Yom Ha'Shoah - Holocaust Memorial Day

Today is Yom Ha'Shoah, a very somber day in Israel and for Jews all over the world. It has a very special meaning for me, since my father was a Holocaust survivor from Poland. In fact, I was named after my father's mother, Czarna (Charne in Yiddish), and his sister, Ruth, both of whom perished in Treblinka sometime in 1944, along with other members of my family. My brother was named after my father's brother, Artur, who also perished during the war.

My father had been sent by his family to Brussels, Belgium in 1937, at the age of 15, after he was stabbed in the thigh by a gang of Polish youths on his way home from a Hashomer Ha'tzair meeting in Warsaw (the head of his ken -  his meeting place - was Mordechai Anilewicz, who would become the leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in April, 1943). My grandfather realized that there would be no safe haven anywhere in Poland.

Sadly, the rest of the family couldn't get out before Poland was attacked on September 1, 1939. In fact, my grandmother was visiting my father when she heard the news, and decided to take the train back to Warsaw immediately, to be with her two younger children (my uncle, Artur, was only 15 at the time, and my aunt, Ruth, was only 9). The only member of the family to survive the war, aside from my father, was my grandfather. He and Artur eventually escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto through the sewer system, just prior to the uprising.  Artur quickly joined a Polish partisan group in the forest outside of Warsaw; after the war, my father learned that he had been shot by the partisans when they found out he was Jewish.

My father eventually made his way to the U.S. near the end of 1944, thanks to an uncle living in New Jersey who sent him money via the Red Cross during the war, surviving a trek alone through Belgium, France, Spain, and Cuba, always one step ahead of being arrested. He joined the U.S. army to obtain immediate citizenship, and when the war ended, was assigned as a civilian to translate at the Nuremberg trials in Germany (my father spoke 7 languages fluently). Once in Europe, he spent many weekends searching for his father, and finally found him, still living in Warsaw with family friends. Within a year, my grandfather was able to join my father in New York.

My father passed away almost three years ago, in June, 2011. He wrote his life story back in the '90's for the sake of his children and grandchildren, and I re-read parts of it every Yom Ha'Shoah.

Yesterday, we observed Yom Ha'Shoah in our Edot classroom. I shared an age-appropriate presentation I prepared several years ago, taking video segments from the "Heritage: Civilization and the Jews" dvd-rom program to share the history and personal stories from that black era. We then joined the rest of the school in the Sanctuary for a Yom Ha'Shoah assembly, during which the teachers lit 7 candles - 6 for the 6 million Jews who perished, and 1 representing non-Jews who were also murdered by the Nazis.

Zichronam lee'v'racha - may their memories be for a blessing

Israeli Salad

Now that we have celebrated our birth as a Jewish nation during the Pesach (Passover) holiday, we look forward to celebrating the establishment 66 years ago of the modern State of Israel. This year, Yom Ha'Atzma'oot - Israel Independence Day - falls on the 6th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar which, coincidentally, is on the 6th day of May on the Gregorian calendar. Appropriately, I chose an Israeli recipe for our cooking elective students to prepare.

The Israeli salad is prepared almost daily by Israelis. Many of my Israeli friends simply keep a bowl of the diced vegetables on their kitchen tables or counters, constantly refreshing the contents which are a staple for a typical Israeli breakfast (with cheeses and breads and yogurts), or a quick healthy snack between meals, or a simple dinner in the evening (again with yogurt and/or cheeses and breads). The salad can be enjoyed with or without the dressing - the natural flavors of the fresh vegetables blend so well together.

So here is how we prepared it:

As always, immediately after the students have washed their hands and returned to the classroom, I introduce the Hebrew vocabulary.  I learned a new word myself for this recipe - "l'katzketz" - I love the sound of the word!

Each table was set with a bowl filled with already-washed and prepared vegetables, along with the slicing and dicing tools 

In order to be sure we had enough time during our half-hour session to slice and dice all the vegetables and still have time to enjoy the results, each student at each table was instructed to "l'katzketz" (dice) every vegetable in no specific order:

l'katzketz et ha'peelpel ha'tzahov (dice the yellow pepper)

l'katzketz et ha'melafefoneem (dice the cucumbers)

l'katzketz et ha'agvaneeyot (dice the tomatoes)...

