Seems a little strange for Mormons to celebrate a Spring-time Jewish Feast in November.
But, since I am the Seminary (early-morning bible study for high-school students) teacher,, I decided it would be more beneficial to have the Passover Dinner after talking about the Passover. So, after reading and studying Exodus 1-15 this week, we had the Seder Dinner at church with the youth ages 12-18 and their parent(s).
It was amazing! The experience I think is unforgettable. I don't know if we did it right, and I'm sure there are many Jews who would be surprised (and hopefully not offended). The amazing part is that we were able to take these symbols and rituals from the Passover and apply them to our lives, and see of their teaching of The Messiah, who we know to be Jesus Christ.
Many of the adults were really impressed with the entire service. It was not my goal to impress them, but more make an impression on the youth. I don't know if that happened, or what the one young woman or 5 young men (one of them not a member) thought about the dinner and program (I cancelled my Monday morning class since I spent all weekend getting ready for the dinner).
If the only thing the youth learned, though, is that Jesus Christ is really talked about, taught about, in the Old Testament, and that we can learn from Scripture and Truths from other cultures/traditions/religion if we are guided by the Spirit, or even if they were able to feel the Holy Ghost even a little, it was a huge success. Or, if they just realized how much we care about them, I suppose that is enough, too.
Would I attempt this again? YOU BET! I would change some things (such as asking more people to help with the set up, and maybe help cook more of the food). But, it was well worth the effort that my friend, Liz, and I went to to organize and execute this production.
Here are a few photos (courtesy of Kelly Standiford; I didn't bring a camera, unfortunately!):
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| The Seder Plate, clockwise starting at 12: Bowl of salt water, lamb shank, matzoh, haroset, green herb, roasted (boiled) egg, bitter herb (horseradish). |
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| Our dinner plates, clockwise starting at 12: Roasted leg-of-lamb, latkes, roasted vegetables, zucchini-stuffed chicken. |
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Passover Chocolate Torte
Star of David and "Shalom" written in Hebrew are symbols of Peace. |
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Chocolate Torte slice covered in raspberry sauce.
Two words: Decadently Delicious |
We set the tables with linens (well, some of the cloths were linens, others were polyester), wine classes (plastic), real silverware, china-looking plates (see dishes above), tea-light candles (battery operated) that had little papers with the star of david cut out of it, candle sticks, and a few other battery-operated candles. There were 6 Seder platters (only the main one pictured above had the shank bone, but otherwise the others were all the same). And each person had a program (see photo with dinner plate). The program contained the script for the leader of the service, and for the people to participate in the readings, sayings, and prayers.
We also had name plates for seating. The dinner menu consisted of those listed above. For recipes, scroll to the end of this post (I strongly recommend all three of them that I posted- they were SUPER yummy!).
Liz and I spent most of the day Saturday prepping food. People brought spinach salad and the chicken we delivered for them to cook. Another YW presidency member came made the Latkes just before the dinner. It still took the 3 of us almost 2+ hours to set up before the dinner and have things ready.
If you are planning to have one of these, budget about $10 per person (if you do everything we did) and then you might even have some funds left over. We cut corners on cost by my printing and sewing the programs (yes, on my sewing machine). I imagine if you went with a more simple dinner, maybe less meat, you'd also have a less expensive feast. Still, this food was really yummy and there was PLENTY (we ended up with lots of left overs that we divided among families).
If you are interested, send me an email and I'd be happy to send you a PDF of the invitations (see image below) and the program in print and reading format (the print format has double-sided pages that you can print in collated form and then staple or stitch in the middle to make a booklet, the reading format has each individual page on a sheet). If you have a Silhouette cutter, I can send you the files for the "doily" to powder the cake with the star of david and shalom, the tea-light candle covers, and the place cards.
I'm really glad that we put on this program, and for the experience the Seder was. I hope it touched the lives of the youth. But, I know it made a difference in my own studies and understanding of scripture, Jews, and Christ.
