Jewish families prepare for Passover with tradition, reflection and resilience

Jewish families across the Tri-State Area are preparing for one of the most meaningful holidays on the calendar, as they gather for Passover and prepare to keep centuries-old traditions alive.

Passover begins at sundown Wednesday, with millions of families worldwide passing on centuries-old traditions to future generations.

"The love behind all of the mitzvahs"

A cluster of little hands in Miriam Malnik-Ezagui's kitchen peel vegetables and wash greens in preparation for the traditional Passover meal, called the Seder. The prominent social media Jewish content creator frequently posts about Judaism and her religious traditions online.

"My name is Miriam, an Orthodox Jew, and I share what my life is like. It's kind of my catchphrase," Malik-Ezagui said from her Brooklyn home.

But before dinner is served, Malik-Ezagui and her family spend days preparing their kitchen for eight days of dietary restrictions.

"I always get so stressed out at the beginning of it, but once I'm in it, I really love it and enjoy it. So there's a lot of mixed emotions going into the holiday. I'm sure other people can relate to the stress of holidays," she told Brooklyn reporter Hannah Kliger.

She covers all the surfaces with a special film and marks cabinets that contain foods forbidden during the holiday, including leavened bread and grains.

"When the Jewish people left Egypt, they were freed from slavery and they ran out quickly," she said. "They just packed whatever they had and quickly threw together bread and water and didn't have time to let it rise."

Then it's off to the grocery store, where she stocks up on bitter herbs, lamb shank and other symbolic foods used during the dinner, which involves retelling the story of Exodus in a structured format sprinkled with songs and psalms.

"I saw that there was a lot of misconceptions about Judaism," she said. "I really thought that there was a lot of education that I could provide as to how we actually celebrate."

Malik-Ezagui's five daughters take part in preparations, inheriting a rich legacy that requires days of work and offers time together as a family.

"We teach them the beauty and the love behind all of the mitzvahs, and we incorporate them into the celebration. And it really makes it whole family-orientated and really special," she said, after a few moments of singing a children's Passover song with her toddler.

Finding purpose in food, stories

During Passover, Jews are required to eat matzah, and in many families, recipes are passed down for centuries.

At Miriam, an Israeli-owned restaurant in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood, owner and chef Rafi Hasid prepares a special Passover menu inspired by his mother, after whom he named his establishment.

"My mother, she loves cooking and definitely eating ... I think food is a very honorable thing and it's a connecting thing," he said. "It's a lovely way of honoring my mom."

But celebrating his family's recipes hasn't been easy. Two of his four locations were subject to antisemitic vandalism in recent years.

"Hate and anger everywhere. And being a target of that, it's not something I want to deal with," he said.

Despite that, he continues serving bowls of matzo ball soup and plates of brisket, along with red wine, a required drink on Seder night.

"It did give me a little bit more of a purpose of sharing the food and the stories," Hasid said.

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