Passover

"Pour it in. Pour it in. When you get the feel of it, you'll know."That's what Mollie Klock's mother used to say as her daughter watched and tried to master her mother's holiday baking preparations."I was never able to just pour things in," Ms. Klock, now 82, said while reminiscing about some of her favorite Passover foods in time for the holiday, which begins Monday evening."Over the years, I took all her recipes and I worked on them until I got the right amounts in measurements."Some of those holiday treats, in the family now for more than 100 years, were so intriguing that we asked Ms. Klock to share the recipes.

For Harford's small Jewish community, the Passover season is an important time to pass on the rituals of their faith to children.LastSunday, Rabbi Kenneth Block of the Harford Jewish Center and teachers from the center's Sunday School performed a mock Seder for about 60children, ranging in age from preschoolers to 16-year-olds.The event included singing and reciting prayers.During the mock Seder, the children and teachers discussed the purpose of Passover, which began Friday.The Seder's purpose was to instruct the children in religion and prepare them for two Seders conducted Friday andSaturday nights in their homes.

Thirty years ago in a house somewhere in Baltimore, Lawrence W., a cantor's grandson, learned to ferret out the afikomen, the hidden piece of Passover matzo whose discovery is rewarded with a treat of the child's choosing."

In many Jewish homes, it is customary to conduct a pre-Passover cleaning. This includes a search of every nook and cranny for foods that are not kosher for Passover.In preparation for the eight-day holiday, my family would replace all the dishes, cooking utensils and cutlery used the rest of the year with those reserved for Passover. This exchange was accompanied by an intensive cleaning of all surfaces in the kitchen that would be touched by the Passover dishes. All this had to be done before any of the cooking could begin.

OVER THE past few days, tens of millions of Americans have paused in reflection. Jews have feted the liberation of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt; Christians have commemorated the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. Today, secular America will join in the festivities. While choirs sing hallelujahs and church bells proclaim the tidings of resurrection, Easter bunnies take over parks and backyards, leading tots to hunts for multicolored eggs and a cornucopia of candies. In the past several decades, this nation's religious beliefs have become increasingly varied.

Ever since the Jews fled ancient Egypt with their unleavened bread, matzo has traveled with them to all corners of the Jewish Diaspora. And just as Jewish life has found fresh expression on new soil and with new generations, so has matzo. As Jews prepare for Passover, the seven-day festival that celebrates the Exodus and begins at sundown Monday, their options for matzo, a staple of the ritual meal made of milled grain and water, are nearly as bountiful as the meal itself.

When I need to go to a happy place in my head, I invariably wind up at my Bubbe's Sunday night table, which always featured lokshen (noodle) kugel. The noodles were just a good excuse to add raisins and almost every dairy product in her fridge. It was the ambrosia of my youth. She served this every Sunday night, except during Passover, when noodles cannot be used. Food plays a huge role in the observance of most Jewish holidays. Apples and honey are eaten on Rosh Hashana, potato latkes and jelly doughnuts on Hanukkah, hamantaschen on Purim.

Last Tuesday we had Rachel Schmutter and Elisa Firth ove for dinner. Ms. Schmutter's family lives in New York, so she's a too far away to celebrate Passover with them. She asked us if she could share her holiday with us.Ms. Schmutter provided the Haggadas, the order of the Passover prayers, the yarmulkes, and some treats, courtesy of her mother. We provided the dinner, a location and a young child to ask the four questions.What we forgot of course, is that we didn't know what we were doing.

Although Passover, an eight-day celebration that begins Sunday, is one of the most important Jewish holidays of the year, it is no va- cation for the inspectors at Star-K Kosher Certification Co. They rise early and work late, and the Pikesville company's phones ring nonstop with questions from businesses and families trying to observe the holiday that marks the Exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt. "I don't think the public has the full extent of knowledge for the amount of effort that it takes Star-K to kosherize products in order to make them available to the public," says Rabbi Mayer Kurcfeld, kosher administrator for Star-K.

For the first time, Diane Newalt will be enlisting the help of a caterer to prepare a Seder, the traditional hours-long meal that begins the eight-day Jewish holiday Passover. Newalt, a Columbia resident, is apprehensive. Mind you, she's preparing the family Seder for tonight, the first night, herself. But for the second night, Newalt's family and five other families - all of which will be cooking their own first-night Seders - decided to abandon their decade-old potluck format and have the Knish Shop in Pikesville cater the 30-person meal.