When the holiday of Passover draws near I think of all the wonderful customs. Many customs, thousands of years old, are very strange. For example dipping a vegetable into salt water to remember that many tears were shed in slavery (tears are bitter like salt water). Others are informative like reading the story of Passover from a book called the Haggadah whilst others are exotic. Eating a mixture of apples, pears, walnuts and red wine when grinded together look like mortar to remember the mortar used by the Hebrew slaves building pyramids. Each family also has some of their own personal customs passed on from generation to generation.

My great-grandfather, Zaidy (grandpa in Yiddish) Peretz, came to America in the 1880s and established our American family. Zaidy made a good choice for us. In this land of freedom there were no pogroms. Passover was the time my family held its annual get-together. My American born family members would meet, exchange greetings and hold a grand festive Passover meal. We considered our lives very blessed.

I walked into the supermarket to buy kosher food for the holiday of Passover. To my amazement there were no less than five brands of kosher wines and matzah. The wines were from Italy, France, Israel, California, and upstate New York. The matzah display had boxes from Israel, Cincinnati, and New York.

When the Jewish holiday of Passover comes around I think of the holiday and its rituals. For thousands of years Jews have marked the event of the exodus from Egypt with a meal called the Seder. Unleavened bread, called matzoh, is eaten. This food was eaten during the exodus from Egypt. By eating matzoh Jews remember God's kindness.

When I was growing up the holiday of Passover was a time for my family to hold its annual get-together.? My grandparents with all their American born family members would meet, exchange greetings and hold a grand festive meal with pleasantries.? We Americans had a lot for which to be thankful.

In the Haggadah for Pesach we read, "Avodim hayenu l'paroh b'mitzraim." We were slaves to pharaoh in Egypt. "Veyotzaynu Hashem elokeynu mee shom byad chazakah o-bzroya netuya." Our Hashem Yisborech brought us out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm.

The holiday of Passover commemorates the redemption of Jews after years of slavery in the land of Egypt some 3,000 years ago. On this night families gather together and observe the holiday by reciting the story of Jewish hardships, living in bondage and slavery, from a book called, The Hagaddah.

Every once in a while you read or hear an incredible WWII story and wonder if it is true. Did this story really happen? Recently I was introduced to an incredible story by the person to whom it happened. I heard this story during my visit to Miami Beach, Florida, while visiting my parents. Miami is famous for its winter resorts. Many elderly Jews leave the New York area during the cold winter to live in Miami Beach. My parents spend their winters there as do many friends. There are some Holocaust survivors that meet in synagogues and gather on a boardwalk that stretches a few miles along the Atlantic Ocean.

The Jewish nation wandered forty years in the desert culminating with the arrival in the land now called Israel. On this night families gather together and observe the holiday by reciting the story of enslavement and their miraculous freedom from a book called The Hagaddah. The meal is replete with many symbols. The wine represents wealth and happiness. The horseradish - bitter herbs - represent the bitterness of slavery. Most importantly they eat Matza, the unleavened bread. This represents bread baked hurriedly by Jews during their departure from Egypt.

When the Jewish holiday of Passover comes around I think of the holiday and its rituals. For thousands of years Jews have marked the event of the exodus from Egypt with a meal called the Seder. Unleavened bread, called matzoh, is eaten. This food was eaten during the exodus from Egypt. By eating matzoh Jews remember God’s kindness.