David Krosner says his mother makes “the best matzo ball soup you’ve ever had.”
But when the Forsyth County resident travels to his parents’ home for Passover on Monday night, it will be for much more than just soup.
“My folks have always done the Seder,” he said. “Even when we were in college, we came home to go to the Seder.
“It’s super important to be able to do that with the people who taught you the things that you believe in.”
The Krosner family is one of many local Jewish families who will be celebrating Passover, the holiday honoring their ancestors’ exodus from slavery in Egypt.
During Passover, Jewish families read the story of the Hebrews’ plight in a book called the Hagaddah. The book is read during the Seder, a traditional meal held the first two nights of the eight-day holiday.
During Passover, only unleavened bread called matzo can be eaten, representing the bread eaten during the Hebrew exodus, when there was no time to properly bake bread.
With the limitation on bread and yeast products, Jewish families get creative with their meals.
For Johns Creek resident Lori Rubin and her three children, “the thing that we eat the most is matzo pizza.”
Krosner said he’ll make matzo brie, or fried mazto, for his two children, “and we eat ungodly amounts of eggs and tuna fish.”
“Every year I’ve tried to make kosher-for-Passover mac and cheese, but I’ve yet to make it successfully,” he joked.
Charoset — a traditional Passover food made of apples, cinnamon, wine and nuts — is Krosner’s favorite.
In addition to its sweet flavor, it also represents the bricks and mortar Jewish slaves made before their liberation.
According to the Torah, or Jewish holy book, God inflicted 10 plagues, ranging from locusts and frogs to darkness and hail, on the Egyptians.
To be spared from these plagues, Jewish families marked their doors with the blood of a lamb so the final plague, the death of each family’s first-born child, would “pass over” their homes.
“These are part of our core beliefs,” Krosner said. “Just like it shows a great time of religious pride for a Christian person with Easter and celebrating the resurrection, [Passover] is when we celebrate an exodus and a time of survival.
“It’s one of the holiest days we have.”
For the second night of Passover, Krosner will attend the Seder at his temple, Dor Tamid in Johns Creek, where he serves as the musical director.
With the exception of his mother’s matzo ball soup, Krosner’s father does much of the cooking, which features traditional brisket.
“We’re a blend of Russian Jews, so we have some dishes that are Israeli, some that are Russian and some that are just traditional Jewish ... I honestly couldn’t tell you which is which, because I’ve had them all my whole life.”
For Rubin’s family, as many as 30 people attend the Seder her parents have in Cobb County. Her mother does most of the cooking but her grandmother helps make the matzo ball soup.
“We have a big family. There’s 18 of us just in our family, and we always like to be a place where others who don’t have family in town can celebrate,” she said.
“That’s just part of our tradition ... it wouldn’t be the same for us if we knew there were people out there that didn’t have anyone to celebrate with.”
Her father leads the Seder. But when Rubin was a child, her grandfather led “and before that, my great-grandfather led it.”
“It’s just nice for my kids to be able to be a part of the same traditions that I grew up with, and that hopefully we’ll continue to have the same traditions as they grow older and as they have kids,” she said. “It helps reiterate what the holiday is all about.”
But when the Forsyth County resident travels to his parents’ home for Passover on Monday night, it will be for much more than just soup.
“My folks have always done the Seder,” he said. “Even when we were in college, we came home to go to the Seder.
“It’s super important to be able to do that with the people who taught you the things that you believe in.”
The Krosner family is one of many local Jewish families who will be celebrating Passover, the holiday honoring their ancestors’ exodus from slavery in Egypt.
During Passover, Jewish families read the story of the Hebrews’ plight in a book called the Hagaddah. The book is read during the Seder, a traditional meal held the first two nights of the eight-day holiday.
During Passover, only unleavened bread called matzo can be eaten, representing the bread eaten during the Hebrew exodus, when there was no time to properly bake bread.
With the limitation on bread and yeast products, Jewish families get creative with their meals.
For Johns Creek resident Lori Rubin and her three children, “the thing that we eat the most is matzo pizza.”
Krosner said he’ll make matzo brie, or fried mazto, for his two children, “and we eat ungodly amounts of eggs and tuna fish.”
“Every year I’ve tried to make kosher-for-Passover mac and cheese, but I’ve yet to make it successfully,” he joked.
Charoset — a traditional Passover food made of apples, cinnamon, wine and nuts — is Krosner’s favorite.
In addition to its sweet flavor, it also represents the bricks and mortar Jewish slaves made before their liberation.
According to the Torah, or Jewish holy book, God inflicted 10 plagues, ranging from locusts and frogs to darkness and hail, on the Egyptians.
To be spared from these plagues, Jewish families marked their doors with the blood of a lamb so the final plague, the death of each family’s first-born child, would “pass over” their homes.
“These are part of our core beliefs,” Krosner said. “Just like it shows a great time of religious pride for a Christian person with Easter and celebrating the resurrection, [Passover] is when we celebrate an exodus and a time of survival.
“It’s one of the holiest days we have.”
For the second night of Passover, Krosner will attend the Seder at his temple, Dor Tamid in Johns Creek, where he serves as the musical director.
With the exception of his mother’s matzo ball soup, Krosner’s father does much of the cooking, which features traditional brisket.
“We’re a blend of Russian Jews, so we have some dishes that are Israeli, some that are Russian and some that are just traditional Jewish ... I honestly couldn’t tell you which is which, because I’ve had them all my whole life.”
For Rubin’s family, as many as 30 people attend the Seder her parents have in Cobb County. Her mother does most of the cooking but her grandmother helps make the matzo ball soup.
“We have a big family. There’s 18 of us just in our family, and we always like to be a place where others who don’t have family in town can celebrate,” she said.
“That’s just part of our tradition ... it wouldn’t be the same for us if we knew there were people out there that didn’t have anyone to celebrate with.”
Her father leads the Seder. But when Rubin was a child, her grandfather led “and before that, my great-grandfather led it.”
“It’s just nice for my kids to be able to be a part of the same traditions that I grew up with, and that hopefully we’ll continue to have the same traditions as they grow older and as they have kids,” she said. “It helps reiterate what the holiday is all about.”