It is the Shabbat before Passover all over the world, which
means that in every Jewish community, everyone is going completely crazy
preparing for the holiday. As you can probably tell, we are in Israel, so this
is going to be a quick primer on how to prepare for Pesach in Israel and stay
sane at the same time!
We arrived on Wednesday afternoon via Munich, which was a
first, and it was actually a pretty good route to take. The flight leaves at 8
PM so if you can sleep on a plane, the timing works out for a nap. We landed in
Israel at about 5 PM and went to see Gila and Elisha (and Ariel when he got home
from work). Elisha is adorable, having just turned three, speaks two languages
fluently (often both in the same sentence!) and really enjoyed the attention.
Now the Passover Israel primer! Thursday around noon we set
off for a local SuperMarket which could be compared to a large Loblaws or a
mini-Walmart, with food, housewares, wine, everything you might need (but
without the famous Walmart Price guarantee). For those not initiated to
Passover Shopping, during Passover we are not allowed to eat any product that
is leavened: bread, cakes with yeast, and other similar foods. In the eastern
European Jewish (Ashkenazi) tradition, we also are not allowed to eat any rice
or legumes; Jews of Sephardi origin have varying customs but most eat legumes.
We don’t even use the pots, pans or dishes that we use for the rest of the year
on Passover; so we keep a whole set of utensils, etc for the week of Passover. So
now, picture going to the Supermarket with about half of Netanya crowding in,
piling shopping carts full of Matzah, fruits, vegetables, meat and chicken, and
all kinds of other products! Now, for those used to shopping in IGA in Cote St
Luc or other similar places, where the Passover products are clearly marked and
isolated from the Non-Passover (or Chametz) products, at least you can navigate
smoothly through the process. Even products that are OK for Sepharadim are
marked, making it easy to avoid the Kitniyot (legumes). In our supermarket, the
Passover products are in the shelves next to the regular products, and all
different customs are intermingled together. So, everyone is busy squinting at
small fine print on lables to first see if the product is Kosher for Passover,
then checking to see if it contains Kitniyot, then yelling at your neighbor or
spouse “I found the Matzah Ball Mix! Which aisle has the garlic powder?” Then
just when you think you are done, you go to the cash and remember “Did we buy
onions?” Of course your carts are so full that you couldn’t find onions unless
they we labeled with a fluorescent tag (a common procedure in our lab). So, you
take your booty home and set out again when you find that indeed you forgot the
onions!
Israel Shopping Vignette #2. Today on the way to pick up Gila, Ariel and Elisah,
we stopped at a large multinational hardware chain to pick up a few things. You
would think, being a multinational that they would know how to organize things?
Now, this would be a stretch, because, although Israel is a high-tech, progressive,
start up nation, some parts of the Israeli shopping experience always have to
resemble the market in the Shtetle (back in the Golden days in Eastern Europe).
We get to the cash, and the shortest line has a person filling out some kind of
credit form with the puzzled cashier trying to figure out which side is up.
Then, the line we settled in was longer but looked like it was moving. However,
the client was asked if he had a membership card. When he answered that he did
not, this triggered a 10 minute session with the cashier to fill out these
forms! He was so excited to get his first points that he ran back and picked up
a few more items! Yes, this actually happened!
On a more enjoyable note, last night we had the great
pleasure of attending Adena Goldberger and Yaron White’s wedding. Adena is Nomi’s
sister so it was fun to be part of the family! The wedding was beautiful, with
several family members including Shoshana taking part in the Chuppa (wedding
ceremony)! Shoshana was awesome! The music and dancing were amazing and the
food terrific. It was really a great way to start off our holiday!
Now we are preparing for Shabbat, with more Passover preparations
to be done on Sunday and early Monday. The Seder is Monday night and we look
forward to the experience. For Shabbat Jenna is joining us before she heads
home to Edmonton to join Roanne and her family, including Grandma!-->
We wish you an amazing Shabbat and a Chag Sameach V’Kasher!
No comments:
Post a Comment