I'm not sure if I'm the only one celebrating here, but HAPPY PASSOVER to everyone!

Happy Passover, Meredith! I wish I could remember the right greeting, but have forgotten it...just know that I'm thinking of you and wishing you a soul-nurturing Passover celebration!

Meredith, HAPPY PASSOVER! I don´t celebrate it..but I do read thoughts about it each year in my emails that I get from the Kaballah Center.

HUGS!

Wishing you a Blessed and Joyful Pesach, Meredith!

Happy Passover to you too Meredith...What do you do to celebrate Passover, anything special?

Thanks Gals!

Chatty, the short answer is: matzo. The longer answer is -- starting the week before the holiday, we completely clean the kitchen, and try to finish all old foods. For Passover, we box all old foods and bring out special holiday dishes etc.

The first 2 nights, we have a festive traditional meal at home called the Seder, commemorating the Jews' escape from Pharoah in Egypt.

For the rest of the week, we only eat certain foods -- or more precisely, we don't eat certain foods. No bread, flour cakes, pasta, rice. Our only starch is matzo (a large, bland, unleavened perforated cracker) and 57 variations of matzo recipes.

Sending Passover wishes to Meredith. Enjoy your celebrations.

Have a wonderful Passover Meredith. Have you tried all 57 variations of Matzo? Do you have a favourite?

Thanks Dotsie!

I'd like to add about the meaning of the holiday. Passover celebrates the Jews escaping Egypt and wandering in the desert for 40 years. (If you've seen the movie The Ten Commandments, then you know the story.)

The story is told each year during the Seder to remind us of the importance of freedom from oppression. There is a ceremonial Seder plate which has ingredients symbolizing the hardships we suffered. If one mentions all this, it's considered a proper Seder.

However, there is no ONE Hagaddah (the book read at the Seder) -- there are hundreds of Hagaddot (plural) telling the story in different ways. You can go very traditional, very modern, or anything in-between -- so long as you reference the story.

So the first night we had a fairly traditional service (except I changed the language to modern -- no didst's for this gal -- and made everything gender-inclusive.) On the second night, however, I used current events to illustrate all the themes.

In ancient Egypt, they had the Ten Plagues. Now we have AIDS, pollution in our air and water, carcinogens in our food supply. We said prayers for the horrible violence still going on in Sudan, and for women in Arab countries who have no rights whatsoever and can be beheaded if a man looks at her. We said prayers for people starving in third world countries, and for children abused by adults who should have protected them.

The message of this holiday is -- as long as there is suffering in this world, then we are all responsible for trying to end it. We tell the story every year to remind us of those less fortunate, of all those people who are not yet free.

I am not Jewish but I do shop in their supermarket, I buy only Kosher meats, and have for sometime now. I love their breads, the matzo and the soups. You should take a look-see in an all Jewish market sometimes it is really interesting and they eat MUCH healthier than most other people do.