Passover

March 28, 2002-The Oz Way

We had an unusual Seder at the Bruce’s last night. Ben, Syd Bruce’s 80-something year old father, led the group through the traditional readings & songs. The difference was that he didn’t read any English & he read the Hebrew at breakneck speed. Only a few could keep up. David kept holding up his hand & indicating with his fingers what page & what line Ben was on. There was no way anyone could have gotten anything out of it. It was incomprehensible. No one would have known when we got to the plagues except that David called out, “Plagues.” That’s the part of the Seder dealing with plagues God visited upon the Egyptians when the Pharaoh wouldn’t free the slaves. They do it the same way here. As each plague is mentioned, they dip their little finger into their cup of wine, place the drop on their plate then lick their finger.

I’m so happy we conduct our Seders in a way that allows children & non-Jews attending to grasp the story of the escape from slavery in Egypt to freedom & to appreciate the history that goes along with it all. When David conducts the second Seder at temple tonight, he’ll follow our tradition of doing a lot in English & calling on individuals to read. The only problem he’ll have is keeping a straight face when the liturgy refers to it being the “springtide of the year.” Here it’s autumn, although, back home there was snow.

The food was a different story. Everyone outdid themselves in the cooking department. There were a few foods we usually don’t see at our Seders. An Aunt made coleslaw. The mains were corned beef, chicken, & lamb chops. Rebekka Bruce, their 18 year old daughter, impressed us all with a delicious vegetable terrine. I had the easy part. I brought the hard-boiled eggs, fruit compote, & dessert. I happened to find a delicious ready-made chocolate chip cake I served with ice cream & hard shell chocolate sauce. They knew if I brought dessert it would have to be chocolate. Ben ended up taking home a goodly part of the leftover cake. He’s a not so closet chocoholic.

Conversations & arguments were bouncing off the walls. An uncle took David on regarding the issue of orthodoxy vs. progressive Judaism. The brother of Rebekka’s boyfriend, launched into a dissertation about what’s wrong with American reform Jewry. I entered into a fruitless debate & got lost in his mire of unsubstantiated statistics that he quoted to prove any point he wanted to make. Syd ricocheted between taunting him & maligning the uncle's romanticizing of orthodoxy. Rebekka’s boyfriend, stayed very close to the toilet since the Thai food he had the night before was still causing him grief. And Chloe, the very chubby whippet, made the best of all the tumult by going begging.

During a lull, I was in the kitchen helping to serve. Syd walked in & gave Rebekka a kiss. I let out a pitiful moan & said it made me really miss not being with my children. Rebekka turned to me with open arms & I gave her the hug I had inside me. I doubt that my kids could feel it over the great distance, but it helped me. In case our family felt a warm glow around 6 AM on Wed. morning, your time, that would be my hug.

The Bruces are hoping to come to the U.S. some time in August. Syd has a meeting in the Tacoma, Washington area & wants to use his air miles to bring the family. There’s a pass they can buy that allows three stopovers stateside. I doubt they’ll use one of those for Akron/Cleveland, but if they’re within striking distance (e.g. New York) we may get to see them. They have a Fodor’s USA book & a map of the U.S., so I know they’re serious. It was strange to read a guidebook on what’s so familiar to me. I looked up Akron/Cleveland & chuckled at some of their restaurant/hotel picks. For those of you in the area, Luigi’s, The Inn at Turner’s Mill, & the Barecelli Inn made the cut. The Sheraton in the Falls did as well as the Comfort Inn in Montrose.

Holy Cow!

We said “good-bye” to the dry cleaner today. They’ve been delightful to do business with & one of the women in particular is charming. For those of you who remember way back in the emails, we promised to look up her daughter’s boyfriend at the Mustard Seed in Solon. There are times when I still don’t understand them when they speak, & this was one of those times. The “charmer” said she was happy we had really good weather for our stay & we enjoyed good health while here. I mentioned my nose surgery & she said that she also had plastic surgery on her nose many years ago. She spent her youth at the beach in the sun & she & her friends always looked like “little (insert N-word here).” Well, I wasn’t sure that was what I heard & it was said as we were on our way out the door. As David & I strolled along, we turned to each other to corroborate what we thought was said. Yes indeed, it was another incident of “same, same….but different.”

Another difference here is that most places of business are closed for Good Friday, but are open on Easter. That’s good for us. We’ll go to the movies.

David just read the sports section of the paper & related this to me. Last night was a major footy game. Footy is rugby by any other name. They had the Red Army Choir there for the event. I didn’t even know there was still a Red Army. It was promoted as a performance of “Traditional Russian Folk Music & Dance of the Cossacks.” The concert was after the game was over & ended with the choir singing Hava Nagilah, an Israeli song. Evidently people got up & tried to join in dancing the hora, an Israeli circle dance. It’s a stretch, but if you figure that some of the Cossacks messed with some of our relatives who later ended up in Israel, well, then maybe Hava Nagilah can be a Cossack song.

Toby