Israel Scouts, Tzofim In New York Make Matzah In Preperation For Pesach

In preparation to celebrate the upcoming Passover holiday, The New York chapter of the Israeli Scouts (Tzofim) in the USA hosted the Model Matzah Bakery at their Manhattan headquarters in Manhattan this Sunday.

The Tzivos Hashem Model Matzah Bakery brought wheat stalks, a brick oven, millstones, everything needed to location and set up a model version of a virtually real old world Shmura Matzah bakery. In two sessions, over 150 scouts made their matzah “shmura” style literally from the beginning.

The boy and girl scouts first reviewed their knowledge of the Pesach story from the earliest Jewish history, how Yaakov and his children had to leave Eretz Yisrael because of a famine and had to travel to Egypt in search of food. The young performers acted out the story with volunteers performing as “Moshe” and “Pharaoh”.

Next was a visit to an imaginary farm where everyone learned how to thresh brittle stalks of naturally ripe wheat and winnow to chaff from the grain.

The young scouts collected the wheat grain into millstones and took turns grinding the wheat grain into whole fine flour and sifted it.

Moving on to the next station, the boys pumped out mayim shelanu from “Miriam’s Well,” and mixed and kneaded the flour and water into Matzah dough.

Racing against the 18 minute clock, the children quickly rolled out the dough into round mini matzahs and riddled them full of holes. With the help of the teachers, the Matzah was baked in a “brick” oven, (“unfortunately” the matzahs were not baked in time to be kosher for Pesach, so the scouts were “forced” to eat their Matzah on the spot.)

While the Matzah baked, the students practiced drinking grape juice while reclining at a mini-model seder where they all wished L’Chaim that “THIS year we should all enjoy the seder Yerushalayim!”

“The Tzofim are all about exploring new experiences, and with the Model Matzah Bakery we aim to bring the meaning of Pesach both teens and the very young with authentic hands-on skills,” said Michael Albukerk, Director of the Tzivos Hashem Traveling Crafts Workshops.

Michal Poran, head of the New York Israeli Scouts for the past 8 years fondly remembers the great excitement the Model Matzah workshop generated years ago. “It was such a great experience for our kids. The wonderful hands-on educational activities brought excitement to scouts of for all ages. This is a valuable learning opportunity that makes our Jewish heritage much more accessible to our children and also reinforces the sense of proud Jewishness so much needed these days.

“We wanted this program back since Chabad’s support means a great deal to our community, and we believe this activity significantly enhances the Passover experience for our Israeli children in New York. We look forward to the possibility of further working together to ensure that every child in our community has the opportunity to participate in the Passover festivities.”

Since the children’s attempt at making Matzah was not Kosher for Pesach, the scouts were forced to eat their “model” Matzah on the spot.

At the end of the program, every participant got a whole Kosher L’Pesach Shmura Matzah to take home to eat for the Afikoman at their family Seder.

Dedicated staffmembers, Yaakov Wilansky, Shmuel Yechezkel Erentroy, Devorah Leah Albukerk and Esther Brocha Albukerk were instrumental in making the Model Matzah Bakery program happen.

Connecting generations: The Traditional Crafts of the Jewish People workshops are the perfect opportunity to bring parents and children for an authentic generation connecting Jewish experience. For more information about the Tzivos Hashem Traveling Matzah Bakery and other workshops, visit JewishChildren.com

Photo Credit: SHRoss