Virtual Passover Discussion Question: Spring Cleaning

Passover can be viewed as an opportunity for a spring cleaning for the soul. What do you want to cleanse or remove from your life this Passover?

Passover has a fun tradition that embodies this idea: it is called “the search for chametz.” Chametz means leavened bread. During Passover, we give up all leavened products, eating matzo instead of these “puffy” foods. The word matzo derives from the Hebrew term for “drain out,” and consists of just flour, salt, and oil. Chametz, however, includes all of the extras—yeast, sugar, eggs, etc. Giving up chametz and eating matzo helps us focus on the basics in our lives and reflect on our ongoing journeys from slavery to freedom. You can read more about this search here.

 

Kids: Have you ever found anything interesting or meaningful while cleaning?

Virtual Passover Discussion Question: Basics and Extras

What are your basics in your life? What are your extras?

Matzo is a very simple food. The word “matzo” in Hebrew means to “drain out”. Food at its most basic. Only flour and water, oil and salt. Let’s compare the ingredients used to make matzo with those used to make 3 other traditional Jewish foods Hamataschen, Sufgonyot, and Challah.

As you can see, matzo is made from only the most basic ingredients. From this baseline, extras can be added transforming these simple ingredients into many extraordinary dishes. While these extras can be nice, they are not essential. As the story of Exodus teaches us, with only the basic ingredients matzo was able to keep the children of Israel alive while they were fleeing slavery. Eating matzo makes us think about the basics in life. What do you really need to live your life?

Kids & Adults: What do you really need in your life? What do you really need to live your life?

Kids & Adults: What are the basics in your life? What are your extras?

Matzo Stack

Matzo Ingredients
Flour
Water
Oil
Salt

Challah

Challah Ingredients
Flour
Water
Oil
Salt

Yeast
Honey
Eggs

Sufganiyot

Sufganiyot Ingredients
Flour
Water
Oil
Salt

Yeast
Sugar
Eggs
Butter
Jelly

Hamantaschen

Hamantashen Ingredients
Flour
Water
Oil
Salt

Sugar
Eggs
Wine
Vanilla extract
Almond extract
Baking powder
Jelly

 

Virtual Passover Discussion Question: Your Promised Land

What represents your Promised Land? What is freedom to you?

During Passover, we celebrate the story of the children of Israel seeking freedom in the Promised Land. But what does being free really mean to each of us?

Kids: You may feel really free during summer vacation, summer camp, sleepovers, walking your dog, or attending a sporting event. When do you feel most free?

Adults: What does freedom look like to you? When are you truly free? On vacation? Engaging in a special family activity? Cooking dinner with friends? Going for a long hike? Is freedom just having unscheduled time? Do you have a favorite activity when you feel most free in your mind and spirit?

Miriam and Elijah Glasses for a Virtual Seder

For any easy decorative Mirriam or Elijah glass, use a marker to draw draw on a plastic cup.

Decorating the Miriam and Elijah glasses for your seder table is just that easy!  Oil-Based Sharpies and a couple of wine glasses are really all you need to create these iconic glasses for your seder table at Passover.  Feel free to use our custom templates or even create your own look.  Make sure to have some q-tips and rubbing alcohol handy just in case, to erase any mistakes as you’re decorating. Also, leave the glass to cure for 24-48 hours before their use.  The Miriam and Elijah glasses are very easy to make – you might even want to make sure to have extra glasses on hand should you want to customize one for each guest joining your seder.

Young children can delight in creating these on plastic cups! Just follow the same directions with plastic cups instead of glasses.

Materials

  • Clear Wine Glass (white wine glass preferably)
  • Sharpie Oil-Based Markers (fine point) (these will also be used for DIY Seder Plate)
  • Rubbing Alcohol
  • Q-Tips (handy in removing excess paint)
  • Downloadable Images: Miriam & Elijah (also featured at bottom of this post)
  • Tape
  • Scissors
Miriam-and-Elijah-Glasses-materials-2

Before you begin: Wipe down outside of glass with alcohol swab.

Step 1:

Download image here (link) and cut out along dotted lines. Wrap image around inside of cup so that image is facing out. Wipe down outside of glass with alcohol swab.

Miriam-and-Elijah-Glasses-miriam

Step 2:

Trace image with Oil Based Sharpie

miriam-elijah-glasses-step-2

Step 3:

Go ahead and paint in your design on outside of glass – be creative! Leave 1” rim around outside glass unpainted. Remove design from inside of glass and slip under base of glass to paint.

Step 4:

Let paint dry 24-48 hours. These beautiful wine glasses should be washed only by hand.

miriam-elijah-glasses-step-3

Enjoy your new handmade Miriam and Elijah glasses at your Passover Seder!

Miriam-and-Elijah-Glasses-final-2

STENCILS: (click on the graphics below to view larger)

glass_elijah_v2 glass_miriam_v2

DIY Seder Plate for a Virtual Seder

For any easy DIY seder plate, you can use a pen to draw on a paper plate.

Six traditional items are arranged on the seder plate, which is the focal point of the Passover Table. These include Maror (Bitter Herbs), Charoset (Mortar), Karpas (a vegetable), Zeroah (Lamb Shank), Beitzah (hard boiled egg), Chazeret (more bitter herbs). Each item has a special place on the seder plate, and each has a special significance to the retelling of the story of the exodus from Egypt.

Typically, seder plates are round with room for the word or image “Pesach” in the middle. Using a rectangle seder plate, you can create a non-traditional and modern seder plate with a spot for each of the 6 items. This is so simple to do! Make sure you date the bottom of the plate so this timeless piece can be used and remembered for many years to come.

