I read about this program concept in The Chronicle as Passover approached, knowing my children are no longer in the area and unlikely to share the holidays with me. Immediately I knew the project would benefit my desire to have Passover meals without having to actually prepare the traditional foods.
As a resident at Brookdale Leawood, I would not chop the nuts or the apples. l would not purchase the chicken nor roast the pieces. I would not make the matzah balls nor worry if they would be hard or soft or just right. I would not look for just a small bit of schmaltz for my chopped liver nor would I have the pleasure of performing all the other “labors of love” I had done for many prior seders. All I needed to do was obtain the order form, check the quantity and the prices plus the instructions. Once done I talked to the culinary directors of Brookdale Leawood and asked if I organized the opportunity to get the order, could the interested residents then dine in the Leawood Room to enjoy a prepared pre-paid Passover meal (not a seder). Twenty-three Jewish residents are participating and all they need do is pay up front ... and, of course, show up!
Not only did the directors agree, they will take me to Beth Shalom to pick up the orders, place the food in the refrigerators at Brookdale, and on Thursday evening, April 28, serve the food buffet style: chicken soup with matzah balls, roasted chicken and vegetables, apple matzah kugel and a gourmet flourless chocolate cake ala strawberry sauce ... all prepared by Kosher Connection. Servers will have the tables set, complete with wine glasses. There will be Kiddush, candle blessings, maybe even a few verses of “Dayenu” or “Who Knows One?”
I call that a gift, like “manna from heaven.”
Thank you Rabbinical Association and Annette Fish.
Thank you Kosher Connection.
Thank you Brookdale Leawood.
Sandy Friedman Czarlinsky
Leawood, Kansas
From sorrow to simcha
As the lingering taste of hamantaschen remains with us, it is interesting to note that this Yiddish word may be a relatively recent linguistic development. In German gourmet recipe books there are several kinds of stuffed pastries of which their names end with the German word for pockets, that is, “taschen.” One is “mohntaschen” or poppy (seed) pockets. No doubt the name of this tasty pastry was transformed into its current shape with the name hamantaschen to reflect the meaning of the German expression: “jemanden in der Tasche haben” which is close in meaning to the English expression “in someone’s pocket,” that is, “to have someone under absolute control.” With Haman under our absolute control the fearful month was turned around from sorrow to simcha.
Harris Winitz
Kansas City, Missouri
