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Meal plays big role in celebration of Passover
Passover recalls the exodus from Egypt and commemorates Jewish freedom.
YOUNGSTOWN — Joan Schwebel recalled that a rabbi once told her, “Families eat together, and Jews are a family.”
And the family expands to whoever needs a place at the table during Passover, which begins at sundown Saturday. The eight-day celebration, Pesach in Hebrew, commemorates the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt and to freedom.
Schwebel, of Boardman, said she would play host to some 20 people for the observance. “We live in a country where freedom is valued,” she said, noting both Jews and Gentiles at her Passover table recognize the treasure of freedom.
Schwebel is a popular cooking instructor at the Jewish Community Center, 505 Gypsy Lane, where she presented a “Cooking for Passover” program earlier this week. It was another in a series of Jewish cooking classes that also included Shabbat, the weekly Sabbath, and another on dairy cooking.
Schwebel said she doesn’t just like to cook ... she “loves to cook.” “I’m in heaven when I’m cooking,” she said. Her definition of joy is cooking for someone. And that ingredient, which transforms cooking from a chore to a culinary adventure, is something she shares with those who attend her classes.
After retiring from Mahoning County clerk of courts office, Schwebel turned to her passion, cooking. “I tried my hand at catering. I had wonderful help,” Schwebel said of Sadie Schwebel Rifkin and Louise Greenberg, now deceased. “I still do some catering now and then.”
Cooking for Passover is challenging. “It’s very different. Every Jewish cook will tell you that,” Schwebel said.
Here’s why. Dishes, utensils and cooking pans used for foods during Passover must be prepared in certain ways, or there must be separate dishes, utensils and cooking pans for use only at Passover. The kitchen at the JCC had signs posted that the kitchen had been prepared for Passover. Information in newsletters of local synagogues explained the process of kashering. This purging of leaven is accomplished through the same process in which it was absorbed. For example, pans used in broiling are kashered by fire and heat.
“Kosher for Passover means nothing with flour,” Schwebel said. “When God freed the Jews and there was the exodus from Egypt, there was no time to let dough rise and bake bread,” she said. The unleavened bread, which didn’t have a chance to rise, is symbolic of the exodus.
Schwebel also mentioned the first two nights of Passover that focus on the Seder, a ritual meal that involves foods eaten in a certain order and the telling of the exodus story. The Seder plate, she said, includes a roasted egg, symbolizing life; shankbone, which represents the sacrificial lamb whose blood marked the homes of Jews to ward off the angel of death; bitter herb, horseradish, symbolizing slavery; vegetable, parsley, symbolic of spring and hope, which is dipped in salt water, which represents the tears of slaves; and charoset, a mixture of nuts, apples, wine and spices, symbolizing the mortar of the bricks that the Jewish slaves made. The retelling of the exodus story also is a vital part.
The other days of Passover present a cooking challenge. “People get tired of brisket and chicken,” Schwebel said, though she admitted brisket, corned beef and matzo ball soup could be counted as Jewish soul food. “I try to offer them an alternative.”
Her menu featured Veal Meatballs with Braised Carrots, Savory Matzo Kugel, Passover Bagel and Trifle, a dessert with sponge cake, pudding, strawberries and coconut.
“We do this because it is our heritage,” she said.
“Jewish cooking has helped define us as a people and is important in the faith,” said Marlene Hollander of Warren.
To her, the 12 tribes of Israel translates into diversity along with a range of “tried and true” recipes. She’ll be hosting some 38 people at her home, emphasizing that it was a welcoming gesture to make room at the table for everyone who needed a place to celebrate Passover.