Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz

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Category: Seder

Wines for a Passover Meal, 2017 edition

March 18, 2017 /

Last Thursday, Congregation B’nai Shalom co-hosted our second ‘Wines for a Passover Meal’ kosher for Passover wine tasting at Julio’s liquor store, Westborough. Their wine manager, Toni DeLuca, had kindly invited me to help choose the line-up in advance again and, together, we made sure that everything served would be palatable. While there are plenty of excellent kosher wines to be had, there is also plenty of pretty awful stuff out on the market. And I did my fair share of spitting out some pretty unpleasant stuff before we arrived at our tasting list.

During the course of the evening, I provided a little history on the evolution of the Passover Seder ritual, and a quick reminder of what makes a wine kosher for Passover. You can read about the history of the Seder here. At the end of the evening, all presented voted on a limited selection to help me choose the wines we would serve at our Community Seder (April 11). If you are local to our area, you are invited to join us – advance reservations required by April 5th via our temple website.

We also talked a little bit about choosing wines to accompany different kinds of meals. In passing, I mentioned a Moroccan stew that I have made for several years for our home Seder which is rich, spiced but not spicy, and which cooks slowly for several hours on top of the stove, making it an easy choice to serve on a Passover evening if you are exactly sure when you’ll arrive at the meal. Here is the recipe – I’m printing it here the way I originally received it, but over the years I have made this a beef stew instead of lamb, primarily due to the availability and price of kosher beef stewing meat over lamb. I think it works just as well with beef. I’ve also varied the exact combination of spices, depending on what I have had available. The stew can handle a lot of variants and still be delicious. A fuller-bodied red wine is recommended for this dish (my choice from this year’s list is indicated further below).

Moroccan Lamb Stew (or beef) – serves 6

Ingredients:
2 lbs lamb shoulder trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces (or chuck beef steak, also cut into 1 inch squares)
Salt to taste
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp Garam masala
1/2 tsp Turmeric
black pepper to taste
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves chopped
1/4 cut olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1 stalk celery diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tsp fresh rosemary, minced
1 cup dry red wine
2 cups low sodium beef stock
1 14oz can tomatoes
1/4 cup pitted prunes, chopped
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped
1 cup blanched almonds lightly toasted.

Instructions
Put the lamb or beef in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle with 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp pepper, garam masala, turmeric and thyme. Toss the lamb or beef with the spices. If time allows, transfer the meat to a resealable plastic food bag and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

In a large dutch oven or a heavy bottomed pot with a lid, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over high heat. Working in batches to avoid crowding, brown the meat on all sides, 5-7 mins per batch. As each batch gets browned, transfer it into a bowl.

Pour off the fat from the skillet and add the remaining oil. Reduce the heat to medium, add the onion, carrot, celery and 1/2 tsp salt and saute until the onion is tender and has colored slightly – about 5 mins, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon and scraping the skillet to deglaze the pan deposits. Add the garlic and rosemary and stir for 1 minute.

Stir in the wine, raise the heat to bring to a boil, scraping the bottom and sides to deglaze the pan deposits. Add the tomatoes with the juice, half of the apricots and prunes, the broth, and the meat and any accumulate juice back into the pot and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered for 1 hr 15 mins or until the meat is tender and the sauce is thick (I usually do it for closer to 2 hours with beef, on a low light). Season to taste with salt and pepper.  This next step I don’t usually do… Transfer the meat to a platter and cover with foil. Using a hand blender, puree the sauce. Add the rest of the prunes and apricots and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer gently until the dried fruit is soft, about 15 mins. Serve, sprinkling with almonds.

I usually serve this stew with Quinoa. Not everyone regards Quinoa as Passover-appropriate. It is a seed and not a grain, but it does expand in water. Of course, Sephardic Jews eat rice on Passover anyway, so for many Jews this is not a restriction, but many Ashkenazi Jews still observe the tradition of avoiding any food that expands in water in this way that may have a grain-like appearance.

