
DATE: Wednesday, April 16, 1997             TAG: 9704150052

SECTION: FLAVOR                  PAGE: F1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARY FLACHSENHAAR, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:  126 lines

THE SEDER DINNER SYMBOLIC FOODS WILL BE PLACED WITH REVERENCE AND JOY ON JEWISH TABLES AROUND HAMPTON ROADS AS PASSOVER BEGINS MONDAY AT SUNDOWN

THE FOODS that adorn the Seder table are cherished reminders of the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. The matzo, or unleavened bread, recalls that the Jews left in such haste there was no time for bread to rise.

The karpas, or greens, represent springtime. Salt water symbolizes the tears shed by the Israelite slaves. The haroset, or fruit-and-nut mixture that resembles the mortar used by the Hebrews to build palaces for the Pharaohs, is another symbol of slavery. So too is the moror, or bitter herbs.

The roasted egg is akin to the festival offering used in olden times. The roasted meatbone takes the part of the ancient sacrificial lamb.

These foods will be placed with reverence and joy on Seder tables throughout Hampton Roads at sundown on Monday, the beginning of the weeklong Passover celebration.

Other treasured family foods will grace the table throughout the week - like Kitty Wolf-Steinberg's matzo ball soup, Ilana Marmon's fruit kneidlach, Melissa Friedman's Passover farfel cookies. Wolf-Steinberg, Marmon and Friedman are some of the wives of local rabbis who shared with us recipes they traditionally prepare during Passover week.

``Food is a very important part of the holiday,'' said Miriam Brunn Ruberg, whose husband Arthur Ruberg is rabbi at Congregation Beth El in Norfolk. ``I have wonderful memories of walking into my mother's kitchen when she was making her matzo ball soup. She would be up the whole night before Passover.''

Food traditions - both the age-old, ceremonial ones and those created by today's families - enhance the holiday.

``Passover is a very powerful holiday in our tradition,'' said Brunn Ruberg. ``It tells the story of when we became a nation. We learn so many values from Passover, especially that being a slave is no way to live.''

Like many rabbis' wives, Brunn Ruberg will participate in a large congregational seder at the synagogue the first night of Passover, a smaller one at home the second night. She and Rabbi Ruberg are the parents of a 15-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter. Their extended families live out-of-state.

``I grew up without much family because my parents are Holocaust survivors,'' said Brunn Ruberg. ``So I learned from my parents how to create family.''

Melissa Friedman and her husband Yosef Friedman, rabbi at B'nai Israel Congregation in Norfolk, will sit down to Passover seder with their five sons, ages 1 1/2 through 10, Yosef's sister and brother-in-law and their four children.

``The thing I like best about our seders is our focus on the children,'' said Friedman. ``Everything is done to pique their interest. My husband does a puppet show. We tell the story of Exodus in question-and-answer form and hand out candy every time a child asks a question. We spend so much time on stories and having fun that we sometimes don't get around to eating till 11:30.''

By then everybody is ready for a fistful of Melissa's beloved farfel cookies. She makes at least six batches every Passover.

The haroset, or fruit-and-nut mixture, is always in the spotlight at the home of Seth Phillips and Karen Soria. Husband and wife are both rabbis and Navy chaplains stationed in Norfolk but only one is the family cook - Phillips, who shares one of his six recipes for haroset here.

Another household tradition is a family Seder on the last night of Passover. Soria explained, ``That sends Passover out with ceremony instead of letting it fade into matzo crumbs.''

Kitty Wolf-Steinberg's matzo ball soup from her great-grandmother's recipe is always a Passover staple. She and her husband Arthur Steinberg, rabbi at Temple Sinai in Portsmouth, will host a first-night Seder in their home for a group of about 40, including their five children, ages 22 to 32. A congregational seder is traditional on the second night of Passover.

While tradition is certainly a big part of the holiday, Passover constantly needs updating, said Wolf-Steinberg.

``If you don't make the Seder relevant to today, then it loses its meaning,'' she said. ``Our purpose today is to make people aware that we've got to fight all sorts of oppression - not just slavery but abuse and poverty.''

On every holiday, the Steinbergs contribute three percent of the food cost to Mazon, the national Jewish organization dedicated to feeding the hungry.

Growing up in Chicago, Jennifer Zoberman enjoyed wonderful holiday meals prepared by her grandmother for a large extended family. Today, the family is far-flung. While Zoberman's parents live nearby, the parents and sisters of her husband Israel Zoberman, rabbi at Congreration Beth Chaverim in Virginia Beach, live in Israel.

``They cook for weeks to get ready for Passover,'' said Jennifer. ``Although we are thousands of miles apart, we know we'll be doing the same thing. That is the comfort and beauty of the Jewish religion.''

Ilana and Rabbi Elliott Marmon will be thousands of miles away from their three grown children this holiday. Two will be in Jerusalem, and one will celebrate at a military Seder in Germany, where he is stationed.

The first-night Seder the Marmons will conduct at their Virginia Beach home with friends and extended family from Israel. The second Seder will be a congregational one at Temple Emanuel in Virginia Beach, where Elliott is rabbi.

``During the holiday, renewing ties with people from our past, present and future is very significant to us,'' said Ilana. ``My husband was a military chaplain for more than 20 years. We have provided Seders in out-of-the way places like south Bavaria and Great Britain and where the sound of Jewish culture is hardly heard.''

The sound of Jewish culture will be a joyful, noisy one at the Marmons' home Seder, which will be celebrated entirely in Hebrew and filled with song. When the ceremony is done, Ilana will bring to the table the lavish meal she'll prepare herself: gefilte fish and horseradish; matzo ball soup; turkey with a honey and orange glaze; brisket; asparagus; tsimmes made from sweet potatoes, pineapple and raisins; mushrooms; salad; fruit kneidlach; and a chiffon cake. MEMO: Mary Flachsenhaar is a free-lance writer in Norfolk. ILLUSTRATION: KRT COLOR PHOTO

Clockwise from lower left: haroset, roasted egg, shank bone of lamb,

horseradish and bitter herbs.

Color photo

D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/The Virginian-Pilot

``We have provided Seders in out-of-the-way places like south

Bavaria and Great Britain,'' says Ilana Marmon, wife of Rabbi

Elliott M. Marmon of Temple Emanuel in Virginia Beach.

Photo

VICKI CRONIS/The Virginian-Pilot

``If you don't make the Seder relevant . . . then it loses its

meaning,'' says Kitty Wolf-Steinberg, wife of Arthur Steinberg,

rabbi at Temple Sinai in Portsmouth.