by Mordechai Schram, Director of Food Services
Dear friends, in my last blog post I wrote about the delicious sourdough breads that we have been making here in the kitchens of Isabella Freedman… And now for something completely different.
Pesach is almost upon us, and we are now beginning our journey in earnest from from slavery to freedom. We begin this journey by freeing ourselves from the hametz in our lives both physically and spiritually. Hametz refers to anything that is leavened, and hazal, our sages of blessed memory, make the spiritual connection to hametz to refer to puffery and arrogance in ourselves.
As we clean every nook and cranny in our stoves, ovens, refrigerators and cabinets, we also search deeply in our own neshamot (souls) to identify the spiritual hametz in ourselves toward becoming our best selves as we begin this incredible journey from slavery to freedom to matan torah (receiving Torah). But make no mistake about it, the work is very physical. Here at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center kitchen, we are scrubbing and torching and scraping everything and getting ready for what will be an amazing Pesach here at the farm, b’h. Our staff – chefs, porters, dining hall and mashgichim – are all working incredibly hard and with great kavannah (intention) both in the physical realm as well as spiritual, ensuring the kashrut of our kitchen this Pesach.
Wishing everyone a hag kasher v’sameach, and hope to see you here soon.