Kosher for Passover Wine Review of 2017
So, here are my 2017 reviews of the wines we tasted this year. If you local to our congregation, all of these are available, either in store or to order, from Julio’s liquors. The prices below are usual prices. Our event offered a 15% discount on all of the wines.

Cantina Gabriele 2015 Pinot Grigio
100% Pinot Grigio. Regular price $12.99

This was a crisp, fruity Pinot Grigio with pleasant tones of apple, apricot and pear. A very pleasant wine that I’d be pleased with at any time of year. This is my recommendation for a white wine with fish or chicken.

La Fille du Boucher ‘The Butcher’s daughter’ 2015 Chardonnay
100% Chardonnay. $11.99

Last year we enjoyed a lovely 2012 Bordeaux reserve from this producer. I was not personally a great fan of this Chardonnay. It had a sweetness that came through after the initial mouthful that I would not usually associate with Chardonnay and did not particularly appreciate.

Notte Italiana 2015 Prosecco
100% Glera  $14.99

This was a very enjoyable Prosecco. Not too dry but not at all sweet either. It had a light pear-like fruitiness to it. A fun way to start the Seder for the first cup of wine – that’s how we intend to use it at our congregation’s community Seder on April 11.

Louis de Sacy NV Grand Cru Kosher Mevushal Brut
60% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay, 5% Pinot Meunier.  $59.99

This is priced as an independent producer Champagne. The dry, apple peel fruits were pleasant but were accompanied by a yeasty, doughy taste that was too pronounced. Perhaps part of the impact of the flash pasteurization process to make this a mevushal wine, but not to my liking. A bit like having an apple pie that wasn’t cooked through, leaving raw dough in the pie crust.

Luis Felipe Edwards ‘Terra Vega’ 2015 ‘Bin no 902’ Malbec
100% Malbec $7.99

I found this a very pleasant pour. However, we tasted their Carmenere last year which was a big hit among our tasters, and I’d still put that one ahead of this year’s Malbec. The Carmenere is still available, also at $7.99

O’Dwyer’s Creek 2014 Limite Release Pinot Noir
100% Pinot Noir $29.99

A very pleasant New Zealand Pinot Noir. Very smooth and balanced. Not my top choice for my stew because I think it’ll get a bit lost with the richer sauce and flavors of the stew, but would work well with brisket.

 La Citadelle de Diamant 2014 ‘Caesar’ Red Blend
70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 15% Shiraz.  $29.99

This was my favorite red of the night. Full bodied, beautifully balanced blackcurrant and earthy tones. This was the Israeli selection of the evening and it is my pairing for the stew.

Louis Blanc 2014 Crozes-Hermitage
100% Syrah $27.99

This was also a hit with many of the tasters last Thursday. For me, personally, La Citadelle won out for the particular meal I’ll be serving at my Seder, but this is a red that I would certainly enjoy for any occasion. A little softer in the mouth, with a little more plum and dark fruit jamminess than La Citadelle.

La Fille du Boucher ‘The Butcher’s Daughter’ 2015 Muscat Premium
100% Muscat $14.99

A very lovely french muscat dessert wine. Not syrupy at all – light and floral, with honey and melon tones. My choice for a dessert offering for the 3rd or 4th cup of the night.

Cantina Gabriele ‘Vino’ NV Sweet Red
70% Merlot, 30% Sangiovese $9.99

This one came out last year but we brought it out again for those who might be looking for a slightly more sophisticated and less syrupy version of a Manichewitz. Far too sweet for my taste, but if that’s what you’d like for your Seder, this is a nice alternative.

