For the first time Temple dining services is providing kosher food for the Jewish holiday of Passover. The weeklong observance commemorates the freedom and exodus of the Israelites from Egypt during the reign of the Pharaoh Ramses II.
Lunch and dinner will be served at the Temple Hillel House, 2074 N. Broad, Monday, April 9 through Friday, April 13 from noon to 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. Temple dining services will be providing the food and anyone with a Temple meal plan can use his or her dining card to eat or they can pay $5.50 as a walk-in diner.
On the days of the Passover festival, all leaven, whether in bread or other mixture is prohibited, and only unleavened bread, called matzo, may be eaten. According to Ken Krivitsky, program director with Temple Hillel, the matzo symbolizes both the Hebrews’ suffering while in slavery and the quickness with which they left Egypt.
“Passover is a festival of great rejoicing, but strict dietary laws must be observed,” Krivitsky said. “We’re limited in what we can eat because Passover takes a lot of staples out of our regular dining activities. Temple’s dining services didn’t offer the best options for Passover meals until now, that is what makes this effort so special.”
“There are a large number of Jews at Temple that celebrate Passover and for those who can’t go home during the week to celebrate with their families this is really special,” Krivitsky said. “The Hillel has provided the menu and it’s a completely kosher kitchen.”
The Hillel and dining services agreement was a building process that began with student empowerment, Krivitsky said. Once Hillel saw that students wanted Passover meals on campus they began building a relationship with dining services to provide them with kosher recipes.
Hillel has invited Jewish students, faculty, staff sororities and fraternities on campus to join in the Passover celebration. Non-Jewish students are also welcome to come eat and learn about the Passover festivities.
“This is a landmark thing for dining services and the Jewish community at Temple,” Krivitsky said. “Anybody affiliated with the Temple community is invited to attend.”
Dining services and Hillel request reservations ahead of time so that the chef knows how much food to make, but Krivitsky stresses that they aren’t necessary.
“We already have 20+ signed up for each lunch and 30+ for each dinner. We’ll be doing a limited number of meals and won’t be able to feed any more than 60 or 70 people each meal, but you can come without a RSVP,” he said.
For more information and to make a reservation, visit the Temple Hillel homepage or call 215.769.1174.
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