The bad news is we didn't get to go to a seder. The synagogues apparently don't do congregational sedars here: they don't have to, since practically everybody here is Jewish and know how to do their own sedars. Two families who would have invited us -- at least they said they would -- were going out of town. We could have gone to a community seder at the Technion, but the buses wouldn't have been running by the time the seder was over and there was no guarantee someone would drive us home. Trekking home from the Technion would have been a very long walk. Rather than chance it, we didn't go to a seder. Boo-hoo.
Oh well. Next year in Jerusalem.
A couple of weeks before Pesach, you could walk around and see that people were doing intensive spring cleaning. The day before Pesach in several neighborhoods there were men with curls hovering over big tin barrels with smoke coming out. David explained they were burning chometz, or leavened bread.
On the first day of Pesach, David noticed that all the insects were out. He noticed the bugs because he was bit around 15 times. I maybe got one or two bites and barely noticed. David was afraid of an allergic reaction, and his arm looks like the beginning of leprosy, it looks horrible. For some reason bugs of all types like to eat him.
Because of the bug attack, David remarked that the Jewish religion is really meant to be practiced in Israel. He suspects Pesach and the arrival of bugs is no coincidence. Perhaps these bugs don't go after unleavened bread, thus the burning of all the chometz, and he things that the bugs will die down when Pesach is over. In the meantime, David is mad at Haifa for not having any mosquito abatement and thinks it's a wonder we all don't come down with some bizarre or exotic disease like malaria or e-bola.
For kids, the week of Pesach is like spring break in the US, except I don't think they have "Girls Gone Wild" on any Haifa beaches. The stores are open and it is business as usual, kind of. The kosher grocery stores have put plastic sheeting over the foods not kosher for Pesach. With so many people off this week, the malls were exceptionally crowded. The mall food courts were open and serving food from McDonalds, Chinese, and pizza -- all kosher for Pesach. That's right, McDonalds hamburgers are served sans cheese on a potato flour bun that is yellow in color. Pizza is also made with potato flour and served with cheese but no meat. For me, the gluten intolerant, Pesach has been heaven. I've eaten pizza almost every day. I'm running amok eating foods that normally contain gluten and are unavailable or more expensive the rest of the year.
These restaurants prove that if there is a demand they can serve gluten-free food. So gluten intolerants need to unite and demand that restaurant chains make available gluten-free breads and pastries at reasonable prices.
Here's the bad thing though, pizza, buns, pastas, etc. made with gluten-free flour looses some of its flavor. My theory is many of today's foods have been formulated to compliment the flavor of wheat flour. Potato flour with the same ingredients just doesn't go as well. Think of it like this: a baked potato loaded with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese with black olives and mushrooms. Doesn't sound so good, so potato bread would have a similar effect. Now think of a potato bread sandwich loaded with roast beef and gravy, sounds good right -- that's what goes with potatoes. So our culinary delights such as pizza have been concocted to go with wheat flour and wheat flour alone.
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