In addition to this year’s tastings, the following wines are still available from Julio’s of the wines we tasted last year. You can read last year’s reviews here:

Joseph Mellot ‘La Graveliere’ Sancerre
100% Sauvignon Blanc $31.99

O’Dwyers Creek Sauvignon Blanc
100% single vineyard Sauvignon Blanc $16.99

Ella Valley Vineyards Estate Chardonnay
100% Chardonnay $24.99

Louis Blanc ‘Vintage’ Cotes du Rhone
$14.99

Luis Felipe Edwards ‘Terra Vega’ Carmenere
100% Carmenere $7.99

#BlogExodus, Nisan 13: Who asks the questions and who provides the answers?

April 5, 2012 /
As we sit down at our Seder tables this year we repeat, as we do every year, the words that remind us that it is important for us to remember the exodus from Egypt as if we, ourselves, experienced it.  If we engage in the ritual of the Passover Seder as more than just another family meal, we find a whole toolbox laid out in the manual we call the Haggadah, that can help us to do this.  There are tastes, there are words and stories, there are questions and (sometimes) there are answers (but it is the search that is more important than the answers themselves).  There are songs and, if we choose, there is storytelling through acting, reminiscing, the young asking the old, and the old asking the young.
The haggadah tells us that we have to find a way to make the experience of gaining freedom from slavery come alive for each and every generation.  This is not only to ensure that we don’t forget our heritage and our story; it is also because some of the early generations of Rabbis who crafted this ritual understood that the way Jews related to this story in one generation or in one era would be different to the ways that it worked for Jews of another time.
The meaning and the purpose of Passover has changed over the centuries – it fulfilled a different need for us at different times.  Once it was an agricultural celebration.  At other times it was a story of hope when we were oppressed and discriminated against.  In the last generation in the USA it became a vehicle for Jews now living freely to speak about their obligations to help free others from their shackles, giving birth to Haggadot that focused on civil rights, women’s rights, the environment, and more.
What will Passover mean for the next generation? What ‘job’ will it do that adds significant meaning to their lives? It might have something to do with autonomy or the ability to feel like they can still make a difference in an era of powerful corporations and the undue influence of money.  It might be the freedom to make different kinds of lifestyle choices.  It might mean a psycho-spiritual kind of freedom that comes from within.  It might inspire them to engage in local or worldwide social justice actions to help free others. We don’t know what the next generation will dream. 
But, while the Passover has traditionally always been a time when the youngest ask the adults the questions so that they will understand where they come from and the inheritance that is theirs, it is essential that we adults ask our children questions too.  If we want them to imagine that it is they, themselves who are leaving the slavery of Egypt, we need to ask them what that means to them.
You can do this with children of any age, but I especially encourage those with teenagers or young adults at their Passover table this year to ask the question, as I will be doing this year at my Seder.  I am confident that your Seder will be transformed into an interesting and important conversation, and I’d love to hear what you learn from our next generations.

#BlogExodus, Nisan 3: Learning and Teaching

March 26, 2012 /
As we sit down at our Seder tables this year we repeat, as we do every year, the words that remind us that it is important for us to remember the exodus from Egypt as if we, ourselves, experienced it.  
The haggadah tells us that we have to find a way to make the experience of gaining freedom from slavery come alive for each and every generation.  This is not only to ensure that we don’t forget our heritage and our story; it is also because some of the early generations of Rabbis who crafted this ritual understood that the way Jews related to this story in one generation or in one era would be different to the ways that it worked for Jews of another time.
So, when we think about the Seder as an opportunity for learning and teaching, I’d like to suggest that we set aside some of our normative assumptions.  As we think about how to conduct our Seder, we might usually assume that it is any children or youth at the table that are doing the learning, and it is the adults doing the teaching.  In families that still conduct the Seder with a ‘head of the family’ running things, the flow of information is more likely to be one-way.  But we need to make space for younger generations to teach as well as to learn; to not only ask questions but also to provide answers.  Doing so provides an opportunity for them to relate to the deeper learning that comes from re-experiencing the journey from slavery to freedom in ways that work for today’s generation.
The meaning and the purpose of Passover has changed over the centuries – it fulfilled a different need for us at different times.  Once it was an agricultural celebration.  At other times it was a story of hope when we were oppressed and discriminated against.  In the last generation in the USA it became a vehicle for Jews now living freely to speak about their obligations to help free others from their shackles, giving birth to Haggadot that focused on civil rights, women’s rights, the environment, and more.
What will Passover mean for the next generation? What ‘job’ will it do that adds significant meaning to their lives? It might have something to do with autonomy or the ability to feel like they can still make a difference in an era of powerful corporations and the undue influence of money.  It might be the freedom to make different kinds of lifestyle choices.  It might mean a psycho-spiritual kind of freedom that comes from within.  We don’t know what the next generation will dream. If we want them to imagine that it is they, themselves who are leaving the slavery of Egypt, we need to ask them what that means to them.
You can do this with children of any age, but I especially encourage those with teenagers or young adults at their Passover table this year to ask the question, as I will doing this year at my Seder.  I am confident that your Seder will be transformed into an interesting and important conversation, and I’d love to hear what you learn from our next generations.

