Why Passover Is One of Judaismโs (of The Real Jews Not of The Zionist ๐ท ๐ ๐ ๐) Most Important Holidays
Passover, one of Judaism's most revered holidays, honors the ancient Israelites' freedom from slavery in Egypt.
โ By Erin Blakemore | April 15, 2024
Rabbi Pinsk Karlin and other ultra-Orthodox Jews collect water from a spring to make matzoh, a traditional handmade unleavened bread for Passover, at a mountain spring in the outskirts of Jerusalem. Jews are forbidden to eat leavened foodstuffs during Passover. Photograph By Ariel Schalit, AP
As the days brighten and spring kicks into full swing, Jews all over the world prepare for Passover, a weeklong holiday that is one of Judaismโs most widely celebrated and most important observances. Also known by its Hebrew name Pesach, Passover combines millennia of religious traditionsโand itโs about much more than matzoh and gefilte fish.
The Origins of Passover
The story of Passover can be found in the book of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible, which relates the enslavement of the Israelites and their subsequent escape from ancient Egypt.
Fearing that the Israelites will outnumber his people, the Egyptian Pharaoh enslaves them and orders every newly born Jewish son murdered. One son is Moses, whose birth has been foretold as the savior of the Israelites. He is saved and raised by the pharaohโs daughter.
William Brassey Hole's "The Passage of the Red Sea" depicts the biblical story from Exodus in which God, acting through Moses, parts the Red Sea to allow the Israelites to cross to safety out of Egypt. Lebrecht History/Bridgeman Images
In adulthood, God speaks to Moses, urging him to tell Pharaoh to let his people go. But the pharaoh refuses. In return, God brings ten consecutive plagues down on Egypt (think: pestilence, swarms of locusts, and water turning to blood), but spares the Israelites.
During the final plague, an avenging angel goes door to door in Egypt, smiting every householdโs firstborn son. God has other plans for the Israelites, instructing Moses to tell them to slaughter a lamb, then brush its blood on the sides and tops of their doorframes so that the avenging angel will โpass over.โ Then they are to eat the sacrificial lamb with bitter herbs and unleavenedโwithout yeastโbread. This is the last straw for Pharaoh, who frees the Israelites and banishes them from Egypt.
Whatโs on a Seder Plate
Modern Passover celebrations commemorate and even reenact many of the biblical events. The seder (โorderโ), the ritual meal that is the centerpiece of Passover celebrations, incorporates foods that represent elements of the story.
Bitter herbs (often lettuce and horseradish) stand for the bitterness of slavery. A roasted shank bone commemorates the sacrificial lamb. An egg has multiple interpretations: Some hold that it stands for new life, and others see it as standing for the Jewish peopleโs mourning over the struggles that awaited them in exile. Vegetables are dipped into saltwater representing the tears of the enslaved Israelites. Haroset, a sweet paste made of apples, wine, and walnuts or dried fruits, represents the mortar the enslaved Israelites used to build Egyptโs store cities.
The centerpiece of modern Passover celebrations is the seder, a ritual meal commemorating the Israelites' escape from enslavement in Egypt. The dinner involves readings from a manuscript called the Haggadah. The Sarajevo Haggadah, pictured here, is one of the oldest, dating back to the 14th century. Photograph By Zev Radovan, Bridgeman Images
During a traditional seder, participants eat unleavened bread, or matzoh, three times, and drink wine four times. They read from a Haggadah, a guide to the rite, hear the story of Passover, and answer four questions about the purpose of their meal. Children get involved, too, and search for an afikomen, a piece of broken matzoh, that has been hidden in the home. Every seder is different, and is governed by community and family traditions.
How is Passover Celebrated
Passover observances vary in and outside of Israel. The holiday lasts one week in Israel and eight days in the rest of the world, in commemoration of the week in which the Israelites were pursued by the Egyptians as they went into exile.
During those days, many Jews refrain from eating leavened bread; some also abstain from work during the last two days of Passover and attend special services before and during Passover week. Orthodox and Conservative Jews outside of Israel participate in two seders; Reform Jews and those inside Israel only celebrate one.
But no matter where or how you observe Passover, its celebrations underscore powerful themes of strength, hope, and triumph over adversity and anti-Semitism.
A Brief History of Matzoh: 'It's Not Supposed To Taste Good'
Restrictions around matzoh are meaningful and refreshing to many: hereโs why.
โ By April Fulton | Published: May 17, 2023
Matzoh is central to Passover, when Jews are prohibited from eating leavened food. Matzoh must be baked within around 18 minutes to prevent rising. Photograph By Becky Harlan, National Geographic Image Collection
Matzoh, known by Jews worldwide as โthe bread of affliction,โ is a cracker-like food made of flour and water eaten to commemorate the Hebrew slavesโ exodus from Egypt. The bland crisp takes the place of bread for the eight days of Passover.
