The stainless steel commercial oven in the kosher kitchen at the Friedman Jewish Community Center in Kingston was turned up to its highest heat Monday – about 500 degrees.
Blue flames danced from gas burners. Heavy duty pots — some marked with a red-handwritten M for “meat” — were filled with water and brought to a boil. Utensils bathed in the 212-degree water. Every surface, nook and cranny was wiped down.
"Passover is its own category … It's like the most kosher of times," said Cantor Ahron Abraham.
Abraham and Barbara Hill, the executive chef at Bank+Vine in Wilkes-Barre, prepared the kitchen for the JCC’s Community Seder meal on Saturday to celebrate Passover. The holiday marks the beginning of Judaism and the Israelites’ escape from persecution in Egypt.
"Now that we've prepared for Passover, nothing can be in there. She's (Barbara) going to be working in there all week, and nothing can be in there that's not Passover ready," said Abraham of the kitchen.
Many Jews keep kosher. It means they eat foods that conform to Jewish law. Kosher standards come from the Torah. That’s the five books of Moses and the most important part of the Bible to the Jewish people.
There’s a line: “you will not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk.”
"Now, I know that sounds disgusting, but it was a pagan ritual, and they used to do these things for fertility rituals and rites. And when Judaism was being created and formed and all these things were being written down in the desert, that was one of the things that God says is really abhorrent and you can't do, so that was the rule," said Abraham.
What that translates to today is that meat and dairy is to be kept separate. He said the most modern example of that line from the Torah is veal parmesan. That meal is not kosher, neither is a cheeseburger or a turkey and cheese sandwich. Fish must have both scales and fins to be kosher.
“Everybody has their own way of looking at kosher. The most important thing is that you're trying to raise things to another level of holiness," he said.
The kosher kitchen at the JCC is one of two kitchens. In the other, food items are all prepared together.
One side of the kosher kitchen is for dairy. The other side is for meat. That’s often how the kitchens are for Jewish families who keep kosher.
Cantor said those with real means will even have separate dishwashers or countertops for meat and dairy or even a kitchen they only cook in for Passover.
"Being kosher is how it's prepared, how the animal is slaughtered, according to very humane rules," said Abraham.
Food that is neither meat or milk, like vegetables, is called parve.
There’s kosher food. Then there’s kosher for Passover, which has to do with the leavening agent in bread. The baked goods are prepared without rising agents, like yeast.
The reason for that goes back to the early Israelites days in Egypt.
From enslavement to today
Joseph is a descendant of Jacob, who was one of the three patriarchs or founders of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam from the Old Testament. Jacob is also known as Israel.
Joseph had 12 brothers but his father favored him. So the brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt.
Joseph rose to power in Egypt and for centuries his descendents live under the protection of the Pharaoh.
Then the dynasty in Egypt changed.
"In fact, the book of Exodus starts with 'a new pharaoh arose who did not know of Joseph'," said Abraham, who is the cantor at Temple Israel in Wilkes-Barre.
The new Pharaoh was afraid of the Israelites and enslaved them.
"They were slaves for a few generations, and they're suffering in that. But they … clung to their customs," he said.
Eventually Moses showed up to bring God’s judgement down on Egypt. There was plagues: water turned to blood, livestock died and locusts took over.
The angel of death was sent to Egypt to kill the first born son of every family.
God told the Israelites to mark their doors with the blood of a lamb to spare their sons. On the last day of slavery in Egypt, God commanded the soon-to-be Jews to have a meal at night.
Then, the Pharaoh’s son died and he kicked the Israelites out of Egypt.
"The story goes that they didn't have time for their bread to rise. Dough was made ... so they packed it on their backs, or baked it off really fast, and it became matzah," said Abraham. “And from that time on, to prepare for Passover, anything that had leaven or bread in it was prohibited.”
Some kitchen surfaces are even blowtorched before Passover to get rid of any crumbs. Not at the JCC, they’ll delicately cleanse theirs with boiling water.
There’s a tradition the morning of Passover that children are given a wooden spoon and a feather. Adults usually put out a few crumbs for the kids. They sweep up the crumbs, bring them outside and burn them with a candle.
The first Passover meal was made from the sacrificed lamb. A shank bone is part of the plate during Seder, which means order in Hebrew, and is the meal that celebrates Passover.
The stories told and each food item has meaning, like the bone. In Christianity, the final meal Jesus shares with his disciples is a Seder.
"Even look at the table, you know, and what's he doing? 'This is my body,' that's matzah ... that's what he's holding up. And the wine his blood. You know, all of these are Seder symbols," said Abraham.
Seven days after the first Passover the Israelites passed over the red sea on their way to freedom and the holy land. Afterwards, Moses received the 10 commandments on Mount Sinai.
The journey liberated the Israelites from slavery and set them on the path to establish one of the world's oldest faiths. Today, the kitchen preparation and the Seder helps Jews remember those beginnings.
"It's like the origin story of the Jewish people. And it's the most important holiday in many ways," said Abraham.
The JCC’s Community Passover Seder is Saturday, April 12, at 6 p.m. It’s led by Temple Israel’s Rabbi Larry Kaplan and Abraham.
