The importance of matzah and Passover memories
My earliest memories of Passover in Brooklyn include our family’s turn at the matzah bakery, helping bake our own hand-baked, round “Shmurah” matzah.
Unlike the square matzah that is bought in local supermarkets, baked using modern machinery; this bakery does everything by hand, from the drawing of the spring water the evening before, mixing of the flour and water, rolling it out, punching the holes and baking them in the oven; Using the same technology that was available to Moses and the Jewish people when they left Egypt 3,329 years ago.
“Shmurah” means guarded, as the wheat is guarded from moisture since before it is harvested.
The evening before baking, we would go out to draw the special spring water and then head to the bakery to do an extra cleaning, changing out all the butcher block paper that lined some of the walls, bringing in new rolling pins, setting up the sanding room for the used rolling pins, preparing new kneading bowls and selecting the flour to be used. Early the next morning we were back at the bakery.
Mmmmm. The smell of the matzah bakery, the rush, the buzz in the air. “Vaser!” “Mehl!” “Water!” “Flour!” shouts Yossel the Dough Kneader, as he kicks off the day.
We kids were there running around picking up the rolled matzah as the recently arrived Jewish Russian immigrants were rolling them out as thin and round as they could. We switched out and sanded down their rolling pins to get rid of the tiny pieces of dough that got stuck on the pin. Sometimes one of the rollers were not happy giving away a good rolling pin, we would plead and beg and then just let it go.
“L’sheim Matzot Mitzvah!” “For the purpose of the sacred Seder matzah!” everyone shouts out in unison. The most important ritual of the Passover Seder is eating at least one ounce of matzah after nightfall. The matzah should be made specifically for this purpose.
My father, Rabbi Moshe of blessed memory, a post-Holocaust immigrant from Russia, was a truly dedicated Chasid, and always went the extra mile to be sure everything was superkosher. Buying hand-baked matzah from the bakery just didn’t cut it. We lived very modestly, but my father didn’t mind the extra cost involved in having the super-kosher matzah. “A mitzvah should cost,” my father would say. And cost it did. Some $25 for a pound of about eight matzot. But for us kids, it was just the greatest excitement! We had so much fun!
Jewish law dictates that once flour and water are mixed, the clock starts ticking on the 18 minutes until the dough is considered leavened. But our matzot would take much less time. Once we clocked it at just under four minutes from start to finish, including the 25 seconds of the dough kneading and 20 seconds in the fiery coal and wood brick oven at 1,300 degrees!
More than a day off from school, my father taught me the importance of hands-on experiences. A human being rolling a matzah can have the intention that it’s for the sacred mitzvah of the Seder evening. A machine cannot have that intention. Hand-baked shmurah matzah. Nothing comes close.
To appreciate the mitzvah even more, we partake it the baking ourselves, we involve the kids, we create memories.
I recently visited that old matzah bakery in Brooklyn, as a flood of childhood memories washed over me. The “giant” bakery was actually a small, modest room a few hundred square feet. The table wasn’t that high after all. But my father’s stature, overseeing the division of the sacred matzot for the extended family, will always remain a tall order.
Am I providing my children with the same meaningful memories? I hope so.
Passover begins this year on the evening of Monday, April 10. Stop by the Santa Fe Jewish Center before the holiday to pick your free matzah and to purchase more for Passover. For an uplifting, inspiring, joyous, delicious, memorable, family-style Seder and dinner, join the Jewish Center on Monday evening. RSVP SantaFeSeder.com or call 505-983-2000. May we all have a very kosher, happy and memorable Passover.