Passover Lite

For the past three years we had been living in Northern Virginia, not far from Matt's family so for the past three years, we have celebrated Passover with them.  Matt's cousin, Jeff, had been kind enough to host the Seders at his house.  I guess since the kids and I stayed until the end of the school year last year, I've actually been to four Passover Seders at Jeff's house.  They have been the only four Passover Seders I've been to in my life.

I'm not going to lie to you--Passover is not my favorite holiday.  I'm sure had I grown up eating matzoh and been brought up Jewish, I'd probably appreciate it more.  Thinking up a Kosher-For-Passover dinner menu for a week in our picky-eater household is a chore.  As it is, for me, the Seder (the meal eaten on the first night of Passover) is a long night with food I don't care to eat (for the most part).  Being able to celebrate with family is the one positive.  The kids have no idea what a Seder is like because all they do every year is run around with Jeff's son, Ben, who is right between Leah and Aaron, age-wise. 

Passover begins at sundown on March 25 this year or tonight for us here in Japan.  With Matt gone, I wasn't even going to worry about Passover.  I mean, the kids and I don't follow the no-bread thing during Passover even when Matt's home (just as he doesn't follow the no-meat-on-Fridays-during-Lent thing).  Our house is decorated for Easter, complete with quacking and singing chicks, hens and ducks of the Hallmark variety.  We also have plenty of Easter-related books too but we do have a few Passover books and even a set of "ten plagues" finger puppets I bought when Leah was younger.  When Leah chose a Passover book for me to read at bedtime the other night I got to thinking that maybe we should celebrate somehow.  By the power of the Internet (http://www.chabad.org/kids/article_cdo/aid/1609/jewish/The-Seder.htm), last night I found a kid-friendly (meaning abbreviated) step-by-step Seder instructions.  Since this was a "spontaneous plan" (which sounds like a total oxymoron), I had to make do with whatever I had here.  The commissary here is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays (don't even get me started!) and trust me, even if it were open I would be hard-pressed to find everything I would need to create a Seder plate and get all the other things I would need.  Luckily, Matt's mom had sent a box of Passover matzoh (I only recently learned that not all matzoh is kosher for Passover) so at least we had that.  Everything else I improvised.  I knew it wasn't going to be a by-the-book traditional Seder and I was OK with that (as I have stated earlier).  Everything was on best-effort basis with two goals:  1) to tell the kids the Passover story and 2) to let them see how Passover is celebrated.  I think we reached those goals.  I'm not saying they don't have questions.  I didn't even understand parts of it (and I can guarantee I was not pronouncing half the Hebrew words right) but that's where Matt will come in when he comes home.  So how did we do our "Passover Lite"?  Let me show you....

After school while the kids were eating their non-Passover-friendly snack (that is orange and resembles a sea creature), I read them My First Passover Board Book.  The book is too young for both kids, but in a sense, it's just right for us Catholics with no Seder experience of our own.  Then I read to them from a children's bible the story of Moses from the time he floated in a basket on the Niles as a baby up until he brings the ten commandments down from Mt. Sinai.  (Incidentally, Leah's CCD class had been reading about Moses and the Exodus story just a couple weeks ago.)  The part with the ten plagues is always a favorite.

Frogs, wild beasts, boils, locusts and death
to the firstborn.

Rivers of blood, lice, sick cattle, hail and darkness.

  After their snack, Leah colored us a Seder plate while Aaron worked on some Passover mazes.

 We began our Seder (at a table covered in an Easter egg tablecloth) by following the 15 steps on Seder guide I printed.  Some of it was easy to follow (like eating matzoh) and some we altered according to what we had available (apple slices for charoset).  Some we just did what made sense because we didn't know what we were supposed to do (like saying "cheers" before drinking the first drink in lieu of reciting Kiddush over a cup of wine).  We used broccoli in lieu of parsley to dip in salt water and spinach in place of romaine lettuce.

Ready to begin the Seder.

Our Passover feast.

We passed over the step where we you read the Passover story since we had done that earlier.  Leah's favorite parts were all matzoh-related.

Leah loves to eat matzoh.

Leah found the Afikomen!

Overall, I would rate our kid-friendly, gentile Passover Seder a success.  We celebrated by having ice cream for dessert and watching a new Magic School Bus DVD. 

Whether you celebrated Passover or Easter--or both like us--we hope you have a happy and healthy holiday!