By Marissa Weitzman
One of my earliest and endearing memories from my childhood is with my Bubbie, Ruth Gipstein, and mother in the kitchen preparing matzoh ball soup for Passover. To reach the granite countertop, I would balance on a stepping stool and we would set up in an assembly line. Scoop the dough up, squish and roll it into a ball, and gently drop the sculpture into a pot of boiling water. After the balls were cooked, we placed them in chicken stock filled with a variety of vegetables. I enjoyed every slurp and filling bite of this soup at the table with my family.
Matzoh ball soup is commonly served as a traditional Passover dish, but did you also know that this soup is jokingly referred to as “Jewish Penicillin” and has medicinal powers?
The earliest recording of Jewish chicken soup dates all the way back to the 12th century. Rabbi Moshe ben Maimonides, a Jewish philosopher and physician from Spain, began prescribing “the broth of fowl” for ill patients to treat hemorrhoids, constipation, and even leprosy. He claimed that the broth made from the meat of hens and roosters had healing powers to relieve respiratory illnesses.
Chicken soup has been associated with Askenazic Jews, Jews from central Europe. Askenazic Jews made chicken soup because it was the cheapest meat to raise, resourceful, and prevented illnesses. It was flavored and seasoned with parsley, thyme, and often served with kneidlach (matzoh balls), kreplach (dumplings), or eggs.
In 2000, Dr. Stephan Rennard of the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha published a study in the medical journal, Chest, revealing that chicken soup has medicinal value. He conducted laboratory tests on blood samples from volunteers and showed that the soup inhibits the white blood cell, neutrophils, that defends against infection and causes inflammation, which in turn reduces congestion in the nasal passages. The exact ingredient has not been identified, however, it may be the combination of vegetables and chicken that cause the inhibitory effect. Although chicken soup is not the cure for the common cold, there is a scientific consensus that is does relieve symptoms by reducing congestions and improving nasal secretion flow.
Chicken soup contains many beneficial nutrients that help keep our bodies healthy. Sally Fallon, author of Nourishing Traditions, encourages the use of skin, meat, bones, and feet of the chicken because vital nutrients are secreted into the soup and can be absorbed in our body. Chicken contains many amino acids, including cysteine, which has similar properties as a common drug acetylcysteine, which is used to relieve symptoms of bronchitis. Additionally, other ingredients, such as carrots and onions, provide nutrients that act as anti-oxidants and prevent disease and infections.
Matzoh ball soup is more than just a traditional dish for Passover, it is a history story, a healing power, and a delicious, comforting meal.
Below is my Bubbie’s chicken soup recipe that was passed down from watching her mother from Russia in the kitchen, and is now passed down to me.
Chicken Soup
Ingredients:
1 onion
1 whole Chicken
2 or 3 carrots
1 celery stick Parsley
2 tsp Kosher salt
1 ½ tsp Peppercorns
Preparation: Remove guts and butcher cut the chicken into 4 pieces. Place in large pot. Add a whole onion peeled, carrots cut into pieces about an inch long, a celery stick cut into a few pieces, a handful of parsley, kosher salt, and the peppercorns. Cover with water and cover pot and cook on low heat for an hour or so.
Remove chicken, carrots, and celery. Strain soup. Cool soup and place in refrigerator over night. Remove the fat, which will form on the top of the liquid. If you want to add a Spanish twist, add green chilies, garlic and potato.
By Sarah Spencer
Passover is a time for people to gather around tables, share stories food and rituals. It can be joyous and exciting. But like with any communal setting, is can also be complicated to navigate the different needs and agendas people bring to the table. Still, if we follow Jewish tradition, we will find Passover can be a model for how to create positive diverse communal connections. Its rituals and structures teach us to talk across differences and celebrate commonalities.
Passover is about story telling. And good communication is based on the ability to tell our own stories. Before we gather to celebrate our common identity, we must each own our personal story. Judaism has an oral history, and we have survived by telling those stories and passing them down through the generations. Passover brings us together to celebrate a universal experience of slavery to freedom, a concept everyone can relate to in some way or another. This is the theme around which the story telling takes place on this particular evening. Having a common theme around which to tell stories, a theme with which people from different places or times can identify which, is one of the ways in which people can connect across differences.
