Starring Michelle as Moses!

Today is Passover (Pesach)– you know when God killed all the first born sons of Egyptian families where the Jews where living, and not so happily I might add, and “passed over” their houses, sparing their sons. I made this comment once in Egypt when I was there during Passover in 2000 and remarked “Oh, today is Passover. Happy day.” My friend rolled her eye and said “Michelle, I can’t imagine this was happy day for Egyptians”. Oh, right.

Anyway, Passover is one of my favorite holidays as a non-practicing anything. I have spent the last 4 of 6 Passovers since my return from Peace Corps sharing at sedars with my friend Rebecca and her family. (Last year I was lucky enough to also be a part of Honey’s sedar.) Rebecca makes great matza ball soup, charoset (yum); bitter herbs, lamb, chicken (also) and all of the other fixings. I have to bring a bottle of wine and/or juice and get to feast with the extended family, plus we go thru the haggada - a pretty lefty one provided by her father (along with an orange on the sedar plate).

The most delightful aspect of the whole evening is we had a kit designed to make Passover fun for children. It comes complete with all of the plagues including cottonball hail, plastic locuses, food coloring blood, silly sickly moo-cows, tiny rubber fleas and other such plagues. And two hand puppets – one of Moses and the other of Pharaoh. I get to play Moses. Adam, much taller, and slighty more intimidating man (whose really a teddy bear) always plays the Pharaoh. When we get to the part in the heggeda where Moses says, Pharaoh, let my people go! I get to say it, of course, with dramatic zeal. Pharaoh and Moses fight for a while (as hand puppets go). The now-five-year-old joins in by throwing hail, fleas and cows at the pharaoh and general plague chaos ensues. It’s a great time.