While the aforementioned affliction may have changed over the years from one of desert-trekking deprivation to palatal hardship, most Hebrew scholars agree on one thing: It is not supposed to taste good.
Yet, for at least the first day of the holiday, many people actually crave it. Why?
For answers to this burning question about the nature of matzoh, we turn to Michael Wex, the author of Rhapsody in Schmaltz: Yiddish Food and Why We Canโt Stop Eating It.
โNow we eat it because we donโt have to eat it,โ he says. In other words, because Godโs chosen people have other choices the rest of the year, they look forward to eating matzoh to commemorate when Jews had no other choice but matzoh. And when it pops up in the grocery stores, many non-Jews pick up a few boxes, too.
According to the Hebrew bible, after a long protracted battle that featured God-directed plagues like frogs, boils, locusts, and the slaughter of first-born sons, the Egyptians freed the Hebrew slaves. The Jews left hastily, without time to let their bread rise. God basically tells them to take their dough and go, and that theyโll be cut off from Him if they eat anything leavened, i.e. yeasted or risen, for seven days. Henceโthe first matzohโthe โroadside fast food from the ancient near East,โ as Wex calls it.
The Passover seder dinner is centered around the matzoh, and is a virtual reenactment of the story of Exodus. In our family, the long, ritualistic dinner is frequently summed up for uninitiated guests in this way: โThey tried to kill us, weโre still here, letโs eat.โ
And so we eat matzoh, both plain and in forms that attempt to make it more palatable by adding salt and egg to create dumpling-like matzoh balls for chicken soup; or by topping it with sugary jam. Kids particularly love chocolate-covered matzoh for dessert.
Yes, there are other foods served at Passover, much of which varies according to where youโre from or what your grandma always made. Ours almost always includes brisket, kugel (a kind of casserole), and some kind of token vegetable. But matzoh is front and center.
There are strict specifications for making matzoh, of course. (Judaism is all about rules.) First of all, you only have 18 minutes from adding water to the flour to bake it. Thatโs the amount of time scholars say you have before the dough starts to rise, which would make the whole business un-kosher for Passover.
The result is a thin, flat plate-sized wafer โwithout even a kiss of salt,โ Wex says. The first matzoh were probably round. The advent of machine-made matzoh led to the rise of the easier to pack and stack square marvel many of us know today. But the flavor? Pretty much the same, to my taste.
Traditional matzoh is broken ceremoniously at the beginning of the Jewish Passover seder.
There are also prescriptions for the matzoh to be harvested at a certain time of day and when it is dry enough, as prescribed by a rabbi, to prevent fermentation (i.e. leavening.) Dan Barber, back-to-the-land advocate and chef, made the case that the result of this close supervision may mean the wheat harvested is of higher quality, and therefore Jewish law may actually make food taste better.
But Wex and other scholars say this is beside the point. From Rhapsody in Schmaltz:
โThere are those who say that God gave us cardboard so that we could describe the taste of matzoh, but taste is what matzoh is not about...Matzoh doesnโt need to be good, it only needs to be thereโinside of 18 minutes. Or 22, according to some authorities; however long it took to walk to Tiberias from Migdal Nunia, the probable home of Mary Magdaleneโa single Roman mile.โ
Wex argues that the creation of Jewish dietary laws, particularly as they relate to matzoh, create for Jews a sense of otherness. While rules like no pork and no cheeseburgers may seem oppressive these days, in ancient times, it gave the Jewish people a new way of thinking. Once they were no longer slaves, they were โfree to act in ways that have nothing to do with Egypt,โ including, throwing out all their learned notions of what to eat.
There are entire Jewish communities, of course, who follow the ancient prescriptions to the letter for Passover and beyond. But do modern Jews still need to follow these ancient laws? Wex says you can have a strong Jewish conscience and not follow the dietary laws, but you should understand them โif you want your religion to stick around.โ
The Very Ancient Passover of One of the Smallest Religions in the World
For thousands of years, the tiny Samaritan community has observed Passover according to its biblical laws.
โ By Kristin Romey | Published: April 19, 2019
Samaritan boys wrangle a goat towards the sacrifice grounds on Passover eve in Kiryat Luza, West Bank. Photograph By Simon Norfolk
Samaritans are one of the worldโs smallest religious groups, claiming descent from three of the 12 tribes of ancient Israel. They consider themselves the true observants of Israelite religion, and view Judaism as a religious practice corrupted during the Babylonian exile. This separation is clearly delineated in the geography of the Holy Land: While Mount Moriah in Jerusalem is where the Jewish Temple was decreed by God, the Samaritans followed the command of that same God and built their temple on the peak of Mount Gerizim, some 30 miles to the north.