#BlogExodus, Nisan 1: From the narrow places I call

March 24, 2012 /

Tonight is Rosh Hodesh Nisan, the beginning of the first month of the year.  Yes, I know, its confusing – isn’t Rosh Hashanah – the Jewish New Year that usually falls sometime in September – the start of the year?  Well, yes, that is the Jewish New Year, but Rosh Hashanah actually falls on the 1st day of the 7th month.  Because Jewish holy days were tied to the seasons long before our people superimposed historical and mythical layers to add to their meaning, it also makes sense that we would arrive at the beginning of the 1st month right after we announced the 1st day of Spring.  New life, new buds, new flowers appearing on earth – the sense of a new cycle beginning again.

This month I’m joining Rabbi Phyllis Sommer, along with many others, in #BlogExodus (that’s how you’ll search for others on Twitter who might have posted blogs as part of the project).  Together, we’ll cover the days between the 1st and 14th of Nisan, leading up to Pesach.

Today’s theme is the narrow places of Mitzrayim (Egypt).  As part of the Hallel (selection of psalms we sing on holidays and as part of the Passover Seder) we find the lines, min hameitzar karati Yah, anani va-merchav Yah.  From the narrow places I called out to God; God answered me expansively. (Ps. 118)

The first time I heard and learned the melody to these verses was with Debbie Friedman, z’l, at a Healing service in Westchester.  I don’t quite recall, but it may well have been only the second time that I attended one of these services, and it was the month leading up to Pesach.  You can hear an excerpt of Debbie singing Min Hameitzar from ‘The Journey Continues’ album here.

I remember back to that time in my life.  I was not sick, but I had recently left the UK for a nine month stay at Elat Chayyim the transdenominational Jewish retreat center.  I was a bit home-sick, but it was also one of the most important periods of my life, in my mid-20s.  Looking back, I see that it was my soul that was aching – I was struggling internally with my sense of who I was and how to live my life.  I guess its the kind of angst familiar to many at that stage of life.  But it was a kind of spiritual mitzrayim – a narrow strait.  Debbie sang that song with a yearning in her voice – perhaps calling out from her own mitzrayim – and i felt some of the restraints that were holding me back start to break apart.  It was the beginning of my own journey through the wilderness to my Promised Land.

When I introduce the Mi Shebeirach prayer for healing during a service, I always invite my congregation to think of those in need of healing, ‘whether healing of body or healing of spirit.’  I know that most people’s minds turn immediately to those that they know who are physically ailing.  But Debbie taught us that we all need healing of spirit.  There is not one of us in this world who is so complete that we have no rough edges, no broken shards, or tender hearts, from some emotional or spiritual aching.  Each one of us can identify the mitzrayim that we live in, or have experienced at some time in our lives.

We begin the journey by calling out from that place – the narrow straits.  The ability to perceive expansiveness, to see that there is a path forward that can release us from the places we feel stuck in our lives, in our sense of self, in our sense of possibility … the miracle is that the mere act of calling out can create the opening.  Just as the Hebrews in slavery had to call out before God heard and responded to their suffering.

