As Passover nears (quicker than you think), you may already be dreading matzo. But be not afraid; the holiday cracker doesn’t have to taste like cardboard. Ashley Albert and Kevin Rodriguez of The Matzo Project are so determined to reclaim the stuff that they’ve created an entire food line dedicated to turning matzo into a year-round snack (in fact, their products are kosher, but deliberately not kosher-for-Passover).

From “Cinnamon Bun Matzo Buttercrunch” ice cream, to cinnamon sugar matzo chips— any style of nosh you need, they got you.

But they need your help in deciding just what to schmear on their flat matzot this Passover season: The Matzo Project and Jewcy are teaming up for the #MatzoDipChallenge, a contest to concoct the perfect dip for their unusual matzot (Passover is all about dipping, after all).

Here’s what you can do:

The classic flats come in two flavors: “Salted” and “Everything Plus Two Other Things.” Pick one (or both), and submit your recipe/s for a dip that you think will go best with your flavor of choice. If you think you need more inspiration, think sea salt for Salted, and Everything is like the same sort of bagel, with a smidgen of paprika and chili.

Don’t be afraid to get weird with your submissions— want to do that marshmallow fluff/cream cheese blend? Go for it.

If you want to pick up a box to help get your creative juices flowing, they aren’t hard to come by.

The finalists will all receive a free box of Matzo Project matzo, and the Matzo Project and Jewcy team will bring the recipes to life (on video for posterity) and pick a grand prize winner (the grand prize is honor, but also a bag full of swag).  We’ll also be releasing a virtual recipe book of our top picks!

To enter, email gabriela@jewcy.com with the subject “Matzo Dip Challenge.” In the body of the email include your name, number, flavor choice, recipe, and anything else you’d like us to know.

The contest ends Wednesday, March 29th, at 5 p.m.

And of course, feel free to tweet (#MatzoDipChallenge) at either Jewcy or The Matzo Project with thoughts or kvetches.

Happy dipping!

Image courtesy of The Matzo Project

The post ANNOUNCING: ‘The Matzo Project’ Dip Contest! appeared first on Jewcy.

“See that God has given to y’all the Shabbat. Therefore God gives to y’all, on the sixth day bread, for two days.” (Exodus 16:29)

“Man does not live by bread alone.” (Deuteronomy 8:3)

I love fruit—mango season may be my favorite season—but if I had to choose only one food group for the rest of my life, it would be bread.  Bread is the universal staff of life onto which most cultures have held since the dawn of domesticated agriculture and civilizations. It’s also one of the few examples of foods that’s universally identified within the Jewish tradition as Jewish. (I am not saying all bread is Jewish, just that there are breads with unique or deep roots in Judaism.)

Case in point: matzah. “For seven days you will eat matzah [unleavened bread cakes]…” (Exodus 12: 15)

Matzah, the flatbread unique to Passover and kitschy Brooklyn startups, is described in the Torah, detailed over the ensuing millennia in various commentaries, and maintained as an annual ritual for Jews of all backgrounds and identities. There are different manifestations of matzah—some are more cracker-like while others tend towards a large, dry pita; but, the chemistry is the same: flour + water + hot, dry oven = kosher for Passover matzah in under 18 minutes.

Some other popular, historically Jewish breads include bagels (real bagels; don’t be fooled by the circular breads sold at McDonald’s, Einstein’s, and many other bakeries that are not boiled before baking), jachnun, and Moroccan mofleta (served at their post-Passover mimouna celebrations).

Aside from bagels, none of these are quite so famous or ubiquitous as challah.  This enriched bread is prepared for Shabbat and most other holidays (not Passover!). Recalling the showbreads in the temple, these loaves are historically grander and more refined than weekday breads. Furthermore, challah is presented in pairs, recalling the double portion of manna the Jews collected in the desert every Friday morning. For Shabbat evening in a traditional Jewish home, even if it’s a small gathering, the festive meal begins with a blessing over two loaves.

At a Shabbat meal I recently was welcomed to in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, one of the guests was so surprised to see two substantial challah loaves on the table. She asked why we needed two huge breads. Our host explained the tradition of remembering the commandment for Jews living in the land of Israel to tithe their bread (Numbers 15:20). The injunction to set aside a “challah” is the basis for the mitzvah of hafrashat challah, and a good reason for why the challah loaves for Shabbat are generally quite large. (Most orthodox rabbis hold that the dough must use between 3.66 and 5.5 lbs of flour to be eligible for a blessing.)   

I don’t make such large batches of challah, meaning that I don’t normally say the blessing. I still want to do something special with my challah. When I bring challah to a friend’s meal, or if I am hosting, I want people to take a moment to reflect on challah and Shabbat, which is how I came to make challah messages.

At the end of the day (or week), messages and bread sacrifices are simply proverbial cherries in my practice. Simply serving challah and matzah, the two core Jewish breads, makes that meal significant. A blessing over these breads, an explanation, or even a pause before eating, helps these cultural carbs create a link to a national history and communal identity.

These foods with their gluten (or not), bind me to Jews across history because at their very core, they are Hebrew breadstuffs derived from the Torah. From atheists to ultra-Orthodox, Zionist and not, using these Biblical Hebrew names reminds us that we are connected.

Jews are not a unified people—including in many aspects of cuisine— but we are brought together by our cultural breads. Hopefully we will always have a space to break bread with others, giving us a delicious space to share of ourselves, our history, and our tradition.

Image Credit: Pixabay

The post Man Does Not Live By Challah Alone appeared first on Jewcy.

At the beginning of January, Streit’s Matzo announced that they would be closing up shop on the Lower East Side of New York City and moving to New Jersey. The company has been operating out of the same tenement building on Rivington Street since 1925—it’s truly one of the last remaining bastions from the neighborhood’s Jewish, Yiddish-speaking heyday.

Filmmaker Michael Levine, who is making a documentary about Streit’s, opined the closure in Bowery Boogie:

I personally know that this was an agonizing decision for the Streit family, who despite their many challenges, were determined to keep the factory and its workers employed onsite, even as the phone rang daily with offers from developers clamoring to purchase the valuable real estate. I watched as they turned down offer after offer, until the challenges of maintaining a manufacturing business in a drastically changing Lower East Side, as well as the pressures of increased foreign competition, left the company no alternative but to accept.

The loss is, of course, especially painful for the Streit’s workers, many of whom have devoted 30 or more years of their lives to working here, and for whom, like the millions before them who came to the Lower East Side, found opportunity for themselves and their families in that work.

Today, The Guardian posted a poignant video about the factory, featuring interviews with executive vice-president Aron Yagoda (great-grandson of founder Aron Streit), and long-time employee Anthony Zapata. There’s some tension—Yagoda says the business can not continue to operate in its current location; Zapata thinks the move is a “mistake”—but mostly, the feeling is one of sadness and inevitability.

(Image: Workers at Streit’s Matzo factory on New York City’s Lower East Side on May 9, 2012. Credit: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/GettyImages)

The post Take a Look Inside Manhattan’s Last Remaining Matzo Factory appeared first on Jewcy.

• The Southern Baptist who manages the matzo production line at Manischewitz.

• It’s officially kosher to hang mezuzahs on Connecticut doorframes.

•This Jewish high school student sees her friends going on summer community service trips through their churches and wonders why there aren’t more opportunities for young Jews to do the same.

•Rachel Zoe’s baby is already practicing Rachel Zoe facial expressions.

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