Cookies and Seders

We've had quite an eventful week in our Edot class. Last Tuesday and Wednesday's sessions prepared poppy seed cookies to be served during our Shabbat Seder on Friday evening. Poppies were considered to be a luxury by the Ashkenazi Jews and were saved for very special occasions, one of which was Shabbat. They were a symbol of prosperity, but also symbolized the manna that God sent the Israelites to eat during the 40 years they wandered in the Sinai Wilderness. Often, the challah breads eaten on Friday evening and Shabbat afternoons were covered with poppy seeds. The cookies were delicious (not one was left, and people were asking for more!). Another success for our Edot bakers.

Rolling the dough into teaspoon-sized balls

Lining the dough balls in rows on the trays

How many dough balls can we fit on the tray?

Catching up on gossip while rolling the dough

Is this too big?

Now that we've rolled the dough, it's time to flatten it out

And now they're ready for the oven - will we get a chance to taste some before we go home? Yes, indeed!

And then came the big night - welcoming Shabbat at our Family Shabbat Seder. The evening was a success, thanks in very large part to all the participants. Families and individual students came up on stage to share the origins of the "Kabbalat (Welcoming) Shabbat" rituals performed on Friday evenings by Jews all over the world, and to share what our students learned about the Ashkenazi Jews of eastern Europe and the traditions they established for welcoming Shabbat. We sang two popular Yiddish Shabbat songs - "L'Cho Dodi" (an Ashkenazi version of the song written by the Spanish Jew, Solomon Alkabetz in the 15th century, describing Shabbat as a queen and a bride whom we are about to royally receive), and "Shabbos, Shabbos, Shabbos" (describing the Jewish vision of Shabbat, a day filled with light and joy and peace). Several students performed a Yiddish skit, sharing the Talmudic story of Joseph who valued Shabbat ("Yosif Mokir Shabbos"), a favorite of Ashkenazi Jews that was often shared around the Shabbat table. The meal at the end of the seder was a tremendous success. We ate roasted chicken, two kinds of chicken soup (Russian and Polish styles), carrot tzimmes, sweet and savory noodle kugels (non-dairy), and vegetarian cholent (the "stew" prepared by Ashkenazi housewives that cooked slowly and stayed hot in the baker's oven, thus fulfilling the Rabbinic command to have a hot meal for Shabbat lunch). We also enjoyed gefilte fish with horseradish, and mixed green salads and, of course, two wonderful desserts - mandelbrot (almond bread) and the poppy seed cookies prepared by our Edot students.These were all traditional eastern European Ashkenazi foods often served for the special Shabbat meal.

We filled the Social Hall (about 130 participants); Joel Siegel led us in chanting the blessings and singing the songs

Sharing the story of Creation with posters describing each day hanging on the wall

Sharing how we prepare for Shabbat each week

Why and how do we light Shabbat candles? And God said, "Let there be light."

And if the good angel sees the home is ready for Shabbat and there is peace among the family members, it wishes that all Shabbatot may be like this one, and the evil angel is forced to say, "Amen." Introducing the Shalom Aleichem song

Blessing the Children (and the parents as well!)

Why do we recite the Kiddush over a cup of wine? We begin the Shabbat meal with joy!

If we're so clean on Shabbat, why do we have to wash our hands before we eat? We make ourselves holy as the Kohaneem (priests) of the Holy Temple did in ancient times.

Why do we put salt on the Challah? To transform our Shabbat meal into a sacred ritual, remembering how the Kohaneem sprinkled salt on the sacrifices to God

Introducing the Yiddish Shabbat songs

The Yiddish skit: S'iz a groysse fish (it's a big fish)...

Mit a perle (with a pearl!).  Thus is Yosif rewarded for making sure the poor in his village have what they need to celebrate Shabbat  - "Oyb emetzer layt epes dem Shabbes, vet Shabbes dos obtzol'n."  (If someone lends to Shabbos, Shabbos will pay him back.")

B'Teyavon - eat heartily. The meal is about to be served!

As the saying goes in Yiddish, "Es los zich essen!" ("It lets itself be eaten!")

 As if our Shabbat Seder wasn't enough, two days later we celebrated Tu Bishvat (which actually began the evening of our Shabbat Seder). I started the session by reading the Talmudic story of "Honi Ha'Me'agel" (Honi, the Circlemaker), who planted carob trees throughout the Land of Israel. The students were then introduced to the teachings of Rabbi Isaac Luria, a Kabbalist whose followers developed the rituals for a Tu Bishvat Seder. The name of the holiday itself is simply the date of the celebration (the Hebrew letters tet-vav equal the number 15; the holiday occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Sh'vat). Following the "Heritage: Civilization and the Jews" dvd-rom program presentation about Luria and his teachings in Room 202 (including a multimedia presentation about the L'Cha Dodi song, a Yiddish version of which we sang at our Shabbat seder),  we moved over to Room 201 which had been set up for the seder (filled with flowers from our Shabbat seder!).

Notice the fruit on the plates - we ate three categories of fruit - fruit with peels or skins we can't eat (banana and pineapple), fruit with stones inside we can't eat (apricots), and fruit which is entirely edible (raisins)

As in every Jewish celebration, we collected tz'daka for the needy (in the cups set on each table)

We read from a Tu Bishvat "Haggadah" ...

...and discussed such questions as "How are people like trees?" and "Have you ever met a person who is "hard" on the outside, but if you take the time to get to know them, is actually "soft and sweet" on the inside?"

Joel came the final 20 minutes of our Seder to teach us Tu Bishvat songs

Notice the tree through the window - what an amazing backdrop for a Tu Bishvat Seder!