The Empty Freezer - A tale for Passover
- Mia Sivan
- Apr 10
- 1 min read
During Pesach, Hebrew for Passover, Jews do not eat bread or any leavened products (chametz) to commemorate the Exodus from Egypt.
The Torah instructs : "Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread…ye shall put away leaven out of your houses..." (Exodus 12:15)
If you’re gluten intolerant, you’re having a ball since everyone hastens to offer gluten-free versions of their regular products. In Israel, Pesach is often nicknamed the Celiac Holiday.
Walking into a supermarket in Israel you’ll see entire sections hidden under wide sheets of plastic - anything that contains gluten, except for matzah (the thin, cracker-like flatbread that’s eaten by Jews during Passover instead of regular bread) is forbidden and can’t be shown. Most bakeries close on Pesach eve and only open after the week is over.
Many years ago, when I was young and unorganized, living as a student in the great city of Be'er Sheva, I opened my freezer - one of those tiny ones, about the size of a sock drawer - and discovered I was out of pitas!
It was around the third day of Pesach.
I had no car to drive to the nearby Bedouin village to buy fresh pitas. I got stuck for five days with no edible gluten except for matzah. It scarred me for life.
So, weeks before Pesach comes I recite my sacred instructions by heart:
“Thou shalt fill thy freezer with pitas and all manner of bread, so that thou mayest be spared the affliction of constipation…”
My freezer today :
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