If there's a carp in the bathtub then it must be Passover ... Chag Pesach Sameach!

I remember my first library bosses, Linda S. and Linda K., and the boxes of matzah they would share with us during Passover. But it was my co-worker Marilyn M. who introduced me to the pleasures of home made matzah ball soup and gefilte fish. Ah food ... the great unifier.

Passover is the seven or eight day Jewish festival celebrating the exodus from Egypt and the Israelites' freedom from slavery.



Toronto Public Library carries a wide assortment of Passover books for adults and for children.

For those of you more into cooking and food why not try the following:





Matzah is unleavened bread made simply from flour and water and cooked very quickly. For Passover it symbolically represents the rush to leave Egypt - ie no time to let the bread rise. Matzo or Matzah (depending who you ask) is not without controversies or debate; is it edible and how, hard and thin or softer and thicker, and the more serious wet or dry.



Interesting fact, did you know Canada's first matzo factory was established in Toronto in 1908? Impress your friends at Seder with this tidbit, you're welcome!







Jayne Cohen has also written extensively on Jewish cooking including Passover. If you can't make it to the Library don't forget we also have downloadable Passover ebooks including children's books.





1990 Toronto Star Archives photo: New life, while living in the U.S.S.R., Mark and Maria Podgoyetsky found it almost impossible to get matzo

And who would want any discussion of Matzah without children's books?











Of course, it's not just the food that makes a Passover table - there is also religion, faith, traditions, family, friends and community.









There is also the humorous (satirical?):









1991 Toronto Star Archives photo: Hebrew ritual: Patriarch Julie Goodbaum, and wife Esther, join 21 other members of the family in the songs and toasts preceding a Passover evening meal.

The Passover Seder is rich in traditional ritual - an elaborate meal over one or two nights, retelling the Exodus story with others and completing the (14 or 15) steps presents many opportunities for involvement. More recently some strive to make it their own and as my co-worker Pam H suggested this year some tables would draw a comparison between current social issues (like Syrian refugees) and the Exodus or raise environmental concerns and other social justice matters at the table.

As well, depending on what branch of Judaism you practice (Reform, Conservative, or Orthodox Hasidic) there will be some differences in the Seder. There's a lot online about gourmet Seders and community Seders in public spaces that, if not outright reject the family Seder, definitely give it a different spin. Then there's the role of welcoming a stranger into a Seder.



In particular the Haggadah, the book used during Seder, to tell the story of Exodus and to guide one through the symbolic and ritually rich Passover has many versions.







And there is, as I mentioned, the strong desire to personalize the Seder and Passover experience:

The Haggadah is the most published Jewish book and there are many historical illuminated manuscripts, similar to Christian books of hours, that are still preserved.









1985 Toronto Star Archives photo: Remembering a sacred night, students of the Hebrew school of Temple Sinai on Wilson Avenue rehearse the Seder.

And, just in case your own religious knowledge of the Haggadah is a bit rusty, or your Hebrew is a bit weak without your parents or grandparents, there are books intended for children.





There are many picture books / stories for children about Passover.





You may also like these titles:







And there are many online resources that list best kid's books on Passover:





1973 Toronto Star Archives photo: Children play a major role in the celebration of the Seder meal, Mitchell Brown, 11, reads from the Haggadah.

You may be wondering about the title which is a bow to the older children's book The Carp in the Bathtub by Barbara Cohen. You can get a sense of that story here in the writing of Alan Deutschman for Salon magazine "The carp in the bathtub." Interestingly, if you're from Central / Eastern Europe and Christian you likely are also familiar with carp in the bathtub as carp is central to Polish and Slovakian Christmas meals.

If you have some extra tasty gefilte fish and feel like sharing ... don't be a stranger. Chag Pesach Sameach! Happy Passover Festival!