The Valley’s Jewish community marks the Passover miracle

Children sweated in the hot sun as Rabbi Mendy Deitsch patiently led them through the steps to bake the simple bread of their ancestors - matzoh, the "bread of affliction" of the epic Passover story.

Lawn Griffiths on Spiritual Life

"It was a little hot, but that was good because it gave us an authentic feeling of what it was like leaving Egypt this time of the year," explained the Chandler rabbi who regularly holds public events to help children get a sense of what the ancient Jews experienced. This time it was a model matzoh bakery to show the simplicity and speed for making matzoh, a staple in the diet of their spiritual ancestors.

Passover, or Pesach, the Jewish Festival of Freedom, begins at sundown today across the world and lasts eight days, until nightfall on April 26. It's a time when Jews are called on to retell the Passover story as if it were their own experience in a world where freedom can be snatched away.

It's not to be regarded as merely a historical event. The holiday takes its name from how the angel of death passed over the homes of the persecuted Jews, sparing their children, but smiting the first-born of the Egyptians, as told in Exodus 12. It occurred the night before Moses led his people in the great escape from Egypt where they had been enslaved by Pharaoh from 1428 B.C. until the exodus in 1312 B.C.On Sunday, in a back parking lot of the Barness Jewish Community Center in Chandler, Rabbi Deitsch sought to communicate the timeworn Passover episode of the Hebrew people with children who came to mix flour with water to make matzoh.

"Our goal is really to give the children - Jews and non-Jews alike - a hands-on experience of how we left Egypt, and why we celebrate the holiday of Passover," he said.

"The reason we eat the matzoh at Passover is because they took flour and water and didn't have time to let it rise before they baked it. They just threw it on their backs and ran out of Egypt, and so it baked under the hot sun."

About 75 adults and children came to the model matzoh bakery, organized by the Chabad of the East Valley and its Sunday Chabad Hebrew School, which meets at the center.

Children were given water and flour and instructed to roll and knead it, put holes in it and then put the matzoh in a pizza oven, altogether an 18-minute process.

"It is critical for them to really get hands-on experience and to see that they remember and retain it and enjoy it," said the 35-year-old rabbi who founded the Chabad of the East Valley, the first Orthodox congregation in the south East Valley, 10 years ago.

Passover, when families gather for a traditional Seder meal with rituals, falls on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nissan, sometimes in March and other years in April.

In the days leading up to Passover, homes are meticulously purged of all foods containing hamez (leaven or fermented dough), including crumbs from cupboards and family room couches.

Some families traditionally "sell" their verboten foods to non-Jewish friends or neighbors and buy them back after Passover.

Often the housecleaning includes a ritual search throughout the house with a candle and a special blessing.

Familiestypically have a separate set of dishes and utensils brought out only at Passover.

Seder meals are commonly held on the first two nights of Passover in homes or in synagogues, where the unhurried feasts are marked by the reading of the Haggadah, the account of the exodus; the drinking of four cups of wine and the eating of six symbolic foods on the Seder plate. Items include the maror (horseradish) and chazeret (romaine lettuce), both symbolizing the harshness and bitterness of slavery; charoset (ground apples and nuts) representing the mortar used by the Hebrew slaves to make bricks; karpas (parsley, celery or potato) dipped in salt water or vinegar, a sign of spring and symbolic of the slaves' tears; zeroah (roast lamb bone) for the pascal lamb sacrificed the night before the exodus; and the beitzah (roasted egg), representing the temple sacrifices offered in Jerusalem on all holidays.

During the well-ordered meal (Seder means "order"), four questions are commonly asked, including "Why is this night different from other nights?" and questions about why only on this night certain foods are eaten.

In homes with children, it's also a custom to hide a special piece of matzoh, called the afikoman, inside a napkin, with children instructed to find it at the appropriate point in the evening. When they find it, they ransom it for a prize from grown-ups because the Seder cannot go forward until the last piece of matzoh, the afikoman, has been eaten. It is shared with guests.

Several Valley temples are holding public Seders with the intent to bring greater understanding to Jews and invited non-Jews on the meaning of Passover and its customs. Creative stories and customized practices are often woven into the Seder meals that typically take several hours.

Some Jews take advantage of Passover adventures, including cruises, tours and resort stays where careful kosher customs are kept.

A growing number of restaurants host Passover dinners, with Jewish dietary laws followed.

Har Zion, Conservative Jewish congregation in Scottsdale, is hosting Passover Meals to Go, a service whereby Jewish families can order full kosher meals for Passover prepared by Arizona Catering in Mesa for delivery or pickup at the temple by customers (www.passovermealstogo.com).

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contact writer: (480) 898-6522 or lgriffiths@evtrib.com