Samaritan elders gather during the Passover eve sacrifice. There are a little more than 800 people in the Samaritan community, almost evenly divided between the Tel Aviv suburb of Holon and the West Bank village of Kiryat Luza. Photograph By Simon Norfolk
Today, Mount Gerizim, at an elevation of almost 3,000 feet, is one of the highest points in the Palestinian territories, and commands a sweeping view of the bustling city of Nablus and the West Bank villages that surround it. On its ridge is the village of Kiryat Luza, where, on the eve of each Passover, the roughly 800 members of the Samaritan community gather to pray and observe their liberation from slavery in Egypt.
Left: A young Samaritan boy wears a distinctive red hat known as a tarbush. Right: worshipers and visitors mingle as the sacrificed goats roast for hours in large pit ovens. Photographs By Simon Norfolk
In remembrance of that event, the Samaritans follow the Torah mandate that a sheep or lamb be sacrificed on Passover eve and consumed before dawn of the next day. In Kiryat Luza, this is a communal event, in which prayers are recited and dozens of animals are dispatched simultaneously by men dressed in all white and then roasted in enormous earthen pits. In the hours after midnight, the meat is heaped on trays alongside bundles of bitter herbs and dished out in a celebratory community gathering under the stars.
Following a group countdown, these Samaritan men will simultaneously plunge their skinned and dressed offerings into the blazing earthen oven. All of the meat must be eaten or burned before the sun rises on the first day of Passover. Photograph By Alessio Romenzi
Seven days later, the Samaritan community marks the end of Passover with a more solemn event. Once again under the stars just a few hours before dawn, the white-robed men of the community gather in front of their small synagogue, young sons beside them, rubbing the sleep from their eyes.
Led by their head priest cradling a silver Torah case, the men ascend Mount Gerizim in the darkness, climbing stone steps past the remains of their temple, destroyed by the Hasmoneans in the early second century B.C., and the rubble of a church built on their sacred peak by the Byzantine emperor Zeno some 600 years later. At points along the ascent, they stop to pray and then continue on as the dawn sky turns periwinkle and the paper-thin blossoms of scarlet poppies begin to unfurl.
On the seventh day of Passover, white-robed Samaritan men climb to the peak of Mount Gerizim, where their ancient temple once stood. Photograph By Simon Norfolk
The procession ends near a stone slab believed by Samaritans to be the site where Abraham intended to sacrifice his son Isaac. The sun breaks above the horizon and the high priest raises the shining Torah case above his head as he concludes the group prayer. Itโs a spring day on Mount Gerizim, and once again this tiny community has gathered together to fulfill its sacred duties before God.
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Why Do So Many Maple Syrup Bottles Have a Tiny Little Handle? Itโs Not For Holding, Thatโs For Sure.
โ By Ellen Gutoskey | May 8, 2024
Only a baby could hold this. (Syrup) annick vanderschelden photography/Moment/Getty Images; (Thought bubble) Justin Dodd/Mental Floss
Ideally, youโd be able to hold the handle of a maple syrup container while you carry it and also while you pour the syrup onto pancakes, waffles, or whatever other foodstuff calls for it. But the typical handle on a glass bottle of maple syrup is way too small and positioned too far up the bottleneck to be functional in either respect.
So, why is it there?
Whatโs a Skeuomorph?
The most widely accepted explanation is that the tiny handle is a skeuomorph, meaning โan ornament or design representing a utensil or implement,โ per Merriam-Webster. In other words, a given item has a design elementโa skeuomorphโthat might help you recognize what the item is or should be used for, but doesnโt necessarily have a purpose beyond that. The floppy disk icon in Microsoft Word is a great example: Itโs what you select to save a file, evoking the bygone days of saving files on physical floppy disks. The fact that it looks like a floppy disk clues you in to what the button does (though the clue is likely lost on the kids of today), but the design doesnโt have anything to do with the actual saving capability of said button.
Smart devices are full of skeuomorphs that reflect the physical version of a piece of technology. Your email icon might look like an envelope; your trash folder might make the sound of crumpling paper when you empty it.
But there are plenty of skeuomorphs that donโt involve the transition from analog to digital life, and the useless handle of a maple syrup bottle is one of them.
How Maple Syrup Bottles Got Little Handles
Salt-glazed stoneware predated the United States: This is a German piece from 1602. Heritage Images/GettyImages
Hereโs one popular version of the origin story: The little handle harks back to the days of storing liquids in salt-glazed stoneware that often featured handles large enough to actually hold. As maple syrup companies replaced big ceramic jugs with smaller glass ones, they tacked on a little handle as a callback to the former.