Materials:

  • Serving Platter: Rectangle Ceramic Plate can be purchased at any home store…we found ours at Target. Just make sure it is large enough to hold all the seder items and bowls if you wish. Use small bowls or espresso saucers.
  • Sharpie Oil-Based Markers (fine point) (these will also be used for Miriam and Elijah Glass Activity)
  • Image guides (see below)
DIY Seder Plate Materials

Step 1:  

Wipe down paintable area with alcohol pad.  Check out our templates here to use as a reference, or create or find your own pattern.

Step 2:

Paint words and or images on bowls/plates or directly on plate. Outline first with black oil sharpie and use alcohol swab with qtip to remove excess paint. Then use Sharpies to color in images and decorate seder plate with all the items that appear on the plate for your Passover seder.

DIY Seder Plate Step 2

Step 3:

Let paint dry for 24-48 hours.

DIY Seder Plate Step 3

Here’s another version we made with small plates that fit into a larger tray. Use your imagination when you choose your dishes to make your seder plate.

DIY Seder Plate Final

TEMPLATES (click images below to view larger):

DIY Seder Plate Stencils DIY Seder Plate Stencils Hebrew DIY Seder Plate Stencil Blank

Virtual Passover Craft: Create a Simple Placemat

During this time of social distancing people are looking for activities to stimulate their mind and touch their soul. Here is a quick craft that you can make to spruce up your virtual Passover Seder.

You can make a placemat by taking a piece of paper and using a pen or marker to decorate it is as you see fit. This is a great easy craft for people of all ages. If you have glue and glitter, paint or stickers you can use these to add extra flare to the placemats.

If you want to keep your placemats to use again, you can save them and laminate them at a later date.

Menu Ideas for a Virtual Passover Seder

With people self-isolating and trying to avoid unnecessarily leaving the house, getting the ingredients to cook for the Passover Seder can be difficult. We have put together a menu that allows you to enjoy Passover favorites without having to shop around for hard-to-find ingredients. We hope you enjoy and wish you a happy Passover.

For starters, it wouldn’t be a Seder without charoset. We recommend our Classic Ashkenazi Charoset.

Classic Ashkenazi Charoset

Next up is a hearty bowl of matzo ball soup. We have a recipe for delicious matzo balls.

Matzo Ball Soup

You can substitute vegetable oil for schmaltz. For the soup itself, you can use our soup recipe or use canned/box chicken broth with a bouillon cube or 2 added for extra flavor.

For a main course we suggest our Za’atar Roasted Chicken.

Za'atar Roast Chicken

If you don’t have za’atar you can substitute it for a blend of dried spices thyme, oregano, sesame seeds and salt.

We always like to end things off on a sweet note. For dessert try our Chocolate Covered Matzo.

Chocolate Covered Matzo

You can omit the caramel sauce and nuts if you want to. And, feel free to add any toppings you may have around your house; dried cranberries, raisins, or other dried fruit, sea salt or coconut.

A Journey Through Journaling 4-2-20

When I was on my 40 day bedrest in 2017, My daughter, Lucy, gave me a beautiful journal on my first day and encouraged me to write my daily thoughts. Lucy was so prescient. Writing in my journal really alleviated my anxieties, eased my mind, and soothed my soul.

It only took a few minutes each day. I kept the journal by my bedside and it made me smile.

I would encourage you to use this Life in the Pause time to start, or renew, a practice of writing in a journal, even for 5-10 minutes, just to find some quiet time for yourself to think and feel and express yourself.

  • Have you ever written in a journal?
  • Did you find it helpful?
  • If you have not tried before, would you please try to write one journal entry this weekend?

Regards,

Andy

Take a Virtual Tour of Israel

During this time of social isolation and quarantine, synagogues are not holding regular services. People have been gathering to worship and celebrate together for millennia, not being able to do so can be a jarring and disconnecting experience. If you are looking for a way to connect to your faith and heritage, consider taking a trip to Israel…not literally, but virtually! Through live cameras and virtual tours, you can visit Israel from the comfort of your own home.

There is no landmark more sacred to Jews than the Western Wall (or Kotel). Visiting and praying there is an incredibly moving experience. Thanks to a variety of live camera feeds you can experience the profoundness of the Kotel anywhere.

The Western Wall Heritage Foundation has three different live cameras of the Kotel, you can find them here.

Aish HaTorah also has a live camera feed at the Western Wall, you can find it here.

EarthCam has a live feed of the Western Wall and feeds from other parts of Israel as well. These feeds are available here.

3d Israel has panoramic image tours of a variety of locations across Israel. You can see them here.

Israel 21C created a series of video postcards from different regions across Israel. They allow you to take a virtual tour around the country. You can find the video postcards here.

A variety of museums throughout Israel are putting up virtual tours of exhibits, allowing people to experience them without going in person. Participating museums include the Israel Museum and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. You can find a list of virtual museum tours here.

Spring Cleaning 4/1/20

As we near spring during these times, the concept of “Spring Cleaning” may take on even more meaning.

We are all housebound and have more time in our home to Spring Clean.

We may have more people in the house (kids home from college, etc.) who are also home to participate?

We may have a new perspective to look at our environment and objects?

  • What are your thoughts on Spring Cleaning in these days?
  • Have you found an opportunity to look at your physical surroundings in a different way?
  • Have you looked inside yourself in a different way?
  • Is there Spring Cleaning of your house, your home, and your inner self that you may be interested in exploring during these days of awe?

Here is a blog that I wrote about Spring Cleaning for Breaking Matzo as we prepare for Passover.

Regards,

Andy