We do not have a Passover plate. The plate is a flat surface on the table and on the table father arranges the items. Our haroset is made of dates with peanuts or crushed nuts. The egg is marked with blue ink. The celery is really fingers of celery leaves. The bitter herbs are a vegetable called “koret” (our enemies should be cut down). It is very spicy and similar to garlic. The lamb shank – it is customary to slaughter a lamb in the extended family and take parts of the shank and put it on the table. There is no afikoman...and of course there is no theft.

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Everyone participates in the reading. Each one reads a passage and when we reach the verse “For this G-d did for me when He took me out of Egypt” we do an acrobatic exercise. We lift the left hand with a piece of matza, encircle the head and put it into our mouth. So that we can feel the hard work of slavery.

 

During the ten plagues we prepare a special glass and bottle. One of the children reads out “Blood, Frogs” and father pours out from the bottle into the glass. And heaven forbid that one drop should not be spilt. Otherwise one of the plagues will take place. And then another volunteer takes the glass and spills it in a field far away from the house. I was usually the volunteer. It was always raining, always “as dark as Egypt”. Once I wanted to spill it into the garden (so what?) but I was really frightened by the plagues.