sarah in nyc

 The very first Passover that was celebrated in Egypt the night before the Jews were liberated is known in Rabbinic literature as Pesach Mitzrayim/ Passover in Egypt. That first Passover was celebrated in two tenses as it were, in the present and also anticipating the future to the redemption of the next day and the future retelling of the story. Every Passover since then is celebrated in three tenses--- in the past remembering that very first Passover, in the present-- the Passover we are currently celebrating and also our future redemption. Remembering Passover of the past isn't just remembering the first Egypt Passover. It is also remembering Passovers from both our personal and our historical past.   I had classmates whose father was a concentration camp survivor. He used to put on his striped concentration camp uniform as he began retelling the story of the exodus from Egypt.  My father, who was SO particular about how Hebrew was pronounced used to chant one of ...

 There are many tasks that need to be taken care of between now and sundown Friday. I tackled some of them. There were a few silver pieces that I had forgotten to kasher.  I just used a smaller saucepan and a slotted serving spoon for the boiling and removal tools. The little footed cordial cups had belonged to my husband's Uncle Irving. The tomato server and the berry spoon had belonged to our dear bachelor uncle  Father Blute. He wasn't actually related by blood but over the decades of friendship he had become our bachelor uncle. The pierced cake server was a gift I gave to my parents. I polished our Seder plate. I began work on desserts. I began with the simplest, chocolate covered matza. I made these for my great niece and nephew who are coming for the second Seder. My youngest is nut allergic and has been unable to eat the fabulous flourless chocolate torte that my mother began making in the mid 60s. The recipe was given to my mother by Mildred Jacobs who was a reall...

 Wednesday we drove home from Bingo and then the real work began. I would like you to meet my soup-pot. It holds twenty six quarts. My shiny pot was a replacement for a pot very much like this one. My father purchased a sixteen quart pot very similar to this black graniteware pot at Raymond's in Quincy. I have vague memories of being with my father when he purchased the pot. My father began using the pot to make chicken soup for Pesach in the early 1960s until his death. I inherited the pot after he died. Two years ago after straining the last of the Passover chicken soup I noticed that the enamel had worn away at the bottom of the pot. it was time to get a new passover soup pot. I recall that I ordered the new pot before Passover ended and it arrived while we were still in passover mode. I just looked for big pot...and I ended up getting a pot that was 26 quarts instead of the more manageable 16 quarts.  Please forgive that digression, ( if you are from Boston that digression...