Category Archives: Passover

By Robert J. Avrech | March 31, 2013

A 21st Century Exodus from Egypt to Israel

Tweet Tonight begins the last two day of Passover in which the Jewish people celebrate their liberation from Egyptian slavery. The IDF recently published an amazing story about Dina Ovadia, an Egyptian Jew, whose narrative is a modern Passover story. This isn’t Cpl. Dina Ovadia’s first Passover in Israel. Slowly, slowly she seems to be [...]

Also posted in Egypt, Israel, Israel Defense Forces | Tagged , , | 17 Responses
By Robert J. Avrech | March 25, 2013

Passover 2013: Of Slaves, Slavery, Judenrat, Kapos and America

Tweet Tonight begins the holiday of Passover in which Jews celebrate deliverance from Egyptian bondage. In order to escape the shackles of slavery, the vast machinery of the mighty Egyptian state had to be crushed. Those who wielded absolute power were reduced to nothingness. G-d did this not only to diminish the physical power of [...]

Also posted in Obama Watch, Obamacare, Taxes | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Responses
By Robert J. Avrech | March 22, 2013

Passover: Liberty, Then and Now

Tweet Seraphic Secret rises at 5 a.m for a morning walk. The streets are empty save for the chug-chug-chugging of the pick-up trucks delivering newspapers. Sprinklers hiss, and lawns glisten. The air is lightly perfumed with jacaranda. I listen to a news round-up and feel—there is no way around this—sad and defeated.

Also posted in Judaism, Judaism & Christianity, Maayan Ariel, Obamacare, Remembering Ariel | Tagged | 39 Responses
By Robert J. Avrech | March 18, 2013

The Best Kosher Wines for Passover

Tweet Passover is almost here. We’re scrubbing Casa Avrech top to bottom, switching dishes and silverware, purchasing tons of kosher for Passover food, and shopping for new clothing. And many are wondering which wines to buy for the Passover seders in which we are commanded to drink four cups of wine. Seraphic Secret does not [...]

Also posted in Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 24 Responses
By Robert J. Avrech | August 19, 2012

Saudi Cleric Slaman Al-Odeh: Jews Use Human Blood for Passover Matzos

Tweet Just another day in the Muslim world where Holocaust denial and the blood libel are taken for granted. But of course these people are merely anti-Zionist, not a bunch of ignorant, genocidal-yearning, frothing-at-the-mouth Jew-haters.

Also posted in Blood Libel, Holocaust, Holocaust Denial, Jew-haters, Saudi Arabia | Tagged | 5 Responses
By Robert J. Avrech | April 6, 2012

Friday Fashion: The Exodus Edition

Tweet On Passover the Jewish people are instructed to envision that they are experiencing the Exodus from Egypt. During the Passover seder (meal) we reenact—through sacred memory animated by ritual—the passage from bondage to slavery. The Torah tells us that the Jews left Egypt with the spoils of their oppressors—compensation for 400 years of cruelty. [...]

Also posted in Friday Fashion, Friday Footwear, Holidays | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Responses
By Robert J. Avrech | April 2, 2012

Syrian Opposition Leader: Jews Helping To Keep Assad In Power, “Want Syrian Blood For Their Matzos.”

Tweet Passover is almost here, thus it’s time for a blood libel from the Syrian opposition while simultaneously blaming Jews for Assad’s reign of terror. You see, nothing happens in the fratricidal Arab world without the hidden designs of the evil Jews. It’s a sure-fire method of denying responsibility for one’s own actions. Here’s a [...]

Also posted in Islamic Terror, Israel, Jew-haters, Syria | Tagged , , , , | 19 Responses
By Robert J. Avrech | March 30, 2012

Friday Fashion: Hollywood Hats for Passover

Tweet Passover is almost here. Cleaning, changing dishes, and buying Passover food takes up a huge amount of time and energy. Observant Jews also take the opportunity to purchase new clothing in honor of the holiday in which we celebrate our deliverance from Egyptian bondage. Orthodox women cover their heads in synagogue—a sign of modesty—thus [...]

Also posted in Anita Page, Friday Fashion, Holidays, Hollywood, Hollywood Hats | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Responses
By Robert J. Avrech | March 29, 2012

Passover Wine According to Alice ‘Naked Wine’ Feiring

Tweet Passover is almost here. We’re scrubbing our houses, changing dishes and silverware, purchasing tons of  kosher for Passover food, shopping for new clothing, and many are wondering which wines to buy for the Passover seders in which we are commanded to drink four cups of wine. Medical Interpolation: Seraphic Secret does not drink wine, [...]

Also posted in Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Responses
By Robert J. Avrech | April 17, 2011

Passover, 2011: In Every Generation

Tweet A rare copy of a Passover Haggadah printed in Munkacs, with a forward by the Munkacs Rebbe, Rav Chaim Elazar Spira, 1930’s. Courtesy, The Itzkovic Family, Los Angeles. Tweet During the Passover seder we recite the following: For not just one alone has risen against us to destroy us. Rather, in every generation, there [...]

Also posted in Holidays | 21 Responses
By Robert J. Avrech | April 15, 2011

Preparing for Passover 2011

Tweet Tweet And this day shall become a memorial for you, and you shall observe it as a festival for the L-RD, for your generations, as an eternal decree shall you observe it. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove the leaven from your homes … [...]

Posted in Passover | 24 Responses
By Robert J. Avrech | March 29, 2010

Hey, Let’s Not Psychoanalyze Pharoah or Obama

Tweet A page from the Sarajevo Haggadah. Obama is a Socialist. Obama is a Marxist. Obama is a narcissist. Obama’s father abandoned him, thus he suffers from… Obama’s from a mixed marriage, thus he suffers from… Amatuer psychoanalysis of Barack Hussein Obama is rampant in the blogosphere. It’s fun—this intellectual exercise—but ultimately a waste of [...]

Posted in Passover | 9 Responses
By Robert J. Avrech | March 22, 2010

The Time of Our Freedom

Tweet A family at the Passover table, illustration by Arthur Szyk. And this day shall become a memorial for you, and you shall observe it as a festival for the L-RD, for your generations, as an eternal decree shall you observe it. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day [...]

Posted in Passover | 5 Responses
By Robert J. Avrech | April 8, 2009

Passover: 2009

Tweet President Barack Hussein Obama signals his submission to a modernday Pharaoh. Casa Avrech is radiant with the presence of our girlses, wonderful son-in-law—future wonderful son-in-law due to arrive later—and granddaughter Ma’ayan Ariel. We are together to celebrate the holiday of Passover. At our sedarim, Passover meals, we will recite the Haggadah which recounts the [...]

Posted in Passover | 19 Responses
By Robert J. Avrech | March 30, 2009

Passover: The Exalted Evening

Tweet Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, The Rav.Photo Copyright © Robert J. Avrech. No reproductionswithout express permission. As a child and then as a young man, several times a year, I looked on as my father, Rabbi Abraham Avrech, slowly and very carefully threaded tape through the gears of a massive tape recorder. My father, a [...]

Posted in Passover | 6 Responses