An Iranian Seder in Beverly Hills

You might say that Maryam Maddahi and her relatives hold a dry run for the Passover Seder every Friday night, when they have a rotating Sabbath dinner for four dozen to five dozen family members.

It’s a common practice for the family, as it is for their fellow Iranian Jews in Southern California, who began settling there after the fall of the Shah in 1979. The population has grown to about 40,000.

Iran has one of the oldest known Jewish communities, going back over 2,500 years to when Jews fled the land of Israel after the destruction of the First Temple. “We take pride in the country of Persia,” said Mrs. Maddahi, who will host the first Seder on Monday night. “It was an old monarchy, with thousands of years of history.”

On a recent night here at Ms. Maddahi’s home, some 60 family members were listening and dancing to Persian music performed by a violinist to celebrate the birthdays of Mrs. Maddahi and another relative, Younes Nazarian. The guests, talking mostly in Farsi, nibbled on pistachios, plump dates, nuts and raisins, signs of welcome in Iran.

“Food and feasts were a part of life for us,” said Angella Nazarian, one of Mrs. Maddahi’s daughters, who has just published a memoir of the Iranian Jews’ arrival in the United States, titled “Life as a Visitor” (Assouline Publishing). “Jewish people never do anything without food. There needs to be plenty and varied dishes fit for a party of 100 people in order to really call it a dinner party — even if only 20 people are invited.”

The dining table held platters of appetizers including a display of raw scallions, fresh mint, tarragon and dill and Mrs. Maddahi’s extraordinary grape leaves stuffed with rice and barberries and topped with Iranian golden prunes and apricots, a recipe she learned long ago from her mother in Tehran.

Even at Passover, Iranian dinners always include an abundance of rice, brought to Persia from the East about the time that Jews first arrived there. (Ashkenazi Jews do not eat rice at Passover.)

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Tunisian Jews Remember Moses through an Unusual Seder Plate Custom

How many times have we heard that Moses -- the hero of our Passover story -- is never mentioned in the Hagaddah? Apparently Tunisian Jews try to rectify this situation through an unusual Seder plate custom. Instead of adorning their table with a variation of the Seder plate familiar to all of us, they use a reed basket (since I'm not sure of the size, I'll let you pick). They put all the Seder plate symbols inside the basket. Before reciting Ha Lachma Anya -- "this is the bread of affliction" -- the woman of the house takes the basket, and circles it over the head of each Seder participant while saying "we quickly left Egypt." The participants answer by reciting these words: "Yesterday we were slaves. Today we are free. This year we are here. Next year we will be free people in the land of Israel."

I think this subtle remembrance of Moses as a baby in a reed basket is brilliant. Similarly, so is the subtle reference to his mother Yocheved and sister Miriam by having the woman of the house take on this role. Finally, doesn't this custom complement the Bukharan Seder overture that I discussed two weeks ago? Start putting all the customs together that I have brought up and you have the makings of a Passover play.

Enjoy your Seder and Bravo to all the actors!
חג שמח

Posted by Tami Lehman-Wilzig 

Passover Resorts All Over the World

Are you tired of scrubbing and cleaning for Passover and just want to get away from it all? 

Why not spend Passover in Spain, Italy, Israel or Niagara Falls?                                                                                                          

One stop shop for all your Passover 2013 needs. Find all the holiday resorts around the world where you can vacate and enjoy a peaceful getaway. Find Kosher for Passover restaurants. Read interesting articles about the holiday and find Yummy recipes for your holiday dinners.

Read here for all the details.

Passover Traditions Reflect Ethnic, Regional Customs

When most Jewish families sit down for the Passover seder, it's a safe bet that they'll eat matzo, ask the traditional Four Questions and tell the biblical story of the Exodus from Egypt.

It's less likely that they'll be hitting one another with scallions. Or saving a bit of matzo, the unleavened Passover bread, as a talisman for travels. Or averting their eyes as the seder leader recites the 10 plagues that God inflicted upon the Egyptians.

Most American Passover traditions come from the 80 percent of Jews who trace their roots to Eastern and Central Europe in the Ashkenazi branch of Judaism. But others from the far-flung Jewish Diaspora incorporate traditions from their homelands, and they're often different from the traditional Passover fare.

The nontraditional customs frequently come from Sephardic communities -- traditionally Jews who trace their roots to Spain or Muslim countries -- and usually contain a physical element, says the Indian-born Rahel Musleah, a journalist and author of "Why on This Night?"

"In general, I think that there are certain things that Sephardi communities share, the whole idea of making (the Exodus story) more tangible," she said.

For Mojdeh Sionit, that physical element means seder participants swat each other with scallions, reminding them of the lashes that the Egyptian taskmasters inflicted on the Hebrews.

There is levity, though, with these modern-day lashes, said Sionit, 36, who lives in Los Angeles after emigrating from Iran a decade ago. "That's the fun part," she said. "We laugh a lot." For the children, "This is the one chance of hitting someone without getting into trouble."

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