However, this story might give you the impression that North Americans had a long history of storing and selling maple syrup in stoneware (with handles)โto the point that people would associate elements of that kind of container specifically with maple syrup. Thatโs not exactly the case. For one thing, the stoneware was used for various liquids. For another, maple syrup didnโt really catch on as a consumer product until the very late 19th century, when white cane sugar shook off its import tax and started to overtake maple sugar in the market. New Englandโs maple sugar producers pivoted to making maple syrup, which, according to the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association, they usually sold in โcans and bottles.โ
An advertisement from 1921. Library of the University of Toronto, Wikimedia Commons//Public Domain
Maple syrup manufacturers had started to add little handles to their glass bottles by the early 1930s. This, apparently, was a bit of a marketing tactic. โMaple syrup companies werenโt so much retaining an old pattern of a jug as reinventing it and wanting to market their product as something nostalgic,โ Canada Museum of History curator Jean-Franรงois Lozier told Readerโs Digest Canada. โThey were tying in the image of maple syrup with their product and the image that people still had of those crocks in the 19th-century.โ
That doesnโt disqualify the tiny handles from being considered skeuomorphs: Theyโre still a design element meant to evoke a certain thing. But it might be more accurate to say that the original thing was the old-timey quaintness of stone jugs in general rather than maple syrup itself.
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Hello can you do Slashers with a S/O with Autism or ADHD and if you canโt do that then just a super hyperactive S/O but if you can make the S/O autistic or have ADHDPreferably with The Sinclairs, Jason, and Bubba Sawyer and any other you would like. Thanks you and Iโm honor of my child emoji loving self hereโs a bunch of food!
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐๐ฅญ๐๐ฅฅ๐
๐
๐๐ฅ๐ซ๐ฅฆ๐ฅฌ๐ฅ๐ถ๏ธ๐ซ๐ฝ๐ฅ๐ซ๐ง๐ง
๐ฅ๐ ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ฅฏ๐๐ฅ๐ฅจ๐ง๐ฅ๐ณ๐ง๐ฅ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฅฉ๐๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ซ๐ฅช๐ฅ๐ง๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ซ๐ฅซ๐๐๐ฒ๐๐ฃ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐ฆช๐ค๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฅฎ๐ข๐ก๐ง๐จ๐ฆ๐ฅง๐ง๐ฐ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ซ๐ฟ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ซ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ง๐ฅคโ๏ธ
Have a good day/night!
Hello sunshine, of course I'm on it!
English is not my main language so I apologize for any mistakes.
The question is still open.
Slasher x reader with ADHD
Jason Voorhees
๐Oh boi this slasher is so worried that because of your ADHD you will hurt yourself.๐
๐He will secure your home in every way possible to keep you safe. For example, he puts down over your height to be sure you won't take it and hurt yourself.๐
๐He doesn't mind too much your , "shoving," in the sentences he is trying to say. Jason himself is not very talkative and is happy to listen to you instead. Whether it's silliness or something clever. He just loves to listen to you.๐
๐Sometimes he is bothered by your impatience, because he doesn't always have a way to provide you with something you want. But he always tries to get it as soon as possible.๐
๐In addition, your liveliness allows him to take you on longer walks in the woods, and show you his favorite places.๐
๐He gets very worried when you want to do dangerous things without thinking. He is very worried that you will hurt yourself. Please listen to him then because the poor thing will cry.๐
๐It amuses him a little that you can't sit still without moving. He often then takes you on his lap and gives you his bigger hands to play with.๐
๐He finds it adorable that your one hand only covers his two fingers.๐
๐When you are sleeping he also tries to hold you. Worrying that you might hurt yourself in your sleep.๐
Bubba Sawyer
๐Bubba would be very upset. He was so worried about you and the fact that his brothers might tease you because of your ADHD.๐
๐He will do everything to keep you safe and tries to keep an eye on you most of the time.๐
๐In the family, you don't get serious tasks most of the time. They don't want to seemingly tire you out, but you know they don't want anything bad to happen at home. ๐
๐Fortunately, the covered Bubba lets you have some of the more difficult tasks which he does with you as time goes on.๐
๐Sometimes he gets bothered by your cutting into his sentences but most of the time he tolerates it and lets you do it. He thinks you have a lovely voice and enjoys talking to you about all sorts of silly things.๐
๐He is very worried that your hyperactivity will hurt you. Temu tries to follow you at his leisure to be sure you are safe.๐
๐As for your liveliness he has a patent on it, he takes you to his place and lets you watch and touch everything there. Unless it's his saw, he won't let you touch it.๐
๐But be assured, you have proper care with him.๐
๐At night, your side of the bed is the one against the wall. Bubba is afraid that you will accidentally fall off and so he has little confidence that less harm both of you will do.๐
Sorry, I have no idea for the rest ๐ญ๐
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