Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Passover
To the best of my knowledge, there is NO Jewish population in Palmerston North.  I brought 2 small Haggadahs from home, planning to make our usual meal.  However, due to it being moving weekend (one more pack and unpack), and not having a chance to go to Wellington to get Matzah, we looked into other options.  A Presbyterian Church here has an affiliation with a Messianic Jewish congregation in Tel Aviv.  They have being having seders for about 8 years.  They want to teach their congregants about Jesus's roots.  There was a printed paper Haggadah.  Shortened version, but all the parts included.  It was all in English, no Hebrew.  The seder plate and traditional foods were there (the leader did mix up charoses and moror), 4 questions, Elijah's cup, etc.  The only question the leader asked me was how to pronounce afikomen, and if there was a special significance to the children removing it.  The food was good.  Lamb was the meat.  The only thing lacking was matzah balls and chicken soup.  The new things for me were blowing a shofar to start, the woman leader wearing a head shawl, and doing urchatz at 2 different times??  After the seder was complete, the pastor came up and led some Christian readings.
Well, at least I had matzah, and felt like I had a seder meal.  See the link Mike sent.  Virtual seder online next year?   WSJ.com - Matzo Ball Soup, Check. iPad, Check. For Passover, Jews Try Techie Seders*

No comments:

Post a Comment