Even the main food item associated with Passover
and the Seder, matza, differs among some communities.
Matza is the thin, cracker-like bread Jews eat on Passover.
According to the Exodus story, the Hebrew slaves left Egypt
in such a hurry, that they didn't even have time
to allow their baked bread to rise, so for symbolic reasons,
Jews eat unleavened bread, matza, during Passover.
Matza gets a bad rap.
Jews give up leavened or fermented grain,
or chametz, on Passover.
Matza is not really something Jews eat outside of Passover
and most people aren't exactly clamoring for it year-round,
but some Jewish communities enjoy a very different matza.
If you go to a seder with
a traditional Yemenite-Jewish family,
you'll notice the matza looks
less like a cracker and more like pita bread.
This matza is thicker and softer,
and it's actually believed to be far more similar
to what the Hebrews of the Exodus story likely made.
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, most Jewish communities,
even Ashkenazi ones, ate softer matza.
We're talking as recently as 180 years ago.
The hard, square matza most of us know stays fresh longer
and fits nicely in a box, which is one of the main reasons
it became the norm and is mass produced
and sold in grocery stores around Passover.
But Yemenite Jews, as well as some other communities,
do still enjoy the soft matza,
which only stays good for a day or two.
Something you'll experience at most seders
is a hearty rendition of Dayenu, a song whose title
translates to "it would have been enough."
The song is a list of miracles
God performed in the Exodus story.
It's usually just a fun singalong,
but at a Persian-Jewish seder,
it's, well, a bit of a free-for-all.
Before the singing starts, guests pass around
large green onions and whack each other with the stems.
In case you were wondering, "uh ... why?"
Well, the custom is meant to remind Persian Jews
of the slave drivers in Egypt.
Some Persian Jews get super into it
and really belt each other,
so if you find yourself at a Persian seder, be prepared.
While Persian Jews get bruised up on Passover,
Hungarian Jews get blinged out.
Jews from Hungary go all out
when decorating the seder table.
You'll likely find the table at a traditional
Hungarian seder decked out in silver and gold.
According to the story of the Exodus,
God bestowed 10 plagues on the Egyptians to ultimately
force Pharaoh to free the Israelite slaves.
Some rabbinic interpretations of the Biblical story
claim that, amid the devastation,
the Egyptians even gave their precious metals away to entice
the Israelites to speed up their departure from the land,
so Hungarian Jews lay out all their finest jewelry to serve
as a symbolic reminder of this part of the Passover story.
Continuing this talk about symbols,
every Jewish seder plate features charoset, a sweet mixture
that's usually made with fruits, nuts, wine, and spices.
Each family has its own unique recipe for charoset.
You may find figs, apples, dates, or honey,
but what's consistent is the symbol.
The name charoset derives from the Hebrew word,
cheres, meaning clay, which is fitting
since charoset is meant to symbolize the mortar
Hebrew slaves used to make bricks
and the Jews of Gibraltar take the symbol quite literally.
In Gibraltar, the tiny British territory
jutting off the Iberian peninsula
with less than a thousand Jews, Passover seders
feature charoset with actual brick dust in it.
Some households there use the same brick for decades,
shaving off faint amounts of dust with a knife
every Passover to put in the charoset.
Each year, families in Gibraltar look forward
to seeing who will bite into a chunk of brick dust.
Now, many seder traditions serve to remind Jews
of events from the 3,000-year-old Exodus story,
but a somewhat recent
and emerging trend is incorporating traditions
that personalize and modernize seders.
For example, some Jews draw parallels between the Israelites
in Egypt and refugee crises in the 21st century.
Organizations like HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society,
a Jewish-American non-profit, distributes guides that help
people weave modern refugee references into the seder.
The aim is to bring discussions
to Passover seders about how to take real-world action
to help refugees around the world.
A fun twist seen at some seders
is using a customized haggadah, the booklet that guides
guests through the many traditions of the Passover meal.
Besides the straight-laced Maxwell House haggadah,
there are now various takes on the traditional haggadah
that grace tables during Passover,
including graphic novel iterations,
Harry Potter-themed haggadahs, baseball haggadahs,
and a popular hipster haggadah written
by novelists Jonathan Safran Foer and Nathan Englander.
Another modern update to the seder is found
on the seder plate, the centerpiece on the table.
On a traditional seder plate, items are present that
symbolize different aspects of the Passover story.
For instance, the bitter herbs represent
the bitterness of slavery in Egypt.
On some seder plates, you'll notice another item; an orange.
This has nothing to do with ancient Egypt.
In the 1980s, Susannah Heschel,
a well-known Jewish feminist scholar
and the daughter of the prominent
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, pioneered the idea
of placing an orange on the seder plate.
She said the orange symbolizes
the fruitfulness that all Jews experience
when the entire community, particularly women
and LGBTQ members, are included in Jewish life.
Like most Jewish holidays,
Passover takes on the flavor of customs
and traditions unique to different parts of the world.
From bruises to bling to brick,
there's plenty to learn from seder traditions
throughout the world, maybe even something
you can bring to your own seder?
We're not necessarily advocating sprinkling brick dust
into your food, but, hey, when in Gibraltar!
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