...l'chalakeem k'taneem (into small pieces)

l'fa'res et ha'batzel ha'yarok (slice the scallion)

la'seem et kol ha'y'rakot ba'ke'ara ha'g'dola (put all the vegetables into the large bowl)...

...v'az l'hoseef et shemen ha'zayeet v'meetz leemon l'toch ha'ke'ara (...and then add the olive oil and lemon juice into the bowl)

achshav, l'arbev et ha'kol b'yachad (Now, toss everything together)

zeh moochan le'echol (it's ready to eat)

B'TEYAVON! (BON APETIT!)

Crypto-Jewish Seder

Yesterday morning our Edot students participated in a re-enactment of a Crypto-Jewish seder. The Crypto-Jews (also referred to as conversos, New Christians, and Marranos) had no rabbis, Jewish calendars, Haggadot, or Siddurim (prayer books) to teach or remind them of the rituals involved in the Passover seder ceremony. These Jews who opted to convert to Catholicism in order to be allowed to stay in Spain in 1492, but who continued to practice Judaism secretly (as did their descendants), soon forgot many of the Passover seder rituals. They remembered the names of each of the 15 rituals of the seder, thanks to the fact that these names rhyme and were put to many tunes. But they forgot what many of the rituals were that accompanied each step. Thankfully, they could read the Exodus story in the Bible, since the 39 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tana'ch) are included in the Catholic Bible. And so they were able to re-enact the Exodus from Egypt during their secret seders, creating their own rituals as they acted out the story. Below are some photos and videos we captured of the event:

We set up two tables facing each other, with an open "stage" area in between. Here I am dressed as the Crypto-Jews did, all in white for the seder, welcoming the participants.

Here is the second table. Where is Leonardo da Vinci when you need him - I couldn't help thinking of his painting "The Last Supper" looking at each table. The "last supper" was, of course, a Passover seder.

"L'hadleek ner shel yom tov" ("to light the festival candle"). Two students at each table "lit" the holiday candles (the candles and candlesticks are props from our Hebrew Through Movement program).

The dried apricots scattered over each table symbolize the manna God provided the Israelites in the wilderness

The photo's a bit blurred, but we managed to catch three of our "Moses'es" warning all participants to be quiet so as not to be discovered by Inquisition soldiers.

With their rods to use as walking sticks and sacks slung over their shoulders (containing half of the matza we divided during the "Yachatz" part of the ceremony), our 3 "Moses'es" lead the way to the Promised Land...

... with the Israelites quickly joining them. "Where are you going?" the seder participants ask. "To Jerusalem" the Israelites joyfully respond.

Moses pointing to the matzas on the table, sharing their symbolic meaning

Preparing to eat the "maror" (Romaine lettuce leaves)

Notice that the roasted egg and charoset are missing on the seder plate. The egg was eaten during the meal by the Crypto-Jews, in the form of "huevos haminados" (eggs boiled for several hours in onion skins and vinegar - the original dyed eggs), as was the charoset, in the form of balls. They were not included on the seder plate.

Drinking one of the 4 cups of wine (grape juice, in our seder)

Re-creating the crossing through the Reed Sea. Waves stand to each side as the Israelites safely and joyfully  pass through...

...but close over the Egyptians.

As "free" people, we sing the Crypto-Jewish (Ladino) version of "Chad Gadya" - "Un Cavritico" (which Joel taught us last Sunday and which you can hear on my April 7th post)

 
There was one point during the seder (just after the third cup of wine), when we had an uninvited guest appear - he barged in just as I was opening the door for the Prophet Elijah.

Thankfully, he could find no wrong-doing (believing we were good Catholics holding an Easter feast, as many Crypto-Jews pretended), and left.

Hopefully, our Edot students will share what they learned about the Crypto-Jewish experience in Spain with their families and friends during their own seders this evening.