Passover encourages us to invite strangers into our home so that we remember that we too were once strangers in own land. We are supposed to open the door and include the strange, the unfamiliar into our familiar Passover ceremony. We can only build strong community when we view the prospect of engaging others as a positive opportunity. Recognize that perhaps some of the people at our table may feel like strangers or that people already sitting at your table may be a stranger to your personal Passover story. We welcome others into our experience and learn about ourselves when we share our stories and hear other people’s experiences and perspectives.
Passover is all about asking questions; so is bridging differences. Ask questions of the people whom share Seder. Diversity is not about trying to understand somebody else’s experience as your own or listening politely while they speak. It is about engaging and learning so that you both might learn from your curiosity about their life. Sometimes it is difficult to ask questions about that which makes us different. Asking questions in a well structured and thought out way can help us navigate what can feel like difficult and unfamiliar territory.
There are many ways to ask questions: like the four children, we can be intentional about how we engage with one another, and need to recognize and celebrate that we all have different levels of skill and capacity when it comes to asking— some are wise, some wicked, some ignorant, and some don’t even know how to ask. Regardless of how we may ask or be asked, it is our engagement with one another that will ensure we continue to grow as individuals and as a people.
The traditional Seder is supposed to be a raucous affair, with food, song, ritual and debate. This historic framework provides a wonderful space for all of us to engage across differences.
By Maya Kasowky
What follows are short descriptions of Seder customs from around the world. For this lesson each custom can be printed out on a separate card or strip.
Circling the seder plate over the heads of each participant, while saying “In Haste we left Egypt”. The response is “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt”
Where it fits in the seder: The very beginning Where it is from: Morocco and Tunisia
Putting the shank bone, charoset, maror, karpas, egg, and matzah all around the table, rather than on a seder plate.
Where it fits in the seder: During set-up, before the seder starts Where it is from: Persian and Yemenite Jews
Putting the shank bone, charoset, maror, karpas, egg, and matzah in a covered basket, ready to carry out of Egypt with us.
Where it fits in the seder: During set-up, before the seder starts. Where it is from: Tunisia
Putting a fishbowl with live fish on the seder table
Where it fits in the seder: During set-up, before the seder starts. Where it is from: Tunisia
Having first night Seder in Hebrew, and the second night Seder in the language you speak at home.
Where it fits in the seder: Throughout Where it is from: Kavkaz (in the Caucasus mountains, in or near Russia)
Each person takes a turn holding up the Matzot and reciting the steps of the seder (Kadeish U’rchatz, Karpas, Yachatz…).
Where it fits in the seder: The beginning Where it is from: Persia
Take a pillowcase, and fill it with heavy objects, before the seder. During the seder, take turns carrying it around the table on your back, to experience a little of the hard work that Jews did as slaves in Egypt.
Where it fits in the seder: At “Avadim Hayinu”, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt” Where it is from: Romania
Interruption in the seder by a “nomad” who is leaving Egypt. Dialogue with the “guest” goes like this;
Seder leader: Where are you coming from?
Nomad: Egypt
Seder Leader: Where are you going?
Nomad: Jerusalem
Seder Leader: What are the supplies for your trip?
Nomad: [sings the 4 questions]
Where it fits in the seder: Right before the 4 questions, or any time, as a surprise Where it is from: Iraq
Pour out bits of wine or grape juice into a bowl of water, and see it turn red/bloody.
Where it fits in the seder: The recital of the ten plagues. Where it is from: Sefaradi custom
Pour wine or grape juice out of a Cup of Pharaoh
Where it fits in the seder: The recital of the ten plagues. Where it is from: India
Gently mock-whip the person who knows where the afikomen is hidden, until they reveal where it is.
Where it fits in the seder: At the very end of the meal. Where it is from: Bukhara
Tie the afikomen onto the back of one child at the seder.
