Nourishing faith - Passover in Hawaii

The local Jewish community prepares matzoh for annual Passover observances

Young rabbis-in-training from Chabad of Hawaii began Thursday to deliver boxed matzohs as gifts to every Jewish person they knew of on Oahu as a reminder of the coming Passover holy day. The distribution continues this weekend on the neighbor islands.

The big, crisp disc of flatbread, baked in a special New York bakery, is so much more than an ethnic or cultural food. To eat matzoh is an act of religious faith and a celebration of a defining historical event for the Jewish people.

"That's the rule: For seven days we eat unleavened bread," said Eli Hecht, 20, of New York City, here to study with Rabbi Itchel Krasnjansky. "We are not allowed to own anything made with the five grains -- no pasta, no pastry, no bread ... no beer."

"The rule" is in the Book of Exodus, the second book of the Hebrew scriptures. It's written as God's order to Moses as he prepared to lead the Israelites out of Egypt more than 3,000 years ago. Bread dough would not have time to rise because the people must make haste to leave.

The Passover story will be told at communal meals, called Seder, next week sponsored by Jewish congregations. The holiday, called Pesach in Hebrew, celebrates the physical liberation of the Israelites from slavery and also their spiritual freedom as they pulled away from heathen influences.

The Bible requires that Jews assemble each year to celebrate Pesach and that matzoh, bitter herbs and roast meat be served. The original Passover meat came from lambs whose blood was smeared on Hebrew doorposts. Those houses God passed over on the night he inflicted the 10th and final plague on Egypt, killing the first-born child in every family.

At a 21st century Seder, the roast shank bone is most likely to be chicken, a practicality because that is the easiest kosher meat to find in Hawaii, said Pearl Krasnjansky, not to mention easiest to serve to a banquet crowd.

But first, the Bible also mandates housecleaning, to remove any trace of leavening or unfit foods, to render the cooking utensils kosher so the food will be kosher, fit for consumption.

To that end, the rabbi and Hecht and others will take a blowtorch to the ovens in Gov. Linda Lingle's mansion, where a Seder will be held Thursday, and to the kitchens at the Ala Moana Hotel and the Hale Koa Hotel. Yes, a blowtorch.

"To kosher an oven, we take a blowtorch to the racks, the trays," said Hecht. "We take boiling water to the countertops. We kosher everything in the kitchen, everything to be used for Passover." The concept of kosher preparation of food applies all year. "For Passover it is much more strict," he said.

"The more observant you can be about your religion, the better," said Hecht. "The more you show God that you do not the minimum, but the maximum."

The child of an Orthodox Jewish family, Hecht is facing culture shock in his first months in Hawaii. The native of Queens, N.Y., is missing the "vast variety of Jewish stores, the kosher products. In Hawaii, 99 percent of the food we use comes prepackaged from California and New York."

"My family rents time in a matzoh bakery where we know it's all clean and fresh. We bake thousands of matzoh, very strict, very good."

The folks at Chabad have hauled boxes out of storage marked "Pesach" containing plates, glasses, cooking pans and utensils used only for this seven-day holiday period. That reminds Hecht of home, where his family does the same.

"I think strict is good," said the rabbi-to-be. "We are complying with the rules God set up. He wants us to fulfill what it says in the Torah. He tells us he wants us to feel like kings. To fulfill ourselves as Jews, we need to do as much as we can what God wants us to do."