Chapter 32: PESACH
God's Little Drop of Water
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The cleaning of the kitchen was a prelude to the more-thorough cleaning which soon began for Pesach, or Passover.
Pesach was a very important religious holiday denoting the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. God had commanded them to leave Egypt quickly. There was therefore not enough time to properly bake bread. The Jewish people instead took with them unleavened bread. To commemorate this sacred event, the entire house had to be properly cleaned in order to be certain there was no chametz. Chametz was anything prepared with a grain such as wheat or barley. This meant that Ima and Abba cleaned the entire kitchen from top to bottom. They removed every plate, dish, cup, saucer, glass, mug, and utensil and washed them thoroughly. The cupboards, shelves, and drawers were thoroughly cleaned as well before the dishes and utensils were replaced. Once a drawer or cupboard had been cleaned, Ima covered it with a towel or used a piece of tape to tape it shut, so that no one could open it.
This meant removing everything from the refrigerator as well. It was then thoroughly cleaned and the food returned to it.
It also meant that Taliya, Yair, and Yaroni had to clean their bedrooms just as thoroughly as the kitchen and other rooms had been cleaned. It was a great deal of work.
The effort was well rewarded, however, because on the first night of Pesach a great dinner was held, called a seder. Seder meant “order”. It was called this because there was a specific order in which the sacred items of the dinner were to be enjoyed according to the haggadah, which was a very special book describing the journey of the Jewish people out of Egypt and into their time of freedom.
The whole family gathered at the home of Abba’s mother and father in Netanya, a beachfront city about thirty minutes’ drive north of Tel Aviv. Taliya and her brothers were very excited because they would be spending the night there. Savta had prepared many delicious dishes to be enjoyed during the seder. Taliya particularly enjoyed the part of the story when each person would take a long green chive and they would playfully swat one another with it while singing one of the many traditional Pesach songs.
Everyone enjoyed the blessings and sang songs, eating and blessing according to the haggadah.
The adults drank red wine. At the conclusion of the seder, just before midnight, a glass of red wine was left on the table for Elijah the Prophet to drink, should he arrive, and the front door was opened as well, in order to welcome him. Taliya and her brothers did their utmost to stay up late, waiting for Elijah. In the morning, they checked the glass to see if the wine had been drunk. It had! The glass was nearly empty!
One of Taliya’s favorite parts of Pesach was the matzah, the giant squares of crunchy bread which was more like a large saltine cracker than a slice of bread. Taliya loved putting her favorite chocolate spread on the matzah. Eating it was very messy, however, and Taliya usually wound up with chocolate all over her face and hands. As far as Taliya was concerned, the more chocolate there was, the better.
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During Pesach, the children were out of school. This presented a perfect opportunity to travel. Taliya drove with her parents and brothers to Eilat, a town in the south of Israel which was situated on the Red Sea. It was the southernmost city in all of Israel, famous for its beautiful beaches and many wonderful restaurants and hotels. The desert was renown for its beauty and the coral reefs of the Red Sea provided excellent opportunity for scuba diving. There were also glass-bottomed boat trips.
Taliya and her family met several of Ima’s siblings in Eilat, along with their children. Taliya adored the idea of camping on the beach, sitting next to a bonfire, and roasting marshmallows.
The smell of food cooking over an open fire combined with the smell of the sea filled her with an unparalleled joy.
That night, when everyone was asleep, a mighty wind storm arrived. The wind was so strong, it pulled the tent pegs completely out of the ground and sent the tents flying down the beach. Everyone woke up to find themselves lying on their blankets upon the sand, just as they had been, but now with no shelter whatsoever, and in the midst of a fierce wind. The men jumped to their feet and ran down the beach, running and running as fast as they could, until they caught the tents and brought them back.
Ima and her sisters gathered the children and bade them sit together, giving them a flashlight so they could see, and urging them to keep calm. But as best as Taliya could tell, the children were already calm. It was the adults who were in a panic.
Taliya found the whole episode quite funny. It was a comical sight to see their tents strewn about by the wind. All in all, it was great fun.
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