CHAG PESACH SAMEACH - HAPPY PASSOVER

Coconut Pyramids

This past week we "became slaves in Egypt" during our Hebrew cooking elective, building structures for Pharaoh in Egypt - in this case, pyramids. But instead of using mortar and bricks, as our ancestors did, we built sweeter versions - made out of shredded coconut!  We basically followed a recipe for coconut macaroons, but shaped them into pyramids. I prepared the dough ahead of time, since it had to be refrigerated at least an hour before we could work with it. But even so, we barely managed to finish preparing all the "pyramids" and get them into the oven before our session was over. In a way, we felt the pressure the slaves must have felt back in Egypt to get the job done quickly and efficiently.

No ancient Egyptian here - all Hebrew!

La'seem batzek ba'kaf shel ha'yad... (Put the dough into the palm of the hand...)

...v'az l'galgel et ha'batzek l'tzoorat kadoor. (...and then roll the dough into the shape of a ball.)

Achshav, l'hash'tee'ach et ha'kadoor l'tzoorat peerameeda. (Now, flatten the ball into a pyramid shape.)

La'seem et ha'peerameeda al ha'tavneet. (Put the pyramid on the cookie sheet.)

L'galgel v'l'hash'tee'ach (Roll and flatten)

Al taf'seekoo la'avod! (Don't stop working!)

The almost-finished product - it still needs to be dipped in...

...CHOCOLATE - YUM!

U'va'sof, l'nakot (And finally, clean up)

Pesach Songs and Vocabulary

Yesterday, the 6th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan (coincidentally, the 6th day of April), we returned from our spring break vacation and set right in to preparing for Pesach, which begins just a week from this evening.

As usual, I began the Sunday sessions by reading from the novel, "The Family Y Aguilar." We are currently studying the Jews of Spain, and this novel provides detailed descriptions of what life was like for Crypto-Jews living there at the start of the 17th century, in constant fear of discovery by the Inquisition.

After cleaning our tables from the Goldfish snacks which the students enjoy while I read the story, we took about half an hour to review the 15 steps of the Pesach seder - the reason for, and "how-to" of each step. As we went along, I shared with the students which rituals the Crypto-Jews remembered and which they had forgotten after years of living without Haggadot, synagogues, Rabbis, Jewish calendars, and siddureem (prayer books). Thanks to the fact that the steps of the seder rhyme, and can be set to many tunes, the Crypto-Jews recalled all the steps, but could not recall the rituals that accompanied several of them. They devised new rituals for those they could not recall. Next Sunday we'll be re-creating an abridged version of a Crypto-Jewish seder in class both sessions, so the students will be able to experience the new rituals which many Jews of Sephardi heritage still practice today.

We then moved to our second classroom, set up for our Hebrew Through Movement exercises. For the past few sessions, I've been focusing on introducing Pesach vocabulary, and we've had a lot of fun in the process. Lots of photos are taken, but because of all the movement, so many of them come out blurred.  Here are a few of the more successful shots:

L'hadleek neirot shel yom tov (Light the holiday candles)

L'hareem kos shel Pesach (Raise the Pesach cup)

Leesh'foch ya'een shel Pesach ba'kos shel Pesach (Pour Pesach wine into the Pesach cup)

Koolam l'varech al neirot shel yom tov (Everyone bless the holiday candles)

Following our HTM exercises, Joel came to our classroom to teach us two Pesach songs. The first was the Crypto-Jewish melody for the 15 steps of the seder - a very simple and haunting melody. Once Joel was sure we could sing that melody on our own (which we'll sing at the seder next week), he taught us an even older melody that originated with the Jews of Babylonia (whom we recently studied). We also had fun putting the names of the steps to other recognizable tunes - the William Tell overture, the Star Spangled Banner, and Tango Jealousi. The final song we learned yesterday was the Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) version of "Chad Gadya," the final song in the Pesach Haggadah - "One Kid."  This song was originally composed in Europe sometime during the Middle Ages, written in Aramaic. The song made its way down to Spain, and became a very special song for the Crypto-Jews, who envisioned themselves in the kid's role of victim and ultimate victor.  The song is "Un Cavritico" (A Little Kid), and we were able to capture Joel teaching this song in the following videos.