Passover

Seder or Haggadah? There are those who will tell you the S&P do not call it a "Seder" ("Order") at all, but a "Haggadah" {"Telling Over"). Historically this may have been so, but as we all agree that the full name of the service is "Seder Haggadah shel Pesah" ("The Order of the Telling Over of Passover"), it doesn't seem a very big deal which way you shorten it. It's like whether you call your daughter, named Elisheva, "Elly" or "Shevy" (I actually call mine "Shelly"). Perhaps we should properly call it a "Symposium", as the whole service is modeled on the Roman Symposium, as R. Richard Hidary relates here.

Seder Dish (not)

Today the most common arrangement of the special Haggadah foods on a single dish is attributed to the Arizal, and therefore - not surprisingly - it is not an S&P custom. We follow the older custom whereby three separate plates, in no particular arrangement, contain:

- Matsa (aka shimureem)

- Roasted shank bone and a Hard-boiled egg

- Lettuce/Endive for Marror, and Parsley/Celery for Karpass

Also on the table are two bowls:

- Vinegar or salt water (for dipping the parsley)

- Haroset (for dipping the Marror)

Karpass

Curly leaved parsley, or celery, are most commonly used for the Karpas (appetiser), though technically any green veg that is not marror could be used. The flat leaved parsley available in Israel doesn't have enough body to be eaten by itself, and we don't use boiled potatoes.

Marror

Like all Sephardim we use lettuce or endive. Horseradish is not used. Personally I am not averse to a little white or purple chrain with my gefilte fish, but grated horseradish cannot - repeat cannot - be used for Marror.

Recipe for Haroset

There are numerous recipes for the thick, sweet relish into which the Marror is dipped, supposedly to reduce its bitterness (though of course the cultivated Romaine lettuce we use today is not bitter in the first place - but that's another story). Many include apples, walnuts and red wine. None can claim to be "the original recipe". so go with what you like. Our favourite is "Haleq" the mixture of date honey (a.k.a."silan") and walnuts that merited special mention in the writings of R Yosef Haim of Baghdad (the Ben Ish Hai), and dates back to the time of the Geonim.

Stealing the Afikoman (not)

I wrote a whole article about the regrettable Ashkenazi custom of children "stealing" the afikoman and returning it in exchange for a new bike. You can read it here.

Cup of Elijah (not)

A whole genre of Passover legend has built up around the mysterious cup of Elijjah, and whether or not its wine level can be observed to go down. I am sorry to have to tell you that the Cup of Elijah is not a Sephardi custom.

Opening the door (not)

Yeah once all the guests have arrived we don't open the front door again at any point in the proceedings until they leave.

The great olive debate

Although not specifically an S&P issue, I feel I must mention here that when the Haggadah tells us to eat an olive's bulk of Matsa it is - actually - referring to an olive as we understand it. That might seem self-evident unless you have been subjected to the rampant opinion that olives have changed in size over the generations (it is archaeologically proven that they have not) and that whenever directed to eat an olive's bulk (of matsa or marror) we must in fact eat SIX TIMES that amount or more.

I was myself witness to an enthusiastic young yeshiva student presenting his frail grandmother with an utterly impossible amount of matsa at the Seder, and to the despair on her face. The now ubiquitous Artscroll has done an enormous service to Judaism in making Torah available to the masses, but in many instances it emphasizes stringent opinions without making clear that they are such. This is the case with the kezayit (olive's bulk).

For a detailed discussion of the kezayit (olive's bulk) by R Natan Slifkin, see here.

If you too would like a chart showing the correct size - not to be outdone by your more stringent friends - you can download his excellent chart here.

Wine

Red wine is preferred. Rose, white and even grape juice (preferably with some wine added) are fine.

In my youth one of our family friends introduced us to their custom of having four different wines for the four cups, each successively superior, with the fourth one being Champagne. My parents adopted that custom and my wife and I do it in our home too. Of course this is not a binding - or even authentic - S&P custom!

How full is a "full" cup of wine?

Many Haggadot include a rubric to the effect that the wine cups must be filled "to the top". This is based on the way wine cups were used. In the 1700s the average wine glass held just 66ml of wine. Today it's not unusual to be handed a glass that technically holds almost half a litre, though you are not intended to fill it to the brim.

If you are using a large modern glass intended to encase the wine's "nose" (aroma}, you should just fill it the way you would normally fill a glass of that kind. Even if you are using regular wine glasses, "filled to the brim" does not mean "filled so the wine spills when you lift the cup".

Leaning to the left

The Haggadah instructs us to drink the wine and eat the matsa while leaning to the left. This used to be a symbol of freedom but is now something of an inconvenience. Ashkenazi women generally do not lean. To the extent that it is practical to lean in modern dining chairs at all, the obligation to do so in Sephardi custom applies equally to men and women.

You should not lean with your chin on your left hand as this looks more like worrying than feeling free!

The meal

There are no particular requirements for the meal itself except that it is customary to:

• Start the meal with hard boiled eggs, representing the Festival sacrifice (Hagigah) that was eaten prior to the Passover sacrifice

• Not to serve roasted meat, as that looks very like a Passover sacrifice that we may not bring