Overload, part 3: Pesach
so after the great weekend away, the mob from AUJS (Australasian Union of Jewish Students, for those of you who are wondering what that was) at my university that is Deakin, had a number of meetings to decide what we're gonna do for Pesach (Passover). after the success of our first funcion in March, where we had beer and bagels, it was gonna be pretty hard to top it. our exec, which i am the vice-president of, met and brainstormed a few ideas. we decided that we'd have it a few days before Pesach. last year AUJS at Melbourne uni attempted the world record for the world's largest pitta bread. so we thought, how about the world's largest matzah? we decided that this would be logistically way to difficult, but it was a good concept so we went with it. we all agreed that can still make and bake our own matzot. so we made a few phone calls and got in touch with a Rabbi that does such a thing at Jewish schools. so we organised some drinks, including Goldstar beer inported from Israel, as well as traditional dips to go with the matzah, such as charoset, egg and onion, salmon, eggplant and olive. i made a makeshift seder plate, cos i was too scared to take my own.
the day was a huge success. we had Hebrew music playing the whole day. the Rabbi came with his van full of kids and a trailer with all the equipment for the baking. he brought some flour, and we made some dough, and rolled it out on a table into round matzot and baked them in what looked more like a bbq. of course, these weren't kosher matzot cos they aren't made in the 18 mintues that its supposed to be made in. it only took a couple of minutes in the oven, but this stuff tasted so much better than the other shmura matzah that you get that tastes and feels like cardboard. we also had normal matzah from the boxes for anyone who did want to make their own. Yehuda and another Rabbi, with another van-load of seminary girls, came from an organisation called Merkos, and gave out proper shmura matzah for Jewish students to have at their sederim. i also made some fliers about Passover for the non-Jewish students, and plenty of them came up and also made matzah and asked questions, and it was really great that they were interested in what we were doing.
on the Friday afternoon, Project Cheppiness was in phase 2. the same group of guys went to the nursing home again, and gave out matzah, and we played on the piano and entertained the folks there. it was even better than the frist time. the next day was erev Pesach and i went with my parents to some family friends that we have been going for seder almost every year. the first time i went there i was 8 years old. believe it or not, 12 years later, i still had to sing the Ma Nishtana. i wasn't the youngest there, cos one of the sons had twin girls, but they were only a year old, so yeah. this wasn't a very religious seder, we didn't bother with the benching after the meal, and the last two cups.
for the second seder, however, i was invited to Yehuda's (the Chabad Rabbi) place, where he invited a few students. there were only a few other people i knew, but the rest were some international students from Melbourne uni from the States, and about 10 girls from overseas that were here for seminary. it was really interesting talking to them, because it would be the only time they're allowed to socialise with guys, not even at the Friday night Chabad Shabbatons every now and then. i was sitting next to two girls, one was from Manchester, England, and the other was from Lithuania. the rest were from New York. we did the Ma Nishtana in a few different languages appart from English and Hebrew, including Yiddish, Russian and Lithuanian. this seder was strictly by the book. each cup of wine had to be filled right to the top and we had to drink all of it. the cups were pretty big too, the normal sized plastic cups. we also had to eat the right amount of shmura matzah, about half a round thing each time the hagada instructed us to eat it. it was then that i realised that the religious folks dont have the decent matzah from the boxes, but i still don't know why. it was so funny listening to everyone gulping down their wine and munching on their matzah. anyway, it was a great night, i had a lot of fun, and i learnt a bit, too. at the end, some of the seminary girls were walking in the same direction as me, so i walked with them for most of the way.
the next day, i was invited for lunch to a friend's place, Moish. i was lucky i didn't have uni that day cos it was a public holiday her in Aus, ANZAC Day, which commemorates Australia and New Zealand's war dead since World War 1. anyway, i digress. Moish is also a Chabad guy and goes to my uni. he was the one i got a lift with to the weekend away, who also broke his guitar strings. he's also friends with my cousin Daniel, cos they went to school together for a few years. his family is really nice, and he has an adorable little brother, who has Down syndrome.
hmmm, i need a food break. stay tuned for the next installment.
the day was a huge success. we had Hebrew music playing the whole day. the Rabbi came with his van full of kids and a trailer with all the equipment for the baking. he brought some flour, and we made some dough, and rolled it out on a table into round matzot and baked them in what looked more like a bbq. of course, these weren't kosher matzot cos they aren't made in the 18 mintues that its supposed to be made in. it only took a couple of minutes in the oven, but this stuff tasted so much better than the other shmura matzah that you get that tastes and feels like cardboard. we also had normal matzah from the boxes for anyone who did want to make their own. Yehuda and another Rabbi, with another van-load of seminary girls, came from an organisation called Merkos, and gave out proper shmura matzah for Jewish students to have at their sederim. i also made some fliers about Passover for the non-Jewish students, and plenty of them came up and also made matzah and asked questions, and it was really great that they were interested in what we were doing.
on the Friday afternoon, Project Cheppiness was in phase 2. the same group of guys went to the nursing home again, and gave out matzah, and we played on the piano and entertained the folks there. it was even better than the frist time. the next day was erev Pesach and i went with my parents to some family friends that we have been going for seder almost every year. the first time i went there i was 8 years old. believe it or not, 12 years later, i still had to sing the Ma Nishtana. i wasn't the youngest there, cos one of the sons had twin girls, but they were only a year old, so yeah. this wasn't a very religious seder, we didn't bother with the benching after the meal, and the last two cups.
for the second seder, however, i was invited to Yehuda's (the Chabad Rabbi) place, where he invited a few students. there were only a few other people i knew, but the rest were some international students from Melbourne uni from the States, and about 10 girls from overseas that were here for seminary. it was really interesting talking to them, because it would be the only time they're allowed to socialise with guys, not even at the Friday night Chabad Shabbatons every now and then. i was sitting next to two girls, one was from Manchester, England, and the other was from Lithuania. the rest were from New York. we did the Ma Nishtana in a few different languages appart from English and Hebrew, including Yiddish, Russian and Lithuanian. this seder was strictly by the book. each cup of wine had to be filled right to the top and we had to drink all of it. the cups were pretty big too, the normal sized plastic cups. we also had to eat the right amount of shmura matzah, about half a round thing each time the hagada instructed us to eat it. it was then that i realised that the religious folks dont have the decent matzah from the boxes, but i still don't know why. it was so funny listening to everyone gulping down their wine and munching on their matzah. anyway, it was a great night, i had a lot of fun, and i learnt a bit, too. at the end, some of the seminary girls were walking in the same direction as me, so i walked with them for most of the way.
the next day, i was invited for lunch to a friend's place, Moish. i was lucky i didn't have uni that day cos it was a public holiday her in Aus, ANZAC Day, which commemorates Australia and New Zealand's war dead since World War 1. anyway, i digress. Moish is also a Chabad guy and goes to my uni. he was the one i got a lift with to the weekend away, who also broke his guitar strings. he's also friends with my cousin Daniel, cos they went to school together for a few years. his family is really nice, and he has an adorable little brother, who has Down syndrome.
hmmm, i need a food break. stay tuned for the next installment.