Document text
- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels March 30, 2004 The art of spiritual preparation By Steve Zimmerman The Ashland Daily Tidings With the coming of spring, Jews worldwide are beginning to prepare for the Passover holiday, which celebrates the liberation of Jews from bondage in Egypt more than 3,000 years ago. Mikha Dejack (center) with son Eli (left) pour the flour into a bowl of water to prepare the matza, with Rabbi Avi Zwiebel, and his wife, Faigy. BELOW: The Rabbi rolls out the finished dough to make the matza. Steve Zimmerman | Ashland Daily Tidings One of the most important parts of the Passover Seder is the baking of the matza, the unleavened bread baked under the desert sun during the Jews' exodus from Egypt. Because the exodus was done in haste, there was not time to bake regular bread. Chabad presented "The Model Matza Bakery" recently as part of its educational series. Rabbi Avi Zwiebel, director of Ashland's Chabad Center, conducted the class along with his wife, Faigy, and 2-year-old daughter, Baila. "We showed how matza is made and how special care is taken in order to make sure that it is ready to be used on Pesach," he explained. "We made Shmurah matza, which is specially cared for right from the time of harvest. Special care is taken to ensure it does not come in contact with any moisture or water from when the wheat is harvested." Someone watches over the entire process to make sure the matza is suitable for use on Passover. Water and flour are the only ingredients of matza. But the process is a very exact one and all care must be taken to keep the two ingredients separate until preparation begins to bake the matza. "You are only allowed to use 18 minutes to process from when the water comes in contact with the flour until it is actually baked," Zwiebel said. "If it goes past the 18 minutes, the possibility of it becoming leavened becomes much higher." Special ingredients are needed to make Shmurah matza and that fact often gets lost in the making of the special bread. "There is a lot of detail involved," Zwiebel said. "There is special water. The water is well water that is left overnight. And the flour is not just any flour you buy in a supermarket. The flour is specially cared for from when it is harvested." Rabbi Zwiebel has Shmurah matza for sale and used it during the matza bakery class to show everyone what it looks like when properly baked. "Most of the matza you buy in a supermarket or from a Jewish bakery is made in bulk rates, inexpensive and is not watched from the time of harvest," he said. "There is nothing wrong with that matza but Shmurah matza is the best." Matza is an acquired taste that many Jews only tolerate. But Zwiebel explained the correlation between the taste of matza and life. "Matza is called 'poor man's bread.' Matza shows humility," he noted. "So just like when someone is humble, they do not show off and are not noticeable. Likewise, to that person the matza is flat and simple and very humble in taste." And, Shmurah matza is round, unlike other matza, which is square or rectangular in shape. "Our sages tell us that this world is like a cycle," he said. "Like the saying goes, 'If the poor man who is crying is a fool, then the rich man who is laughing is a fool.' The world is like a circle and nothing stays in one place. There is always hope; the poor man should never give up hope because the world is always revolving like a circle. "Another reason it is round is because in Egypt, the tradition was to bake square matza or three-pointed matza bread. They believed in more than one God and so to express that, they made a couple of points. In Judaism, we believe in the unity of God. Therefore we make our matza round showing there is no beginning or end." For more information on the making of matza or on the Chabad Center's Public Passover Seders, April 5 and 6, or to purchase Shmurah matza, contact Rabbi Zwiebel at 482-2778 or visit chabadofashland.com/passover on the Web. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams