The New York herald., 1879-02-24
THE JEWISH PASSOVER.

HOW THE uNLEAvENED BREAD Is PREPARED
FOR THE CHILDREN OF IsRAEI-rHE .Hrsroay
AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE HEBREW FEs-
TIvAL.
The most significant of the many celebrations
honored by our Hebrew fellow citizens is that com.
monty known as the feast of the Passover significant
because to the celebrants the rescue
of their from determination. The deep reli
gious ardor with which the devout Hebrew doei
tribute to this OCCASION therefore, can be understood
sun ever shone on. He feels himself unit in
the great result of the old escape of the
first born from destruction. 1t to glorify this
escape that the ceremonies with part of which this
article has to treat. We're instituted. The feast OF
the Passover was instituted by Moses Immediately
preceding the exodus OF the Jews from Egypt. The
first celebrations took place the 14th of the FIRST
month of the Hebrew spring, when a sacrifice OF
lambs was made the sun dipped. The meat roasted
eaten the following night. together with
bread from which all .eaven had been sternly ex
cluded For the succeeding seven days all bread
eaten by the Semites was also unleavened. The cer
emones preceding the Hebrew Passover are best de.
scribed by excerpt from their own ritual
PREPARATIONS FOR THE PASSOVER
the evening the fourteenth day Of the month
entering on any other business whatsoever the Of
family is obliged to search the different
Of his house for even bread gathering all the leaven
Lord our Cod King Of the Universe who has sanctihsd
us with fh commitments and commanded us to remove
He must not speak between the blessing and making
secures the leavcn which he hath gathered and All
OF h"s is n my @ e a. have
O'clock in the morning. all manner Of ieaven must be re-
@ % bs that % hs sa the
% in my pSfssssn which aays aa and
have not shall be null and accounted the dust
the be home he annuls the whcr
ever heis.
is made on the Of sSs az HS TSarsy
evening" and svsrynn is removed on the Friday before
they have eaten and put the utensiss in the
60 s 'sSs @ o aH the
Con the SABBATH give !. to Gsnts II person And any
ately; but i i be the holy days he it with
on the day preceding the feast yz the fo1rteent all
@ tine rs born % OF the Nation when GGd npts an the rst
tSy "a, oar Oh
AMERICAN PASSOVER.
1t was in pursuit of some information in regard to
this most sacred of all Jewish observances apropos Of
the Passover season that aHEnALb reporter went on
Friday to find out how the matzas are baked. In
order to do he visited No. 49, Delanccy street.
ner Of Attorney, where Meyer Hauptman conducts
bakery strictly scientific principles. The baking
Of the bread, the supervision Of noted rabbi
was in progress at the time of the reporters call.
Six or eight individuals. all impregnated with the
essence of furious activity, lighted by
the ruddy glow which filtered through the inerstices
Of the oven. in front OF which silhouettes Of men,
who looked like demons of the fire. busted
rying with things which seemed very much like
pitchforks, invisible something's buried somewhere
i'll the bowels OF the leaping growing singing
flames.
There were about eleven men engaged in the baking
and Toured. The Passover bread is pure dough and
water. thoroughly mixed. and then is pounded by
wooden bar. at the end of which human form acts
lever, impressing the vagaries of his bouncings
in tho several shapes in which the passive dough
takes FORM In the second stage the dough passes
over into the hands of the manipulation of hopper
Eventually it becomes thick roll like white velvet
in which condition it is shot into something which
sheet Of dough about twenty-four inches wide and
thirty inches long comes out in punctured disks.
through which the matzas, in this their
primitive condition, pass. AS soon the urchins
gather in their little handful of the sacred dough
they hurry Off to the innermost recesses of the
bakery and return to their original slab the relics
which they have piltered from the first turnout Of
Nothing is lost nothing is wasted.
THE BAKING.
AS fast as the circular cakes are evolved from the
machine they are picked up by the dexterous wied-
OF the ong-handled paddles and Immediately shot
into the red mouths OF the two gaping They
allowed 10 heat there three minutes and then the
Passover bread is achieved.
Two three doors above the bakeshop is the place
where the goods stored While the proprietor
was showing his establishment to the reporter an
opportunity was taken to examine this warehouse,
in which was stocked the chief Passover means of
subsistence OF local Hebrews. The most curious
place OF all the packing There in serried
arrays, running back like seats in theatre
masses of crackers. In the saesroom there .
measuring scale exactly resembling that in which
man stands to ascertain his weight. and here tho
crackers piled up until they met the require.
nent of the buyer. They were sold at eight cents
pound and eighty cents package Tho meal which
from the attrition OF the cakes is purchased
by the poorer portion of the Jewish community, who
anxious observe the festival but have the
means to celebrate it in the manner they would wish.
The proprietor has already baked 45O barrels of -four.
and expects before the festival to at
lesst three times that amount.