Passover Customs Direct from Thessaloniki

Greetings from Thessaloniki -- also known as Salonica, once home to one of the most thriving Jewish communities in the world.

It's wonderful being here in this historic city that many Jews called home for two thousand years. When did they exactly arrive? Good question. A Jewish presence in Greece is mentioned in the book of Isaiah (66:19). Some researchers claim that Jews lived in Thessaloniki when the city was first established in 315 BC. Others claim that Jews from Alexandria, Egypt settled in the city in 140 BC.  Regardless of the exact date, the most significant expansion of the community came during the Spanish Inquisition when 15-20,000 Jews called Sephardim were expelled in 1492 and found a safe haven in Thessaloniki. With 32 different synagogue communities, the Jews flourished and became an essential part of the city's economy, turning it into a first rate commercial center.

While the community's history is both fascinating and tragic, the holiday customs it developed are equally interesting and still practiced by the remaining 1,000 Jews. I visited the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki and met with its director, Erika Perahia Zemour. She told me about a few Passover customs that I want to share with you.
                                                           
 Have a look at the Haggadah in these two pictures.

 Erika pointed out that it is written in 3 languages: Greek, Spanish Hebrew -- better known as Ladino -- and Hebrew. Family members take turns reading from the Haggadah and do so in the language they feel most comfortable in. So, the children read their portions in Greek. The grandparents feel much more comfortable with Ladino, and the parents will either read the Hebrew or Greek text.

Next, take a look at the pan behind the Haggadah. Don't mistake it for a Seder plate.  It's a special frying pan for making Passover style burmelos. If you've read my book Hannukah Around the World, then you're already familiar with this fried doughnut made by Turkish Jews and other Sephardim for Hanukkah. Clearly, this is a holiday favorite for the Jews of Thessaloniki who have decided to give it a Passover twist by using ground matzah instead of flour. Erika even gave me the recipe:
Ingredients
1 cup ground matzah (count how many pieces of matzah you use for a cup)
water
eggs
oil
honey
Preparation
Add enough water to the ground matzah to make dough. Add one egg per slice of matzah that you've ground and mix into a smooth dough. Drop a spoonful of dough into hot oil and fry on both sides. Remove and pat dry.  Once the burmelos have cooled pour honey on top and serve.

Speaking of recipes -- Erika also shared a recipe for a unique matzah egg drop soup. I'm going to save it for my next blog post.
Bye for now from Thessaloniki....or as they say in Greek: αντίο.

Tunisian Jews Remember Moses through an Unusual Seder Plate Custom

How many times have we heard that Moses -- the hero of our Passover story -- is never mentioned in the Hagaddah? Apparently Tunisian Jews try to rectify this situation through an unusual Seder plate custom. Instead of adorning their table with a variation of the Seder plate familiar to all of us, they use a reed basket (since I'm not sure of the size, I'll let you pick). They put all the Seder plate symbols inside the basket. Before reciting Ha Lachma Anya -- "this is the bread of affliction" --  the woman of the house takes the basket, and circles it over the head of each Seder participant while saying "we quickly left Egypt." The participants answer by reciting these words: "Yesterday we were slaves. Today we are free. This year we are here. Next year we will be free people in the land of Israel."

I think this subtle remembrance of Moses as a baby in a reed basket is brilliant. Similarly, so is the subtle reference to his mother Yocheved and sister Miriam by having the woman of the house take on this role. Finally, doesn't this custom complement the Bukharan Seder overture that I discussed two weeks ago? Start putting all the customs together that I have brought up and you have the makings of a Passover play.

Enjoy your Seder and Bravo to all the actors!

חג שמח

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Southern Italy's Anousim Personalize the Seder Plate & Add A Symbol That Can't Be "Beet"!

This past October I introduced you to the Italian Anusim (Italians whose ancestors were forced to convert to Christianity) through a Shabbat custom related to me by Rabbi Barbara Aiello. We became e-quainted after I read an article about the Rabbi, so I recently turned to her once again about unusual Passover customs. Sure enough she had one, and it can't be "beet."

In addition to the traditional Seder Plate placed at the head of the table for the Seder leader, Italian Anusim make sure that each participant has his/her own personal Seder plate. It's plain glass and all of the symbols are placed on it, plus an additional symbol that they have developed. Italian Anusim also include a bietola -- a blood red beet -- to symbolize the lamb's blood put on their doorposts by the Israelites in order to save the firstborn in each family.

This definitely is a creative twist and should get all of us thinking about something unusual to enhance this year's Seder, be it at school or at home.




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Bukharan Passover Seder Overture

No holiday is more colorful when it comes to customs than Passover. I thought I had covered all the customs in my book Passover Around the World, published in 2006. No way! I keep on discovering new, fascinating and fun traditions.

Today, I'm going to transport you to Bukhara, a Central Asian city located on the ancient Silk Road.  Its Jewish community claims they are descendants of the lost tribes of Naphtali and Issachar. They have a developed a tradition that I call the Passover Seder Overture. All the females tie packages of matzah to their backs. They choreograph a simple dance and sing the words (in Tajik -- the Persian dialect that is their native language) With Haste We Went Out of Egypt. What a wonderful opening act to the Seder night. Want to get a glimpse of a Bukharan Jewish song and dance? Have a look.
Want to continue the play? Read one of my earliest posts on Passover customs and you'll see that Seder night has a lot of home-made Broadway potential.

I'll be back with some more customs that will get you thinking.













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Combine Passover Customs from Tunisia, Yemen and Turkey for a Unique Model Seder

It's that time of the year again. Time to make seder -- which literally means "order" in Hebrew. This year try a new world order by combining customs from 3 countries. It's a thinking-out-of-the-box suggestion and I promise it will engage your children and students.

Start your Passover tour by going to Tunisia with a custom that I brought up last year -- sitting on mattresses. They're comfortable, definitely have reclining space, and yes, they make the experience a lot more authentic for children.

Next stop: Yemen. Forget about the seder plate. They have a seder table, meaning they place all the symbols on the table itself. I suggest you use either very low tables or the floor. Put down a tablecloth and arrange the Passover food symbols on all four corners and/or in the middle.  Make it plentiful, yummy and colorful, with an aroma that can't be beat.

Final destination: Turkey. Jews living in this Western Asian country follow the wonderful Sephardic custom of beginning the Seder with a play. I always bring up this custom because it's my favorite. It has the Purim costume element with a family member dressing up as one of the Children of Israel. S/he conducts a short dialog with the seder leader by answering the questions: "Who are you?" "But I thought you are a slave, where are you going?" "What was it like in Egypt?"

Get the picture? A homespun, down to earth approach in this day and age of ready made props and video clips.

Enjoy! I'll be back with more Passover customs.

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