Posted on 03/29/2021 7:47:53 PM PDT by nickcarraway
When it comes to consuming matzah, the Jews of the former Soviet Union are in a league of their own.
At the top of the chart are Azerbaijan’s 8,000 Jews, who this year are expected to consume 10 tons of the unleavened bread cracker that Jews eat on the week of Passover to commemorate their ancestors’ hurried flight out of Egypt.
That’s a provision of 2.7 pounds per person — a ratio that’s nearly three times what’s on stock for the average soldier in the Israeli army.
In Russia, home to about 155,000 Jews, the rate of consumption is somewhat lower than in Azerbaijan, about 2.4 pounds per person. The ratio in the similarly sized Ukrainian Jewish community drops to about a pound of matzah per person, but that’s still higher than the average per Israeli soldier.
“There’s a special emotional attachment to matzah here that you don’t find elsewhere because for decades under the antisemitic persecution of the communist years, Passover was probably the safest way to stay connected to Judaism,” Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, who was born in Italy, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
“Pound for pound, Russian-speaking Jews buy much more matzah than what we know in other communities. A lot of people keep eating matzahs long after Passover.”
Two matzah retailers told JTA that estimates for consumption in Western countries, including the United States, France and the United Kingdom, are difficult to make as those countries have multiple importers and producers. The supply in Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet countries “is more centralized,” according to one of the retailers, Rabbi Meir Stambler.
Zoya Avadayev discusses cooking Jewish dishes with Rabbi Tsadok Ashurov in Krasnaiya Sloboda, Azerbaijan, July 21, 2018. (Photo/JTA-Cnaan Liphshiz) Zoya Avadayev discusses cooking Jewish dishes with Rabbi Tsadok Ashurov in Krasnaiya Sloboda, Azerbaijan, July 21, 2018. (Photo/JTA-Cnaan Liphshiz) In Azerbaijan, Jews regularly buy matzah to consume for many months after Passover, said Zamir Isayev, the rabbi of the Georgian Jewish Community of the Azeri capital of Baku. Among his community of Mountain Jews, an ancient group that has lived in Central Asia for at least a millennium, “Passover is a time of great devotion, and eating matzah is part of it.”
“Passover is a holiday that is celebrated inside the family and requires no special objects except the matzah, which is just a cracker. So it was relatively safe to practice,” Lazar said.
The holiday’s message of deliverance from slavery also resonated especially with the oppressed Jews of the former Soviet Union.
This year, Lazar’s Chabad-affiliated Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia for the first time sent out 30,000 sets of matzah and other staples of the seder meal to Jewish households due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Whereas making matzah was legal under communism, Lazar said, the regulations on selling and storage made it impossible to keep its kosher for Passover certification.
In Azerbaijan, Isayev said, “you could make the matzah, but were only allowed to sell it in a regular bakery. Next to the bread, which of course meant Jews couldn’t consume it as kosher.”
To get kosher matzah, Jews across the former Soviet Union would come to underground supply points — typically private residences — for a few pieces.
The Ukrainian capital of Kyiv had an underground matzah bakery that operated secretly for four decades until the 1990s. The oven was built by a Jewish engineer. Patrons would bring their own little paper bag of matzah flour and the staff would use it to bake the matzah.
The bakery has since been modernized and expanded under Ukrainian Chief Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich. Until 2014, it supplied 200 tons of matzah annually, mainly to Russian-speaking countries. But demand plummeted that year following the territorial conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which has paralyzed bilateral trade.
Workers knead dough at the Tiferet Hamatzot factory in Dnepro, Ukraine, Dec. 8, 2014. (Photo/JTA-Cnaan Liphshiz) Workers knead dough at the Tiferet Hamatzot factory in Dnepro, Ukraine, Dec. 8, 2014. (Photo/JTA-Cnaan Liphshiz)an Russia has its own matzah factory, but “it’s never enough and we need to import from Israel,” Lazar said.
Dnepro, a city in eastern Ukraine, has another factory, Tiferet Hamatzot, that specializes in shmurah matzah, a handmade product that some Jews favor because its standards of production are even stricter than ordinary matzah.
“I think there’s a special pride and satisfaction that goes into getting matzah here,” the city’s chief rabbi, Shmuel Kamenetsky, told JTA.
In Dnepro, many local Jews buy matzah, which in the former Soviet Union is available only in a handful of kosher stores and at synagogues, “to give it to their non-Jewish friends as something exotic and interesting,” Kamenetsky said.
The late Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, often recalled how his father, Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, who lived in Dnepro, clashed with Soviet authorities over matzah. The elder Schneerson obtained permission to produce kosher matzah.
“But it made him enemies, and that’s the reason he was arrested ultimately,” Kamenetsky said.
Levi Yitzchak Schneerson was exiled from Dnepro in 1939 and died in Kazakhstan in 1944.
“Ultimately, Russian-speaking Jews risked their lives to have matzah,” Kamenetsky said. “So it’s no wonder they like it a little more than other Jews.”
I had matzah lasagna today. Works just like noodles.
When dieting, Mrs Jewbacca is fond of making a little pizza using matzah as the crust. I “invented” that during poverty new leftenant duties it’s now a staple in the house.
Matzoh with peanut butter is really good. I am not Jewish but I like it a lot.
Matzoh with cheese and prosciutto is good too, but I doubt that is kosher.
I’m about 2 pounds downed with 6 days to go.
Same but with Almond butter.
Why do Jews still live in Russia? Anti-Communists blame the Jews for the rise of Bolshevism, Communists blame the Jew for the fall of Communism.
The flour has to be guarded from moisture to be kosher. Wouldn’t that be pretty much all flour today?
Not all Jews are religious Jews. In old Europe an entire city converted to Judaism overnight. The mayor - so the story goes - declared the city Jewish for political reasons. The descendants of those Jews - largely - are alive today. Sen. Chuck Schumer. Mark Zuckerberg. Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Well... These are the communists. On the other hand, Sol the bakery owner is a religious Jew likely NOT a descendant of Khazarian Jews.
Does that answer your question about why Jews continue to live in Russia?
Same but with Almond butter.
Almond butter is excellent on this flatbread. "What's to not like?"
Mmmmmm! LittleBillyWASPInfidel loves mah matzah crackers! Yummm!
I can see you are right, but I’ve never thought that, before.
It’s got to be a lot more mushy when in place of pasta, right? It would also have a slight flavor difference, with the browning of the bread that doesn’t happen with noodles before hand.
Interesting insight.
Welcome to Free Republic!
At one time, applying to leave the Soviet Union would cost them everything. Sort of like working for or openly supporting Trump today.
Those days are over for now I recon. It used to be that you actually feel the oppressions in the air there. It was like a dark cloud. A heavy presence. Looking at current videos by Russians on Youtube, things are completely different, bright and fresh. Like it used to be here.
That is an interesting theory about those Jews.
I looked it up, and it may be possible, but genetic studies haven’t supported it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khazar_hypothesis_of_Ashkenazi_ancestry
I use spelt matzah. It seems to agree with me better than regular matzah. But, with the seder’s romaine lettuce, plus the matzah, I still had indigestion today.
Today’s lunch was fried flounder fillet breaded with matzah meal and some absolutely delicious eggplant rollups stuffed with spinach. The latter were baked, not fried and were outstanding, with homemade tomato sauce.
Tonight, I made chremselach (matzah meal pancakes).
For Shabbos, I made chicken breasts coated with smoky babaganoush/paprika which were absolutely moist and delish, with roasted baby potatoes and beet/mushroom/avocado salad. For the seders, I had chicken soup with the soup chicken broken up in it (mmmm), sauteed zucchini with Cippolini onions, and no-sugar Jel for dessert. For the last days, I’m making Mediterranean Olive Chicken, Hearts of Palm Salad, potato salad, Tomato-Orange Turkey Meatballs, Carrot/Beet Slaw with Pistachios, and baked sweet potato. A feast fit for kings. I’m not suffering having to make things in accordance with Passover restrictions, and I strived to make healthy dishes. Not every dish is super-healthy, after all, it’s Passover, but most of them are.
An elderly Jewish neighbor used to bring us matzah after Passover. Frankly we did not know how to eat it to make it taste good. It was a rather poor trade anyway as my mother used to bake apple pies for the old lady.
My father had a better deal with the rabbi next door who brought us Mogen David after holidays. My dad provided the rabbi with Budweiser. :D
Yes
I believe that story has been debunked.
My people are nothing special and we have plenty of idiots each generation. See generally a golden calf at the very very start.
Of course, being idiots is why HaShem picked us as His people. He picked the least of all peoples, a stiff necked unlovable lot, as a demonstration of His power and depth of love for all humanity.
Just a little oil. Spray oil works nicely.
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