Last week, we welcomed approx. 130 women, men and youth at our Women’s Seder, dedicated to Debbie’s memory, and led by the incredibly gifted and soulful Julie Silver.  It was a real honor to lead the Seder with Julie, accompanied by Carole Rivel, who accompanied Debbie in so many of the healing services and Women’s Seders that she led for many years.  We all carry Debbie in our hearts, and her legacy lives on when we teach in her name, inspired by what she taught us.  She will forever remain as one of my greatest teachers.
Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz

Top tips for an engaging Seder

April 11, 2011 /

I’ve led or co-led several workshops or conversations with parents over this past week on ways of engaging children and adults alike in the Passover Seder experience.  The following is not a comprehensive list; rather, a sharing of some of the top tips that I have found excite parents and children when we introduce these possibilities to Seder night.  Keeping with the Passover format, here are 4 suggestions:

1) Involving children in the preparations.  Building the anticipation by having our children prepare some things for Seder night is key.  This can include more traditional tasks, like helping to make the charoset, and searching for the last pieces of chametz (bread, cake, etc.) that a parent has hidden on the last morning before Seder with a feather (bedikat chametz).  But it can also include preparing some acting of the story, songs, decorating pillow covers (thanks Rabbi Nicole Wilson-Spiro, who runs our Young Families Chavurah, for this one), matzah covers, place settings etc.  If you clean out your kitchen but don’t empty every cupboard, have the kids design the ‘Chametz – Keep Out!’ and ‘Kosher for Pesach’ signs to put on the cupboard doors.

2) Logistics and lay-out.  This is one of the most overlooked elements of the Seder but one that I have come to appreciate as crucial.  While not every home has the space to accommodate some creativity in this department, we have found that sitting on sofas, cushions and chairs in concentric circles around a coffee table in a living room to be much more conducive, at least for the pre-meal part of the Seder, than sitting still around a formally-laid table.  Young children can get up and move around more easily without being a distraction, and the atmosphere engenders more conversation and interaction between the adults too.  At our Seder we often hang colorful fabrics in the room to create the feeling of sitting under a tent.  In previous years, we’ve moved to tables in another room for the meal, but this year we’ll be using our dining room table as the buffet table, and will continue the informal feel as we eat in this more informal setting too.

3) While some observe the tradition of reading from the beginning to the end of the Haggadah, I regard it as more of a teacher’s manual.  There are steps – 15 of them to be precise, listed at the beginning of most haggadot, which make up the Seder – the order – of the service.  Most of these steps are short (washing hands, dipping karpas into salt water, breaking the matzah and hiding the afikoman, etc.)  The largest section is Maggid – telling the story.  In this section we find the debates and conversations of several generations of Rabbis recorded.  But for the story to come alive for us so that, as we are commanded, we experience the Exodus as if we ourselves left Egypt, we have to find our own way to tell and respond to the story.
– That might mean acting it out (have the children walk around the room with sacks over their shoulders while you sing; when the music stops, ask them a question: Who are you? Where are you going? What are you carrying? What will you eat? etc.).
– You might use songs to tell the story.
– You might have the children ask questions (not just recite the Ma Nishtanah, which are just your starters for 4, not meant to be the totality of questions for the whole night!)
– You might ask guests to bring their symbols of Freedom for a second Seder plate, to be shared during the course of the evening (thank you to Rabbi Phyllis Berman, from whom I learned this one).
– When it comes to the praises we sing to celebrate our freedom, you might get up and dance!  With fabric, you might ‘split the sea’ for people to pass through as they sing and celebrate.
– For an adult crowd, you might seek out challenging contemporary readings on themes of freedom to discuss around the table (see haggadot.com for an amazing selection of potential readings).

