Having trouble viewing this email? Click here April 18, 2022 – 17 Nissan 5782

By Daniel Reichel
 
The sky above Odessa has turned black, these days. The Russian attack on a local refinery has covered the city in smoke and darkened the faces of those who chose to stay. They live with the constant fear that the situation will precipitate. An atmosphere of tension that they try to undo in many ways, for example dealing with these interminable days of conflict together. For the Jews of Odessa, it means celebrating Passover. "Despite this difficult situation, for days we had dozens and dozens of people lined up to receive the packages we prepared for Pesach. It is the demonstration that there is a great desire to feel part of the community, of something bigger", Chaya Wolff explains to Pagine Ebraiche from Odessa. Along with her husband Avraham, Chief Rabbi of the city, she talks about the commitment to offer the community the possibility to celebrate the upcoming holiday. "Hundreds of packs of matzos (unleavened bread) and vouchers to shop for food in a city shop were distributed. We have prepared ready-made Seder dishes for those who want to celebrate at home. From maror (bitter herbs, symbol of the suffering suffered by the Jewish people in Egypt) to haroset (a mixture that represents the mortar used by slaves in Egypt to make bricks), there is everything. We are expecting at least one hundred and twenty people for the first holyday celebration at the synagogue and one hundred and sixty people in a hotel we have booked to be together". The ceremony at the synagogue, explains Chaya Wolff, was planned earlier than usual. "We must respect the curfew. In any case, we will be able to do everything in time and offer those who come a little hope and joy". She and her husband, emissaries of the Chabad movement, moved to Odessa in 1992. Together they built an orphanage and worked to reopen various services for the local Jewish community. "These have been years of great rebirth. We never thought we would witness a tragedy like this war. We have in our eyes the Bucha massacres, the Mariupol tragedy. We pray that there will be an agreement and peace. It will take a miracle that is now difficult to believe, but also the Jews enslaved in Egypt initially did not believe in liberation". For this reason, she adds, trust cannot be lost. "We hope to be freed from this war soon, and that everyone can finally return to their families in Ukraine and Odessa. We hope to be free men and women again. May the light triumph over this darkness".
The commitment of the Wolffs, already described by Pagine Ebraiche, in fifty days of war has reached all areas of the emergency. From the distribution of food, which never stopped, to the transfer of people across borders, especially children. "Many refugees met in Berlin and will now do Pesach there". Those who stayed are in the city with their mothers and grandmothers. "We follow them too, as well as the Holocaust survivors. For them it is difficult, given the memories of the past, but we try not to let them lack for anything".

Read more

Passover as an opportunity for rediscovering lightheartedness after two years of the pandemic, but also as a moment of profound awareness to reflect on the "meaning of life, salvation, and freedom to act, especially because of the very difficult weeks of the war in Ukraine, that reaches our realities evidently not as remote as we sometimes imagine".
Thus, the UCEI president Noemi Di Segni remarked in a message to Italian Jewry on the occasion of Passover. Freedom as a status and the liberation that precedes it, she recalled, "are conditions for planning one's future that cannot take place in solitude and in a void but within a framework of values, first of all, that of life and dignity of human beings and aggregation to the People". Being part of a Jewish community to fully exercise the freedom to be Jewish, to know and preserve a millenary history, tradition, and contribution to the development of humanity are in this perspective "our daily challenges, which in the days of celebration - especially on Pesach - take on absolute concreteness, translating into lively doing, organizing, cooking, praying, narrating and handing down". All this, she remarked, "thanks to the commitment and collaboration of all of you - presidents, rabbis, councilors, secretaries, employees, collaborators, young people, consultants, and volunteers who with dedication helped to reach this holiday". The thought, Di Segni finally points out, "crosses different existential planes and goes to all those who are limited by the virus or other diseases wishing them a speedy recovery, to families in mourning - even in Israel for the recent attacks - expressing our closeness to the families who have joined our communities by finding a corner of light, fleeing the war in the hope of being able to alleviate a part of the horror experienced".

By Anna Segre
 
During the Passover seder, the narrative of liberation from slavery cannot begin without a question. It is not just a device to attract the attention of the little ones: the Talmud explicitly prescribes that even "two learned scholars, who know the rules of Pesach, ask each other", or even, in the absence of others people with whom it is possible to dialogue, "he asks himself". To ask, especially to oneself, means to doubt, not to already know the answer in advance. Therefore, we can get to the seder with many beautiful texts by authoritative commentators, many beautiful literary quotes, or even many beautiful ideas generated by our heads. But we should be ready to doubt, question everything, and ask other questions. In a way, the seder is a question to which we must arrive unprepared.

 

By Kate Kassin*

Ah, the age-old question of macaroon vs. macaron—and one that’s especially top-of-mind during Passover, when macaroons (or are they macarons…) are served left and right. It’s a confusing distinction because the two confections actually have a lot in common. Their spelling differs by a single "o," they’re both members of the cookie family, they’re both gluten-free, and neither contains the flour verboten during the seven- or eight-day holiday. If you compare recipes for the two, you’ll notice that the ingredients are actually pretty similar. They both include egg whites and sugar, and in certain iterations, a few drops of vanilla and a pinch of salt. But the two cookies—which, let’s be clear, I’ll happily eat year-round and not just during Passover—are steeped in distinct cultural traditions and look and taste different. Still, a lot of us, Google included, are confused between which is which, how they are similar, and how they are different.
 
*This article was originally published on Bon Appetit on April 15, 2022.

Read more

In addition to our social media in Italian, Pagine Ebraiche International recently launched its new profile on Facebook. On our page, we share news, photos, and updates. Please take a moment and visit it, and once there, click “Like” or “Follow”. We look forward to bring you great information and connect with you.
We encourage you to comment, ask us questions, or share the content with your friends, family, and co-workers. Join us on Facebook