Pesach in Autumn

My year is ending as it began, by dropping in on Porto Alegre’s Jewish community for a large seasonal fest. This time it was Pesach, which feels just as odd to celebrate in the fall as Rosh Hashanah did in the spring. Although, southern hemisphere Jews do have apple season going for them, which makes for better charoset. For the sake of novelty, my folks opted for matzah and kosher wine from São Paulo over the Israeli imports. What more could Israelites know about matzah than Paulistas?

Continuing the southern-hemisphere theme of events seeming to be backwards, we only attended a seder on the last night, expecting to drink the four cups of wine before asking the four questions. Hosted at the Jewish camp/country club in a wealthy the southern suburb was a fabulous community seder, designed for the children – as a seder is supposed to be. That said, its not-so-kid-friendly late-night commencement prevented us from staying past the matzah-ball soup. I do remember the pre-dinner seder, though: Instead of taking turns reading from old haggadot, they prepared skits, videos, and a a puppet to draw in the kinder, who sat together at large tables in the center of the room. I’m still a bit confused over the difference between the songs “Ma yafeh hayom, Shabat Shalom” and “Ma nishtana halayla hazeh,” but maybe they’ll answer that question next year, or rather next spring.