2005-05-05-Polish pesach

2005-05-05--Afterglow of Polish Pesach

Writers Directory

Gerry Greber

Nowy Wisnicz has its first
seder in sixty-four years

jewishsightseeing.com, May 5, 2005

By Gerry Greber

Weeks later and my wife Marilyn and I still can feel the afterglow of a magnificent occasion.   We conducted a Passover seder in a small town in Poland for the entire Jewish community-which consisted of our son, his wife, and our two grandchildren. When our granddaughter, Helena, age 12, recited the feir kashas (four questions) we all beamed with joy.

It was a long process getting to this point, but well worth it. This was the first Passover seder in this town since the Nazis were here in 1941. Not only were we doing it for our grandchildren, but for the millions who could not do it for themselves.

Our son and his family live in a small town, more like a village, called Nowy Wisnicz, about 35 kilometers south of Krakow. What prompted our son to move to Poland revolves around a opportunity to follow his dream. While there, teaching English in Krakow, he met his wife, Ewa, a professor of Latin and Greek at Jagolovian University where Copernicus taught, and they became a duet. Eventually they became a quartet, a girl age 12, and a boy age 5.

We were thrilled when they visited us during Chanukah 1 1/2 years ago in California. This year we decided to spend Pesach with them and hold a real seder, the children's first.

The town, before WW II, held about 700 Jewish families. That's what some of the information the locals told us. The last Jew, until our son moved in with his family, disappeared in late 1942 during the Nazi occupation. This was noted, indirectly, by the sign on the Jewish cemetery in town, in both Hebrew and Polish that, “This cemetery was locked in November 1942”.

During our preparations to visit them for the holidays we assumed that some of the Passover goodies would be non-existent, so we began to plan what to take with us. Marilyn made a list. She accumulated:
-Matzoh BallMix—Manishevitz of course
-Marmalade and “pesadiga” candies
-Matzoh stuffing
-Macaroons.
-Haggadahs

We wondered if we would have a problem bringing food into the country, but the customs inspectors did not bring up the subject, so neither did we. When there Marilyn and our daughter-in-law went shopping, at the Polish supermarket, for the things that we did not bring along. She felt like the immigrant who comes to the US and goes shopping at a supermarket for the first time. In the past Marilyn had experienced this with new immigrants shopping here in the United States. This was through her previous participation in a program bringing Russian Jews to the United States, who were unfamiliar with our language. She took them shopping and watched as they shopped by pictures and almost ended up buying dog food. Fortunately, that did not occur, but that's what she said she felt like.

We were told that Matzos were available in Poland so we did not bring them along. And indeed they were. The matzohs (spelled in Polish MACA - c=tz in Polish I was told) and were clearly labeled in English “Kosher” and certified by Rabbi Yosef Shuldrick- no address or specific group identified.. They came in pieces that were 4”X4”, rather than the size we are familiar with here in the states, 14 pieces to a package. Oh well it was better than nothing.

The ladies, Marilyn and Ewa, then went busily to the task of preparing the seder plate and the food for the evening. Marilyn, having done this many times before led the way. Most of the goodies were available locally. Especially interesting was the fact that the “moror” and Marilyn's apple kugel, which everyone enjoyed, was prepared from apples grown in the local Greber yard. They even made a “cardiac approved” ersatz chopped liver prepared from Marilyn's secret recipe using walnuts.

I conducted the seder based on what I had seen my father and mother do while growing up in an Orthodox household in the Bronx in the 30's and 40's.   I made some modifications based on the changing times and children's “shpilkes”. I did some parts in Hebrew and some in English. When you have a 5 year old at the table you have to tell a story that he/she can follow.

It was a grand evening. We tasted the moror, the charoses and all the other goodies from the seder plate, sang “diyanu” while the children listened to the story of our bondage and release in Egypt. As you might expect they enthusiastically dipped their fingers into the wine and deposited a drop on a plate while the 10 plagues were being described.

After dinner everyone hunted for, and finally found, the afikomen, that I had hidden, so we could get on with the service.   We sang some of the songs and closed the seder with the singing of the traditional favorite “Had Gadya”.

It was a most rewarding experience for Marilyn and me. The children loved it and were very attentive. Our son had sent his first child, our granddaughter, to study Judaism with the Lubavitcher rabbi and his wife, in Krakow ever since she was about 8 years old. Because their mother is not Jewish, both children were officially converted at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles during their visit to the States in late 2003 with the blessings of Rabbis Arthur Zuckerman and David Kornberg of Congregation Beth Am of San Diego But that is another tale.