Passover

Gertrude Solkov dropped by her synagogue Monday to do some last-minute shopping for Passover. "I need three presents," she told a clerk at the Temple Sinai gift shop in Dresher. "There's three kids, so I'm hiding three pieces of matzo this year. I don't want three kids crying for a prize. " The afikomen, an unleavened piece of bread or matzo, is traditionally hidden in the house during the Seder celebration for children to find in exchange for a prize. Solkov passed by the kosher nut chews and coconut macaroons and went straight for the Haggada books explaining the story behind Passover.

They sang in Hebrew, told stories, interviewed the prime actors in the drama, and celebrated Pesach (Passover) in its age-old rituals. Fifty children, 4 to 8 years old, participated in a model seder last Sunday at Congregation M'Kor Shalom, Fellowship Road, Mount Laurel, in preparation for the holiday, which will begin at sundown tomorrow and continue for eight days. Passover recounts the biblical story of Moses and the deliverance of Jews from slavery in Egypt. The children sang songs referring to the 10 plagues visited upon the Egyptians and the Jews' quest for freedom, and they even held an interview with Moses; his mother, Jochebed; Pharaoh, and maids and guards in the Egyptian palace.

These suggestions for Passover lunches bring a touch of spring to lunch boxes, featuring some of the new products available this year. Combined with plenty of fruit and vegetables, each is fresh, appealing and brimming with good nutrition. FRESH TOMATO-BASIL SOUP 1 teaspoon cooking oil (such as cottonseed, peanut) 1 scallion, snipped in 1/4-inch lengths with scissors 1 ripe tomato, cut in 8 wedges 1 can (16 ounces) tomatoes with juice 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped, or 1 teaspoon dried 2 tablespoons Passover noodles, crumbled Salt and pepper to taste In medium saucepan, heat oil over medium heat.

Matzo never tasted so, well . . . different. Galete Levin, 14, of Lawrenceville, N.J., said bluntly that it was more like cardboard than the unleavened bread that normally occupies the center of her family's Seder table each Passover. Her friends and classmates at Abrams Hebrew Academy in Yardley Borough, also made faces after sampling the holiday fare. Their comments ranged from "very dry" to "too crispy. " But Galete and her generation have never known a matzo that wasn't store- bought, conveniently sized and ready-to-eat.

Antuan Bronshtein's family left the Soviet Union looking for freedom denied them because they were Jews. Now, at 28, Bronshtein is in prison, convicted of two murders, and asking to be put to death. The state was ready to oblige. Gov. Ridge last month signed a warrant to execute Bronshtein April 8. Last night, the governor changed the date to May 4 after lawyers pointed out that the earlier date coincided with the final night of Passover, the Jewish feast that commemorates the night the Angel of Death passed over the homes of Jewish slaves in Egypt.

Edward Freedman couldn't get his family to sit down at sundown. But that was no small task, considering 70 of them were busy getting reacquainted. Freedman, 67, was in charge of his family's seder at the Melrose Country Club on Friday - the 100th year the Freedmans have broken the unleavened Passover bread in the United States, but the first time in memory so many Freedmans had been in one place during Passover, which ended at sunrise today. The evening's events excited Freedman, eager to begin the ceremonies.

If you've had one too many dry or tasteless or excessively sweet desserts at the tables of family and friends during Passover, supposed sweets crafted to meet the food requirements (read: restrictions) of the holiday, you'll be interested in pastry chef Amy Edelman's take on the subject. Her motto for desserts for Passover and other occasions is "Moist and Delicious. " For home bakers, that can be a challenge at Passover time, since strict dietary laws for Jews during this holiday ban the eating of leavened food (chametz)

The eggs hadn't arrived, so the chicken liver had to wait. But the roasting chickens were there, along with the matzo and ingredients for noodle kugel. In the kitchen of the Congregation Beth Or in Spring House were the makings of a Passover feast. And by the end of the day, seder dinner for 30 Jewish senior citizens in Logan would be prepared and ready for transportation to their homes. "Don't put the carrots and onions in until we skim the fat," Dolores Solomon instructed fellow cooks on the preparation of chicken soup with matzo balls.

Every culture has culinary rituals to herald the arrival of spring and celebrate the abundance and renewal of the season. For Jews that is the holiday of Passover, also known as the festival of spring, which begins each year with a festive meal on the first full moon following the vernal equinox - March 25 this year. Family and friends gather to read, sing, and eat traditional and symbolic foods to recount the exodus from Egypt, the move from slavery to freedom.

I grew up in a rural town where there were only two Jewish families and, although one of the boys was a close friend in high school, I never thought to ask him what he was eating instead of the tuna noodle casserole and other standbys we Catholics were consuming. With age came diverse neighbors and brazen mooching at their tables, especially on holidays. I've now been to a multitude of Passover seders and have heard for two types of food-related conversations there: ones about heirloom Jewish family recipes that commemorate the ancient Israelites' hasty flight from slavery in Egypt; and spirited debates about what is acceptable to eat on the holiday, which this year begins at sunset on Friday with the ritual seder dinner and continues for seven days.