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THE JEWISH
STAR
VOL 13, NO 15 Q APRIL 11, 2014 / 11 NISAN 5774
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Streit’s the Movie It’s beginning to look a lot like Pesach Preschoolers at the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway had a good time learning about Pesach this week.
My dog ate the afikomen (and other true Pesach horror stories) fleishig meal. The moments that our jaws drop in disbelief, when we shout to ourselves: “How could I have overlooked this? And what do I do now?” Fortunately, or unfortunately (depending on how highly you prioritize entertainment value over someone else’s holiday horror), I’ve got an assortment of Pesach disasters in my family’s history, and in other families who were brave enough to share their tales
First Chinese Seder By Anav Silverman Tazpit News Agency Nearly 100 members of the ancient Jewish community of Kaifeng, China, are expected to attend a first-of-its-kind traditional Passover Seder next Monday. The Seder, sponsored by the Jerusalembased Shavei Israel, will be conducted by 28-year-old Tzuri (Heng) Shi, who made aliyah to Israel from Kaifeng a few years ago with the help of Shavei Israel and completed his formal return to Judaism last year. As part of the preparation for the upcoming Seder, Tzuri was sent to Kaifeng by Continued on page 15
Tzuri (Heng) Shi puts teffilin on a member of the Kaifent Jewish community.
of hilarious anguish. Enjoy them if you will … even if at the expense of the participants who were less than amused in the moment. We begin in 1996. The Ostrow family of Oceanside was sitting around the table for a family seder on the first night of Pesach. Situated under the dining room table – awaiting our crumbs - was Bambi, our beloved 5-year old Rottweiler/German Sheppard. Bambi always seemed fascinated by the seder. From the opening Kiddush through the final strains of Chad Gadya, Bambi would take her rightful spot next to Mom’s chair, only rising during shulchan orech when the food was brought out. Or at least so we thought… My youngest brother, Ryan usually was granted the task of hiding the afikomen. When we all headed into the kitchen to wash for motzei, Ryan would locate the colorful bag containing half of the broken middle matzah and stash it in a dark room somewhere. Perhaps in a drawer, or on the top of his bunk-bed. In all the years, our father never once found it. This, of course, meant gifts for my brothers and I, much to our delight. It was just past 11:45 on seder night when we had finished our delicious meal. The table was Continued on page 14
Shabbat candlelighting 7:11 pm. Shabbat ends 8:20 pm. 72 minute zman 8:45 pm. Shabbat Hagadol Parshat Acharei Mot
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By Lonnie Ostrow We’ve all got at least one of these stories in us. The complex rules and family oriented nature of Pesach lends itself to the inevitable, legendary mishap that only grows in stature over time. The child who finds a hidden hammantash in a sock drawer on seder night. That forgotten candy at the bottom of a tallis bag. The seder mints that were discovered to be shockingly dairy after a
By Malka Eisenberg Michael Levine had been living on the Lower East side for a number of years but one night he noticed the 24 hour workings of a multistory red brick tenement across from the bar where he was working as a DJ. He walked over, peaked in the window and was handed a fresh, still warm, square of matzo. “I was transported back in time,” he told The Jewish Star. “There were rabbis on every floor, everything was clean, there were workers all over.” He had stumbled on the Streit’s matzo factory, a kosher business in the same family and at the same location for more than 90 years. It’s not as if no one know about it — it’s just that no one had seen the potential for a film. Levine directed the as yet unreleased “Streit’s: Matzo and the American Dream,” an independent featurelength documentary about the Streit’s Matzo factory on New York’s Lower East Side. Levine saw a family history intertwined with the Jewish history of the community and a business run on chesed and tradition, with the descendents of the founders working at the same desks, the drawers unemptied, one holding a set of dentures and immigration papers from Ellis Island. He also saw longtime workers, some children of fathers who worked in the factory. “The neighborhood evolved around them but inside it stayed the same; it’s like being transported back in time when you walk into the place.” During the year they make 13 different types of matzo, various flavors, eaten by Jews and non-Jews across the country. “The process adds to Continued on page 16