Where it fits in the seder: After Yachatz, and it remains there until the end of the meal. Where it is from: Iraq
By Marissa Weitzman
One of my earliest and endearing memories from my childhood is with my Bubbie, Ruth Gipstein, and mother in the kitchen preparing matzoh ball soup for Passover. To reach the granite countertop, I would balance on a stepping stool and we would set up in an assembly line. Scoop the dough up, squish and roll it into a ball, and gently drop the sculpture into a pot of boiling water. After the balls were cooked, we placed them in chicken stock filled with a variety of vegetables. I enjoyed every slurp and filling bite of this soup at the table with my family.
Matzoh ball soup is commonly served as a traditional Passover dish, but did you also know that this soup is jokingly referred to as “Jewish Penicillin” and has medicinal powers?
The earliest recording of Jewish chicken soup dates all the way back to the 12th century. Rabbi Moshe ben Maimonides, a Jewish philosopher and physician from Spain, began prescribing “the broth of fowl” for ill patients to treat hemorrhoids, constipation, and even leprosy. He claimed that the broth made from the meat of hens and roosters had healing powers to relieve respiratory illnesses.
Chicken soup has been associated with Askenazic Jews, Jews from central Europe. Askenazic Jews made chicken soup because it was the cheapest meat to raise, resourceful, and prevented illnesses. It was flavored and seasoned with parsley, thyme, and often served with kneidlach (matzoh balls), kreplach (dumplings), or eggs.
In 2000, Dr. Stephan Rennard of the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha published a study in the medical journal, Chest, revealing that chicken soup has medicinal value. He conducted laboratory tests on blood samples from volunteers and showed that the soup inhibits the white blood cell, neutrophils, that defends against infection and causes inflammation, which in turn reduces congestion in the nasal passages. The exact ingredient has not been identified, however, it may be the combination of vegetables and chicken that cause the inhibitory effect. Although chicken soup is not the cure for the common cold, there is a scientific consensus that is does relieve symptoms by reducing congestions and improving nasal secretion flow.
Chicken soup contains many beneficial nutrients that help keep our bodies healthy. Sally Fallon, author of Nourishing Traditions, encourages the use of skin, meat, bones, and feet of the chicken because vital nutrients are secreted into the soup and can be absorbed in our body. Chicken contains many amino acids, including cysteine, which has similar properties as a common drug acetylcysteine, which is used to relieve symptoms of bronchitis. Additionally, other ingredients, such as carrots and onions, provide nutrients that act as anti-oxidants and prevent disease and infections.
Matzoh ball soup is more than just a traditional dish for Passover, it is a history story, a healing power, and a delicious, comforting meal.
Below is my Bubbie’s chicken soup recipe that was passed down from watching her mother from Russia in the kitchen, and is now passed down to me.
Chicken Soup
Ingredients:
1 onion
1 whole Chicken
2 or 3 carrots
1 celery stick Parsley
2 tsp Kosher salt
1 ½ tsp Peppercorns
Preparation: Remove guts and butcher cut the chicken into 4 pieces. Place in large pot. Add a whole onion peeled, carrots cut into pieces about an inch long, a celery stick cut into a few pieces, a handful of parsley, kosher salt, and the peppercorns. Cover with water and cover pot and cook on low heat for an hour or so.
Remove chicken, carrots, and celery. Strain soup. Cool soup and place in refrigerator over night. Remove the fat, which will form on the top of the liquid. If you want to add a Spanish twist, add green chilies, garlic and potato.
By Sarah Spencer
Passover is a time for people to gather around tables, share stories food and rituals. It can be joyous and exciting. But like with any communal setting, is can also be complicated to navigate the different needs and agendas people bring to the table. Still, if we follow Jewish tradition, we will find Passover can be a model for how to create positive diverse communal connections. Its rituals and structures teach us to talk across differences and celebrate commonalities.
Passover is about story telling. And good communication is based on the ability to tell our own stories. Before we gather to celebrate our common identity, we must each own our personal story. Judaism has an oral history, and we have survived by telling those stories and passing them down through the generations. Passover brings us together to celebrate a universal experience of slavery to freedom, a concept everyone can relate to in some way or another. This is the theme around which the story telling takes place on this particular evening. Having a common theme around which to tell stories, a theme with which people from different places or times can identify which, is one of the ways in which people can connect across differences.