RECIPES:
Passover Chocolate Torte
Although not difficult, be sure to give yourself PLENTY of time
(at least 3 hours from melting chocolate to being ready to eat the
cake). Don't rush any of the steps. Slow melting chocolate, good
whipping of eggs, and completely cooling the final
torte before inverting on a platter make this flourless cake
absolutely melt-in-your-mouth amazing. Liz perfectly described it
as a "cross between cheesecake and chocolate cake".
1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter (not margarine)
8 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
5 large egg whites
1/4 cup sugar
Raspberry Sauce:
12 oz frozen raspberries
1/2 cup sugar
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line bottom of 9- or 10-inch cake pan with
parchment paper.
Separate 8 yolks from whites, saving only 5 of the whites in a
separate bowl.
Stir chocolate and margarine in heavy medium saucepan over
low
heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Cool until
lukewarm.
Using electric mixer, beat yolks and 3/4 cup sugar in large bowl
until pale and very thick, about 4 minutes. Add chocolate mixture in
2 additions (i.e. slowly) and beat until well blended. Transfer to
large
bowl.
Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites in another large bowl until
foamy. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar adn beat until whites are stiff
but not dry.
Fold 1/3 of whites into chocolate mixture. Fold in remaining whites
in 2 more additions. Chocolate mixture will have doubled in volume
and appear a lighter "milk chocolate" brown color. Transfer batter
into prepared pan.
Bake torte at 350 F until crust forms on top and tester inserted
into center comes out with some moist batter and some moist crumbs
still attached (about 45 minutes). Top will crack. Remove from oven
and place on cooling rack.
Run small sharp knife around torte to loosen. Cool in pan on rack
(torte will fall and crack).
Once
completely cool, invert onto platter. Can cover
with plastic wrap and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Before serving, place doily atop torte. Sift powdered sugar over
doily; gently remove doily. Garnish torte as desired.
(Raspberry
sauce: 12 oz frozen raspberries, thawed with juices, with 1/2 cup
sugar pureed in blender then strained; store sauce in fridge until
ready to serve).
Zucchini-Stuffed Chicken
Not too much prep and pretty quick to stuff the chicken.
8 bone-in chicken breast halves, with skin
2 zucchinis, shredded
3 cups matzo farfel (available in Kosher section at most grocery
stores)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 onion, chopped (opt.)
2 tablespoons chicken bouillon powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 dash garlic powder (or use garlic salt instead of salt and garlic
powder)
1 dash onion powder (opt).
1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease a cookie sheet or 9x13 baking dish.
Wash and clean the chicken breasts.
2. Place farfel in a bowl and cover with hot water for 3 or 4
minutes. Drain and squeeze out water.
3. In medium-sized mixing bowl, combine zucchini, farfel, eggs,
chicken bullion, onion, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion
powder. Place 2 to 3 tablespoons of the stuffing under the skin of
each chicken piece and arrange them in pan.
4. Bake at 375 F for 40-50 minutes. Drain off fat and serve.
Roasted Vegetables
This recipe is a little labor intensive, although a food
processor makes the work much easier. It's well worth the effort
for a colorful and tasty dish.
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon finely chopped capers
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon tomato paste
salt and pepper
1 red pepper
1 large eggplant
2 large zucchini, sliced
1 pound sweet potato
6 roma tomatoes, quartered
1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Combine marinated ingredients in a bowl
and whisk (or shake) thoroughly.
2. Cut eggplant into slices, and sprinkle with salt. Allow to sit
for 20-30 minutes. Rinse with water and pat dry.
3. Cut red pepper into strips (removing seeds and membrane), peel
sweet potato and slice potato and zucchini.
4. Using 1/2 of the marinade, toss prepared vegetables and coat
well. Place on cookie sheet. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, turn and
coat again with remaining marinade. Cook for another 15-25 minutes
until sweet potatoes are tender and eggplant is soft (not crunchy).
**If making large quantity, can roast different vegetables to
desired done-ness and then combine and coat with remaining marinade
and bake for 15 minutes.
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