Rain drummed against the window as Evie grabbed the peeler. This year she was helping make haroses. Her mouth watered thinking of the apple and nut dish, her favorite of all the special Passover seder foods.
Thunder roared as wind shook the house, making Evie’s heart pound. Could Bubbie and the cousins drive through such a bad storm?
Floods, said the TV weather lady.
Roads and airports closed.
People stranded.
”What’s stranded?” asked Evie.
“It means they are stuck where they are. They can’t go where they want to go, and they can’t go home,” said Mom.
Just then Dad stepped into the kitchen. “Bubbie called. The highway is closed. They had to turn around and go back. At least they aren’t stranded!”
Evie chewed her finger. The kitchen was filled with food. The table was set with the best holiday dishes and all eight chairs. But now there would be just Mom, Dad, and Evie. The other chairs would be empty.
A holiday without company just felt wrong!
Evie knelt on the sofa staring at the storm. But she listened as the weather lady spoke with people stranded at the airport.
Evie chewed her lip. “How will stranded Jews have seders?”
Mom shook her head. Just a few hours were left before the holiday began. Planning a seder took time and special foods.
Tears welled in Evie’s eyes. What would Bubbie and the cousins do? Even if they got home in time, they didn’t have the seder foods. And what about those poor stranded strangers?
She slid down into a corner of the sofa and picked up her Haggadah. Sadly she turned the pages. Every night since Purim, a month ago, she had asked Dad to read it to her. Now she recited the words almost by heart.
Suddenly she stopped.
She raced to the kitchen, waving the book. “The Haggadah says, ‘Let all who are hungry come and eat.’ We should invite stranded people to our seders!”
Mom stared, then hugged her.
“You’re right!” said Dad, grabbing his phone. “I’ll call the rabbi. He’ll know how to find guests.”
In a little while the doorbell rang. In came a couple with a daughter just Evie’s age. “This is Rachel,” said the woman as she removed the girl’s dripping coat. Evie whispered to Rachel, then grabbed her hand and led her to the playroom.
Later, Dad welcomed an old man with twinkly eyes. “Thank you for inviting me,” he said. “Spending the seder nights in a hotel would have made me very sad.”
And shortly before sundown the doorbell rang again. Into the house came a woman pulling a rolling suitcase with a pet carrier strapped on top. The woman opened the carrier and took out a tiny dog. “Thanks for giving Alberta and me a place for Passover,” she said.
Evie and Rachel patted Alberta and the dog licked their hands.
While Mom showed the woman to her room, Evie counted chairs, then people. Five people couldn’t come: Bubbie, her aunt and uncle, and her two cousins. There were five guests: Rachel, her mom and dad, the old man, and the dog lady.
Eight people, eight chairs. Someone for every chair, plus a cute little dog to gobble up anything that fell from the table.
Evie knew she would miss her family. But this year there were new friends. This might be the best Passover ever!
For Parents, Teachers, and Others
Passover, also called Pesach, is a very important Jewish holiday. Outside of Israel the holiday lasts eight days. The first two days celebrate the escape of the Israelites (the Jews’ ancient name) from slavery in Egypt. The last two days celebrate the crossing of the Red Sea. The Egyptian army was chasing, but the sea opened and let the Israelites cross, then closed so the army couldn’t catch them.
In Israel, most holidays are one day shorter. Only the first day and last day have special holy significance there. Thousands of years ago, the extra day was added for people living outside the Holy Land. Back then, communication was difficult and slow. Printed calendars didn’t exist. The extra day meant Jews living outside their homeland would not miss holy days.
Even non-religious Jews usually attend a Passover seder, a combination religious service and holiday meal. During the service, the Passover story is told using an ancient text called the Haggadah, or Retelling. Special foods are used so Jews can taste the bitterness of slavery (maror), imagine building storage cities for Pharoah (haroses), and remember their ancestors’ tears (dipping a vegetable in salt water). A recipe for haroses follows.
During the seder and throughout the holiday, Jews eat matzah. This flat bread is a reminder that the Israelites left Egypt so quickly that their bread did not have time to rise.
The Stormy Passover centers on the important Jewish value of welcoming guests, including strangers. The author remembers her non-observant family’s open-door policy and the airmen from a nearby air force base who shared many holiday meals.
Travel Prohibitions and Welcoming Guests
According to traditional Jewish law, travel is not permitted on Sabbaths and major holidays. Many Jews who follow these laws and who live near airports or other transportation centers provide meals and beds for Jewish travelers who are stranded due to bad weather or other problems. Some Jews who don’t follow traditional Jewish law also open their homes to stranded travelers for holiday and Sabbath meals and often to sleep over as well.
The Empty Chair
This Passover, 2024 (Jewish year 5784), approximately 130 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, where they have been held, completely out of touch with international humanitarian aid workers or Israelis, since October 7. As a reminder and a prayer for their safety and quick return, many families are setting an empty place at their seder tables. These represent the empty places at the seder tables of the families and friends of the hostages. They also are a reminder of the 1200 Israelis killed on October 7 as well as the over 600 soldiers and Israeli civilians who have died in this conflict.
This story was originally titled, “No Empty Chairs for Passover.” I wrote it well over a year ago, long before Hamas began this nightmare war. Since it is a story for young children, I changed the name because I did not want to suggest this year’s horrific empty chairs. I thought about revising the story, but decided that for my target audience, a new title was a better solution.
Haroses
Haroses represents the mortar that the enslaved Jews used to cement building blocks together. It is usually an unattactive brown paste or pate-like dish, but it has wonderful flavor. A small amount is eaten during the seder service. The rest is eaten as a spread for matzah during the week, as filling for potato-starch crepes, or any other way one likes.
There are probably as many recipes for haroses as there are Jewish families. Some recipes are simpler than this, some much more complicated. This is the recipe I grew up with and used most of my life. Apples and nuts are almost always the major ingredients.
Haroses
1 cup peeled, chopped apples
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp. sugar or honey
Grated rind of half a lemon
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbsp. sweet red wine (about)
Mix the apples, nuts, sweetener, lemon rind, and cinnamon. Add just enough wine to bind the mixture. Some people puree it in a food processor.
Such a warm beautiful story ❤