Passover 2010 PART 1

On March 29 we celebrated the Jewish holiday of Passover. We gathered as a family at Joel's parents house for a night of fun and food!!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Passover, it is a holy day commemorating the Hebrews' excape from enslavement in Egypt. A big part of Passover is remembering the 10 plagues that God sent on the Egyptians before Pharoah released the Hebrews from slavery. Many of you will remember that when the final plague (death of the firstborn) came upon the Egyptians, Pharoah finally released the Hebrew slaves and they left in such a hurry that they could not wait for their bread to rise. So, in commemoration of this, during Passover, no unleavened bread is eaten. We eat Matza instead.

Doesn't look very appetizing, but it's like eating a big cracker!

A few years ago, as the number of children in the family increased, Joel's parents began to look for a format that was more kid-friendly. Traditionally, the Passover seder (the special dinner we eat during this festival) is a very long ordeal and the kids don't do very well when dinner is not served until 10 or 11 o'clock at night and if they are expected to sit still for several hours listening to someone read in a language they don't understand. Anyway, they were able to find a Haggadah (the special text used to retell the story of the Exodus) that was made for children and the whole family is able to enjoy the seder without (many) interruptions. Here's a look into our Passover seder .......

The table is spread with all of the things that remind us of the Exodus ... including the creepy crawlers that came during the plagues!

Some of our good family friends were invited to join us so there was a full house and a very long table!

My favorite part .... MATZA BALL SOUP! Yum!!!

In an effort to keep this from turning into a novel I won't explain everything, but one of the traditions is eating the bitter herbs to remind us of the bitterness of slavery. This is supposed to be unpleasant, but of course, the kids love the bitter herbs and they pretty much cleaned out the supply after everyone else had had their taste.

The first plague ... Blood.

Frogs.

Filled with water to make it more fun!
Lice.

Actually rice that the kids get to throw at each other. It gets EVERYWHERE and totally gets the point across!

Flies.

In our case, bugs .... same thing right?

Boils.

Hail.

Notice the big white balls!

Darkness.

TO BE CONTINUED ..........