Passover encourages us to invite strangers into our home so that we remember that we too were once strangers in own land. We are supposed to open the door and include the strange, the unfamiliar into our familiar Passover ceremony. We can only build strong community when we view the prospect of engaging others as a positive opportunity. Recognize that perhaps some of the people at our table may feel like strangers or that people already sitting at your table may be a stranger to your personal Passover story. We welcome others into our experience and learn about ourselves when we share our stories and hear other people’s experiences and perspectives.
Passover is all about asking questions; so is bridging differences. Ask questions of the people whom share Seder. Diversity is not about trying to understand somebody else’s experience as your own or listening politely while they speak. It is about engaging and learning so that you both might learn from your curiosity about their life. Sometimes it is difficult to ask questions about that which makes us different. Asking questions in a well structured and thought out way can help us navigate what can feel like difficult and unfamiliar territory.
There are many ways to ask questions: like the four children, we can be intentional about how we engage with one another, and need to recognize and celebrate that we all have different levels of skill and capacity when it comes to asking— some are wise, some wicked, some ignorant, and some don’t even know how to ask. Regardless of how we may ask or be asked, it is our engagement with one another that will ensure we continue to grow as individuals and as a people.
The traditional Seder is supposed to be a raucous affair, with food, song, ritual and debate. This historic framework provides a wonderful space for all of us to engage across differences.
By Maya Kasowky
What follows are short descriptions of Seder customs from around the world. For this lesson each custom can be printed out on a separate card or strip.
Circling the seder plate over the heads of each participant, while saying “In Haste we left Egypt”. The response is “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt”
Where it fits in the seder: The very beginning Where it is from: Morocco and Tunisia
Putting the shank bone, charoset, maror, karpas, egg, and matzah all around the table, rather than on a seder plate.
Where it fits in the seder: During set-up, before the seder starts Where it is from: Persian and Yemenite Jews
Putting the shank bone, charoset, maror, karpas, egg, and matzah in a covered basket, ready to carry out of Egypt with us.
Where it fits in the seder: During set-up, before the seder starts. Where it is from: Tunisia
Putting a fishbowl with live fish on the seder table
Where it fits in the seder: During set-up, before the seder starts. Where it is from: Tunisia
Having first night Seder in Hebrew, and the second night Seder in the language you speak at home.
Where it fits in the seder: Throughout Where it is from: Kavkaz (in the Caucasus mountains, in or near Russia)
Each person takes a turn holding up the Matzot and reciting the steps of the seder (Kadeish U’rchatz, Karpas, Yachatz…).
Where it fits in the seder: The beginning Where it is from: Persia
Take a pillowcase, and fill it with heavy objects, before the seder. During the seder, take turns carrying it around the table on your back, to experience a little of the hard work that Jews did as slaves in Egypt.
Where it fits in the seder: At “Avadim Hayinu”, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt” Where it is from: Romania
Interruption in the seder by a “nomad” who is leaving Egypt. Dialogue with the “guest” goes like this;
Seder leader: Where are you coming from?
Nomad: Egypt
Seder Leader: Where are you going?
Nomad: Jerusalem
Seder Leader: What are the supplies for your trip?
Nomad: [sings the 4 questions]
Where it fits in the seder: Right before the 4 questions, or any time, as a surprise Where it is from: Iraq
Pour out bits of wine or grape juice into a bowl of water, and see it turn red/bloody.
Where it fits in the seder: The recital of the ten plagues. Where it is from: Sefaradi custom
Pour wine or grape juice out of a Cup of Pharaoh
Where it fits in the seder: The recital of the ten plagues. Where it is from: India
Gently mock-whip the person who knows where the afikomen is hidden, until they reveal where it is.
Where it fits in the seder: At the very end of the meal. Where it is from: Bukhara
Tie the afikomen onto the back of one child at the seder.
Where it fits in the seder: After Yachatz, and it remains there until the end of the meal. Where it is from: Iraq
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