive oil menoras on Hanukka rather than wax candles or buy premium etrogs for Sukkot will lay out extra cash before Passover to buy handmade shmura matza. (The practice of going above and beyond is known as hiddur mitzva, beautifying the commandment.)
Congregation B’nai Israel - Rumson Everyone Welcome! Erev Pesach: Friday, April 22 – 8:00 am (Fast of First Born Minyan) First Day: Saturday, April 23 – 9:30 am Seventh Day: Friday, April 29 – 9:30 am Eighth Day: Saturday, April 30 – 9:30 am (Yizkor)
Cantor Dov Goldberg Joel Weissglass, President Emilie Kovit-Meyer, Executive Director
www.cbirumson.org 171 Ridge Road Rumson, NJ (732) 842-1800
Wishing you a happy & healthy Passover Temple Shalom of Aberdeen Laurence P. Malinger, Rabbi Sarah Zemel, Cantor 5 Ayrmont Ln. Aberdeen, NJ 07747 (732) 566-2621 www.templeshalomnj.org
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Temple Beth Shalom 108 Freehold Road Manalapan, New Jersey 07726 732-446-1200 Ira Rothstein, Rabbi Jason Rosenman, Cantor Ruth Katz Green, Cantor Emerita Karen Ross, Executive Director Nancy Shechter, Education Director
Passover
NJ Jewish News Staff
A Zissen Pesach Happy Passover from your friends at
Shmura matza is inspected for quality and adherence to kosher standards before it is boxed.
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plucked after the kernels start to harden but before they sprout new shoots. Kosher supervisors monitor the grain even as it’s growing to make sure the wheat isn’t sprouting. From the time it is picked until being milled months later, the wheat must be guarded and stored in a climate-controlled environment. Too moist, it could become hametz. Too dry, it will fail to bake properly. At the Yiddish Farm in upstate New York, Bass says he uses fans and computer monitoring to bring the moisture level down to the desired 11-12 percent level. After the wheat is milled into flour — also under close supervision — the baking process may n begin.
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“For the consumer, it is an opportunity to purchase the only sacred food that we have today in our faith,” said Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld of Ohev Sholom synagogue in Washington, DC. “It is a bargain. Buy less brisket and more shmura matza.” Mitchell Weitzman, a lawyer from Baltimore, says shmura matza has sentimental value. “There is just a sense of authenticity about having shmura matza on the table,” Weitzman said. “It’s a feeling more than anything else — certainly more than serving up Passover-style Fruit Loops the next morning.” Others say they like the taste and eat it year round, stocking up right after Passover when the price drops dramatically owing to reduced demand. “I keep a box of shmura matza in the trunk of my car,” said Tali Aronsky, a public relations doyenne who lives in Israel. “Keeps crispy in all weather and great in a pinch.” Religious Jews consider shmura matza baked after midday on the day before Passover — known as “matzot mizva” — as especially meritorious to eat, and the matza is priced accordingly. At the Satmar Bakery in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, a pound of the Passover eve-baked stuff retails for $60. The line of customers at the Rutledge Street store usually snakes around the block. The Satmar Bakery employs a number of stringencies rare even in the world of shmura matza. It harvests its wheat in Arizona, where the dry climate helps guard against accidental leavening (moisture precipitates leavening). Matza farmers in the Northeast typically harvest their wheat crop in May or June — around the Shavuot holiday (also called Hag Habikurim, which means Festival of the First Fruits). The wheat is
Wishing a Happy & Healthy Passover to you and your family!
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