Things have been a bit crazy on this side of the aisle of Hey! That’s My Hummus! And the craziness has been completely hummus-free.
That’s because the observance of Passover — a holiday which continues for seven or eight days (depending on your custom and location) — began on Monday evening. And there are some restrictions on what one can eat. The main rule has to do with the prohibition on eating bread due to the time restrictions the Israelites had when they were escaping from slavery in Egypt. No time for the dough to rise = no bread = matzah.
<sarcasm> Yum. </sarcasm>
But it goes further from there. It also means that one can’t eat food which has yeast in it. Or anything which rises. And that spirals out to certain types of grains. And for Jews originating from Eastern Europe? The traditions also exclude one from eating corn, rice and legumes. Since hummus is made from chickpeas, which are legumes — no hummus for many of us on Passover.
But what exactly is Passover all about? There are so many ways to tell the story. That is, in fact, the purpose of the Passover seder.
There have been many misconceptions about the true story of Passover; people often get confused about what actually is in the story and what isn’t. For that reason, I present you with this song which gives you the short version of this and every other Jewish holiday — They tried to kill us, we survived, let’s eat.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ4X6XegbTA
I hope this clears it up for everyone. Have a wonderful holiday!
