Since Passover is just around the corner, I'm on my way to buy Matza and you'll never guess where. Not at the supermarket. Not at the local makolet -- grocery store. Not in the shuk -- outdoor market.
Nope.
I'm buzzing by Jaffa (next to Tel Aviv), Umm el-Fahm (a city up north) and Nazareth (another city up north) where many Israeli Arabs live. You can't believe the amount of Matza they sell there. In fact, if I don't rush it will be sold out.
Israeli Arabs say that nothing beats Matza. It's a delicacy they wait for once a year. They love the taste. They love the texture. They eat it from the start of Passover to the end. Then they run out and buy some more.Who would believe? Do we live in a crazy country or not? Matza -- the bread of affliction symbolizing our flight to freedom from the Egyptians -- brings Arabs and Jews together??!! Well, not exactly. The fact is that not all Israeli Jews look forward to eating it. They kvetch that it doesn't fill them up like bread, has too many carbs and crumbles too quickly. You name it, there's a complaint, which is only fitting for this holiday since the Bible reports that once we were in the desert we proved that we were (and still are) a nation of kvetchers. And get this! Do you know what many of us in Tel Aviv look forward to on Passover? Actually, on the night Passover ends? We can't wait to go to Jaffa.
To be more exact -- we go to the Abulafia bakery to savor the taste of freshly baked pita bread and other baked goodies.So I guess, the best way to an Israeli Jew and an Israeli Arab's heart is through the stomach. Passover is proof of the pudding -- Kosher for Passover pudding that is.
Chag Sameach...Zvuvi
Matza photo credit
Pita bread photo credit
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