4) Finally, I really recommend doing some of the Seder after the meal.  Traditionally there is still the Grace after Meals, more praises, two cups of wine, and Elijah’s cup to go, plus some closing songs.  I know that many families skip the post-meal Seder, but there is something powerful and pleasureable about taking even 15 minutes to offer thanks and close with some fun songs (the traditional ones like Chad Gad Ya, or some contemporary fun songs set to familiar tunes – see here, for example).

There are many more links, and some fun Passover youtube videos, as well as more information and recipes, at Congregation B’nai Israel’s Passover Page.

Have some great ideas for the Passover Seder that you’d like to share with others?  Please add them to the comments section here!

Many blessings for a wonderful, engaging, meaningful Passover!
Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz

Why is this Women’s Seder different from all others?

March 24, 2011 /

If Purim is over then it must be the season for the Women’s Seder!  The pre-Passover timing allows for women who have, traditionally, had their hands rather busy doing a lot of the behind-the-scenes work at the family Passover Seder, to enjoy creating and leading the ritual aspects of the Seder.  A pre-Passover Seder has also enabled some of the wonderful creativity – prayers, writings, stories, and music – that have emerged from the Women’s Seder ritual over the decades to make their way into family and other communal Seders.

The first Women’s Seder took place in Haifa, Israel and Manhattan, NY in the USA in 1975.  The story of the early years and the text of the first haggadah written for the Women’s Seder can be found in ‘The Telling’, by E.M. Broner.  These early Seder gatherings represented the coming together of second wave feminism with Judaism as women who had previously felt excluded from a Judaism that was perceived to be patriarchal and exclusionary began to reclaim their heritage and Jewish women’s spirituality.  Sally Priesand had been the first US woman to be ordained as a rabbi in 1972, and Jackie Tabick was the first to be ordained in the UK in 1975.  The times they were a’changin’.

Since those early years, the tradition of a Women’s Seder has spread far and wide and has evolved considerably.  Many local communities have created their own haggadah, weaving together borrowed poems, stories, and songs with their own new liturgical writing and composing.  One organization based in New York City, Ma’yan, was instrumental in the spread of the Women’s Seder internationally, with the music of the greatly missed Debbie Friedman, z’l, creating a phenomenon where, for a number of years, over 500 women a night would fill a room for 2-3 nights in a row for the Ma’yan Seder.

While a traditional haggadah makes no mention of the women who were so important to the unfolding of our people’s story of the journey from slavery to freedom, a Women’s Seder haggadah tells of the midwives, Shifra and Puah, Yocheved and Miriam.  While a traditional haggadah only retells the discussions and interpretations offered by male rabbis and scholars through the centuries, a Women’s Seder haggadah weaves together the words of women, and returns our voice to our people’s history and heritage.  Women have always passed on their wisdom and Jewish practices from generation to generation, and the Women’s Seder at Congregation B’nai Israel always includes structured sharing of stories, questions and answers, where our bat mitzvah students share their stories with older generations and vice versa; its a multi-generational gathering.

This year’s Seder is different from all of our previous Women’s Seders at Congregation B’nai Israel; this year we welcome our Christian and Muslim sisters in faith to join us for a Seder ritual that celebrates the themes of Freedom and Peace, weaving together the inspirational sources from our three faith traditions. This Seder is inspired by the pioneering work of Rabbi Arthur Waskow and The Shalom Center who formulated the first Seder for the Children of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar in 1999.  Our Rosh Hodesh group has spent the year in a series of interfaith interactions with women from local churches and Muslim communities, and we look forward to welcoming them all to our Passover Seder.  The goal is not to provide a ‘model Seder’ for the benefit of our sisters-in-faith, but to use the Passover Seder model and message to weave together lessons, songs and inspiration from all three faiths to inspire us to think and engage more deeply with the Passover message.

The Seder takes place at Congregation B’nai Israel, Bridgeport, Thursday, March 31st, 7:30 p.m.  It is free and open to all women from the local community.  RSVP to reserve a seat with lynn@congregationbnaiisrael.org

I hope to see you there!
Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz

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