Saturday 18 April 2009

It passed over at nightfall last Wednesday

You are allowed to eat matzos even if you have never made the acquaintance of a mohel, and I quite like them; it came as a shock to me three weeks ago when I found that the familiar packs now had a red background and not the usual blue; this apparently means that the Beth Din had approved them for Passover. But this started on April 8th, 5769, so it seems that for several days earlier this month I had offended YHWH, Elohim, El Shaddai, Adonai, El Elyon, Avinu and all that lot by spreading my rillettes du Mans on matzos not made under orthodox rabbinical supervision. However, as a balabatisher yock I need not fear retribution, though I may be censured as a chazzer.

In searching the web for further information about all this I found an article about Jaaber Hussein, an Arab living near Jerusalem, who has a nice little earner once a year when he buys up huge quantities of unleavened bread, pasta and beer which should not be consumed or even kept in the house by the faithful during Pesach. Then he sells it all back later and everyone is happy, most of all Mr Hussein.

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