April 24, 2005
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Why Is This Night Unlike Any Other Night…
Seder time baby, Seder!
I came late because… well because I pulled a maneuver I thought I was well beyond, taking the wrong train on a two way track. I even missed three trains because I waited for the uptown side to come. Jesus, what a fucking amateur. Anyway, late as i was, i brought nothing and had to go down the block to get some wine, only to run into…
Kelly Shunk (sp?), another Wes 02 grad randomly met and snapped. The world gets smaller everyday.
Back at the homestead, the amazing cooks finished some of the details.
Outfits busted out.
(and before you sexism Nazis jump, althea demanded to be cut off at the head, for some weird reason, and then I just kept the theme with “cake” Olivia). And please notice the seersucker pants on MattSam, who gets the most stylish award.
Wine?
Check.
People waiting in anticipation?
Check.
Beautifully set table?
Check.
Wonderful people to fill it with?
Check.
So lets eat!
Wait, did anyone remember the instructions?
Why yes, Maxwell coffee did. Thanks guys.
So for you non chosen folk, whats really going on here (asks the Jew loving Shiksa)?
This is Pesach, the night we remember the Jewish exodus out of Egypt. We’ve all seen The Ten Commandments, right? That’s half the battle.
Because the Jews had to just pack their shit and get the fuck out of Nile dodge, there was no time to let the bread rise, so on this day, no leaven bread can be eaten. So started the most myth-laden cracker of all.
Matzoh!
So we all sit and eat, right?
Wrong. Seder’s differ from the very long and intense, to the more blasé and fun. We had one of the latter. Before eating, plenty of rituals must take place.
The Seder plate is a good cheat sheet guide.
You’ve got drinking.
Eating bitter herbs, salted (the tears of the slaves).
Drinking.
Talking about why we remember this night, fearless leader Aaron keeping us in line.
Singing.
Concept not too photographically tangible. (I know, reusing lines, but life is cycles baby, circles round the sun. Ritual… get it?).
Eating bitter herbs, again.
Not in the nose, Noah! Geez. These silly goy.
Sure enough, a small wine disaster took place.
But we rolled with it, like the 5000 years of disasters previous.
More wine, more singing, more explaining away the Talmudic relevance of night and day, and then my favorite, the remembrance of the plagues.
[Look at matzoh picture, please]
One drop of wine for each, taking away some happiness to remember that Yaweh did kill the entire Egyptian army. Wow, after all that slavery, after they chased us out, we still have to feel bad (I know, seven tiny drops isn’t that bad). And I will also mention Rutkoff’s favorite part, that even if this happened ages ago, we all must remember being slaves for a day, and that we all are still fighting this horrible bondage. Today we are all slaves, it isn’t something that just happened and we can move on from.
(and even if I have met many many Jews that are just as racist as any KKK member, it still feels good the one of the holiest days of the religious calendar makes a point of remembering the poor souls that were just following orders, and that if anyone is a slave, we all are).
More singing, drinking, explaining. Then, finally, some eating, the, shit I don’t remember the name, fruits and berry’s paste (the sustanence in the desert?)
And then the meal proper.
Jesus the cooks treated us nice. Brisket, geffiltafish, chicken, kugel, broccoli, salad, soup. A feast for kings, for chosen people even.
Mmmnnnn. Delicious, Everyone agrees.
The rituals don’t end there. We still have to find the Afikonen, the special matzoh piece, sing some more, pray, and toast.
Next year in Jerusalem!
And the food does not stop there either. Dessert Bitches!
Dessert! But that looks like levened bread, you say?
Nope, those are matzoh based delicacies.
After all that food and all that wine,
Chillin’ chillin’ cha-zill-ing.
Sleeping?
Cleaning?
Nah. Just more chillin’
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.
Good food, good friends, good mother fuckin’ times.
Hosts (and cooks)
Thank you so much.
Happy Pesach!
