Feeling the fellowship of Passover

By SUZANNE MOORE
Features Editor

April 11, 2008 04:00 am

— KEESEVILLE -- Passover Seder in a tent on the Kuwait/Iraq border was not the most relaxed affair.
"We're all wearing our weapons; there are ordnance going off all around us," Beth Brumfield recalled.
But it was so meaningful.
"Jews in the desert, hostile country ..." the now-retired Naval officer jotted in her journal on April 18, 2006. "Telling of the Passover story. I thought of the other Seders and missed those I love."
PORTABLE JUDAISM
Seder is the meal celebrated the first and often second night of the Jewish festival of Passover (in Hebrew, Pesach), which marks the exodus of the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt.
That year, Brumfield experienced a deluxe Seder put on by the Air Force, complete with crystal goblets, then the rougher version in the combat zone with disposable Seder plates and Styrofoam cups.
Laughing, she said, "we had Passover MREs (Meals Ready to Eat)."
There was a time when Brumfield adhered strictly to the rules of Passover, which say all chametz, or leavened foods, must be removed from the home throughout the celebration.
"If you're really traditional, you can get really carried away," she said. "Clean your car, clean out your pockets ..."
She kept a set of dishes and pots and pans specifically for Passover use.
Brumfield lived in Manhattan then, where abiding by Jewish laws is easier than it is many other places.
It was more challenging during her military service in countries such as Japan, Italy, Spain and Kuwait.
But the Keeseville woman has always considered Judaism very portable.
"It's more in your heart than in the laws."
DEEP ROOTS
A advance practice psychiatric nurse, Brumfield headed a combat operational stress team. She was also a lay leader, helping meet spiritual needs of other Jews in the military. Around the world, she found her faith everywhere.
"There's a very strong Jewish community in Tokyo," she said.
In Spain, where the Inquisition practically wiped out what had been a flourishing Jewish presence, she thrilled to the sight of crumbling synagogues more than 5,000 years old that reminded her of how deep her roots go there.
Brumfield helped organize a Passover Seder in Spain in the Naval Station Rota dining hall.
They'd planned to order out, but then the Spanish kitchen workers volunteered to cook for them, following dietary laws.
"They found a real Jewish cookbook -- in Spanish," Brumfield said. "It had to be antique.
"It was the most wonderful Seder."
DESERT DANGER
Traditionally, the Seder plate that precedes the meal includes six foods that symbolize the significance of Passover, both remembering the time of slavery and then liberation.
One of those is a sweet paste called charoset.
"It's supposed to look like the mortar between the bricks of the buildings built for the pharaoh," Brumfield said.
A traditional recipe in the United States for that mixture includes apples, honey, wine and nuts; in Spain, Brumfield found, the ingredients are nuts, dates and figs.
Skimming 2006 entries in her journal, she was reminded that friends had sent her horseradish -- the bitter herb called maror -- for the Seder plate. It otherwise wouldn't have been available.
Other factors that made worship a different experience were more dramatic and even distressing -- for example, in Kuwait, armed soldiers guarded outdoor Havdalah services closing the Sabbath.
"It takes courage to be a Jew in the desert," Brumfield said.
FELLOWSHIP
Consistent everywhere, however, was the fellowship. Some came long distance, in the form of care packages from the Jewish Welfare Board or letters from the children at American synagogues. For services and celebrations, the Jewish soldiers were joined by expatriates and civil services employees who also practiced that faith.
This year, the first night of Passover is April 19.
Brumfield's kosher foods for the eight days already sit in plastic bags in her refrigerator. She'll clean the fridge, store any foods with chametz in a cabinet she'll seal shut with masking tape.
Different linens will grace the table; she'll put the dishwasher though a cycle empty to make sure no crumbs of leaven remain.
Brumfield is also organizing Passover Together for Temple Beth Israel in Plattsburgh, matching volunteer hosts with people who need a place to celebrate Seder, promoting the same kind of fellowship she experienced elsewhere in the world.
"Passover is a wonderful holiday," she said. "I love it.
"No one should be alone."
smoore@pressrepublican.com

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