A picture from last years’ ramp hunting adventure. Ramps and fiddle head ferns are in season right about now.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what I should make for Pesach this year. I always do. The food is really as important as any other part of the seder. For many people the meal is what it’s all about. I know many families, including my own growing up, that saw the service as something to get through before you could eat.
I like the meal to be an integral part of the service and not something separate, which is why the food I serve is so important to me. Carefully planning a menu, which is something I can also share with my husband, is something I really enjoy. Choosing dishes that are symbolic and work well together to create a delicious meal — well it’s just fun and fulfilling.
This year the theme is going to be fresh and local. While I have an idea of what I’ll be making, the final decisions won’t be made until Sunday morning at the farmers’ market. That might seem risky, but I’m at that market almost every Sunday — so I do have a pretty good idea of what’s available. I love the idea of using food for Passover that I can talk to the person/people who grew or raised it. Passover is as much a spring holiday of re-birth as it is a holiday of spiritual re-birth and serving food that is closely connected to the land I live on will help enhance that connection for me, and hopefully my guests. While the haggadah focuses primarily on the Exodus from Egypt, there are many obvious and subtle references to the nature holiday hiding just below the surface. From the symbolic foods on the seder plate to the spiritual re-birth of a people — it’s just not a huge leap.
You can learn more about the agrarian roots of Passover in Arthur Waskow’s Seasons of our Joy.
Happy Pesach!
Technorati Tags: sacred food, eating, pesach, passover, farmers market, local
The Peeling a Pomegranate Passover Haggadah has been updated for 2007. Only a few minor tweaks this year. I cleaned up a few typos that we found during Pesach last year.
More information and to purchase (only $18 for unlimited personal copies)
I hope you all enjoy it and I look forward to hearing your feedback and different ways you made it your own.
I also have several copies of last year’s haggadah that I made for my seder last year that I’m happy to donate to a good home. I’m going to make new ones for this year, using the updated edition. The only update to this year is a few typos. Leave a comment if you are interested in my old copies. I’ll wait a few days and pulll a name out of hat and that’s who they’ll go to!
Technorati Tags: pesach, passover, haggadah
I’ve been wondering how to broach this subject, and I think I should just say it straight out. I get lots of interesting questions because of this site, and 99% I’m really very happy to answer them. I’ve also enjoyed many interesting discussions and debates about specific issues or points that I’ve raised on this site. Many of these people are now people I regularly correspond with and get all happy about when they leave comments on the site. (*I do love the comments!*)
However, beginning your question with phrases like, “what scripture do you use to defend your practices,” is not a good choice. I seem to have an influx of Christian visitors recently, and especially those who call themselves “Messianic Jews.” I will be honest and say that my experience with Messianic Jews, or Christians as I prefer to call them, has not been good. In my past experience, their only interest in me and my site is to either (a) try to convert me or (b) turn my site into their pulpit.
I read and join the conversation on a variety of blogs including Christian ones. When I am reading the thoughts of someone outside my spiritual path, I try to remain aware of the specific ways the different faith traditions filter information. And I would ask the same of those who come to this site. I am Jewish. I am not interested in converting to Christianity, or frankly adding Jesus’s teaching to those I study. Yes, I know Jesus was Jewish — but his teachings and those asking me to consider them — are now Christianity. It’s a line in the sand for me. Judaism is not an incomplete for of Christianity — it’s a self-contained religion with a myriad of flavors and facets.
If you are not Jewish, but are truly interested in my thoughts on things spiritual or my particular approach to things — I welcome the conversation — but my focus is on reaching out to Jews interested in Earth-based practice. I do not understand why I am able to easily explain to Pagans the difference between Hermetic Qabalah and the Jewish mystical tradition of kabbalah, but not be able to discuss the large difference between the Torah, Talmud, and the Jewish tradition of interpretation and the Christian bible and approach to scripture.
But please show me the respect that you would expect.
Technorati Tags: rant, interfaith, earth-based judaism, understanding, respect
I had a very quite Purim this year. In the past I’ve thrown a raucous Purimschpiel, so this was a little strange. I think I’ll throw the party again next year, I just felt kind of sad. My topsy-turvy Purim was to have a quite day instead of a big party where I read the bible and make people act it out. It’s much more fun than it sounds!
I did manage to make some hamentashen, but they just weren’t up to my usual standards. The first problem is that I couldn’t find a single store in DC that sells the poppy seed filling and I just didn’t feel like trekking to the suburbs. I gave in and made my own, but it’s just not as good. I don’t know what I do wrong — maybe it’s sitting in corn syrup for months that gives the canned stuff that special touch. The filling turned out a lot better than my previous attempts, which may have been because I let it sit for a day before using it.
I hope you all had a festive Purim and are now in preparation for Pesach. I have two tiny revisions to make the PeelaPom Haggadah, which I hope to have posted this week. There’s a couple of typos we discovered during the seder last year that both of my copy editors missed.
Technorati Tags: mohn, hamentashen, poppy seeds, purim, baking, passover, pesach, haggadah
I know berries aren’t in season yet, but it’s just a lovely vision of the coming spring and summer
Local and Organic - It’s not Either/Or
As always, the conversation is being reduced to simple answers. This just isn’t that simple. People want to think about one thing and one thing only, it seems. The problem is, that the goal should be sustainability and it equals local, organic, smart good production. Something that is apparently too complicated.
Why do we need to reduce everything to a sound bite? Aren’t Americans smart enough to understand the bigger picture? If you know that the best possible option is local food that’s raised organically (or naturally) then go for that whenever possible. Join a CSA, shop at the farmers’ market or the local organic market, and make the best choices that you can!
Sacred Eating Resources
New on My Wishlist
Explore more books for sacred eating practices at the PeelaPom Bookstore
Recent Articles in the News
Technorati Tags: local food, organic food, sacred eating practices, food, whole foods, sustainability
