One of the places holding a seder this year is the All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Sterling, Va.
The cheerful Virginians gathered around their Passover seder table, laden with matzah and charoset, had just said the second blessing over the grape juice when the loudspeaker crackled to life.
“Allahu akbar! Allahu akbar!” the call to prayer interrupted their seder. And the Passover participants rose from their seats, for a Muslim worship interlude in their Jewish service.
I knew that "Allahu akbar" means "G-d is great" because it's what ISIS fighters shout in videos as they bomb things. I'm glad to learn they haven't totally co-opted the phrase.
Marijuana has now been declared by an orthodox Rabbi to be kosher for Passover. Things were different in 2007.
One person who made a fool of himself this Passover was John Kasich (who went to a Hasidic Matzoh bakery in Brooklyn and talked about "Jesus' blood" and called it "The Passover.") Video here.
“The great link between the blood that was put above the lampposts” – er, you mean doorposts, governor — “the blood of the lamb, because Jesus Christ is known as the lamb of G-d. It’s his blood, we believe …”
Then he lectured Yeshiva students about Joseph. (video here.)
“You know who I like?” Kasich finally said. “Joseph. You guys like Joseph? You study Joseph? What do you think about Joseph? Did you hear the most important thing Joseph said to his brothers?”
Silence.
He then tells a story about Joseph being thrown in a ditch and his brothers, who hated him, saved him, and then sold him into slavery, "and that's how the Jews got to Egypt."
There's more. He shook his box of matzohs.
Kasich also made the cardinal error of shaking his box of shmura matzah as he spoke to punctuate his remarks – a cringe-worthy move for Jewish shmura matzah consumers. If the high-priced, delicate matzahs inside are broken, they become unsuitable for ritual use.
The Washington Post has some great photos and recipes of passover foods. And another on Three different matzoh ball soups it loves. But no matzoh brei? I like it with cinnamon, but it's also good with sour cream and applesauce. Here's Bon Appetit's Ultimate Guide to Passover.
Chag Sameach and #Good Pesach everyone.
This is an open thread, all topics welcome.
