Abq Jew ® Blog: New Mexico 2014 Seder Roundup!

Got Shmura Matzo? Got Horseradish? The story is told ... about the Jewish community in Madrid, who needed horseradish for Pesach

The Jewish community in Madrid needed horseradish for making chrain (horseradish) for Pesach, but all the European Union countries gave them the same reply, "Sorry, we have none to send."

In desperation, the Rabbi phoned one of his Yeshiva friends in Tel Aviv and begged him to send a crate of horseradish by air freight to Madrid.

Two days before Pesach, a crate of grade Aleph tear-jerking Israeli horseradish was loaded at Ben Gurion Airport onto the EL Al 789 flight to Madrid, and all seemed to be well.

Unfortunately, when the Rabbi went to the Madrid Airport to claim the horseradish he was informed that a wildcat strike had just broken out and no shipments would be unloaded for at least four days. As a result:

The chrain in Spain stayed mainly on the plane!

Abq Jew thanks Chuck Glass and Jacob Richman for that story.

But more (or less) to the point - have you got your shmura matzah?

Regular ol' Passover matzo is carefully guarded from the time that the wheat is taken to the mill to be ground into flour, to make sure that it does not come into contact with water or other moisture that could make it rise.

Shmura matzo, on the other hand, is made from wheat that is guarded from the time that it is harvested.

Is this necessary? Abq Jew hears you ask. Tell Abq Jew if you've heard this one before:

Most rabbinical authorities say no.
Some rabbinical authorities say yes.

But this technical explanation leaves out the best thing about shmura matzo:

Shmura matzo is always handmade.
As this video from Rabbi Berel Levertov of Chabad Santa Fe shows:

So here we are, each of us and all of us, making final arrangements for our Passover Seders. Where to go? To invite or (wait) ... to be invited? Thus, Abq Jew thoughtfully provides a Seder Roundup for all of us last-minute reservation-makers.

First Seder & Second Seder