Kids Learn from Matzo Master

Montreal, Canada — Twenty-five youngsters from the West Island Jewish Community Centre early-child-care group invaded the basement of Beth Ora Synagogue yesterday to learn to make their own matzos.

The children from the daycare in Dollard des Ormeaux were visiting the St. Laurent temple, where The Matzo Bakery Workshop has operated for the past 20 years.

The tiny children, age 2 and 3, were captivated while Rabbi

Pinny Gniwisch patiently and humourously explained the process of making the traditional flatbread that is a symbol of the Passover holidays, which start next week.

Decked out in paper bakers’ hats, the children were far better behaved than their mothers, who chattered on despite the rabbi’s admonition that he had another 242 kids to see yesterday and could not afford to lose his voice trying to shout them down.

Three children were chosen to add the two ingredients, flour and water, and mix the dough. Helpers then gave each child a dollop of dough the size of a date and handed out rolling pins.

“I want to see you guys roll out the dough and roll it out flat,” Gniwisch told his young charges as they kneeled on chairs at paper-covered trestle tables dusted with flour.

“Know what this is? It’s a holy roller,” he joked about a roller with spikes used to poke holes in the matzo dough. The joke was lost on 99 per cent of the people in the room.

“Did you know the first pizza was made on matzo? Guess what kind of cheese they used? Matzo-rella!” Ba-da-boom.

Gniwisch told the children the process had to be done in under 18 minutes, otherwise the dough would leaven, or rise.

The tradition of the flatbread began when the Jews fled slavery under the Egyptians more than 3,300 years ago. The slaves had no time to wait for their bread to rise in their haste to get away. Unleavened bread has come to represent humility, Gniwisch explained later.

Jillian Urman, age 2, helped Gniwisch put a rolled matzo into the oven. The children chanted to four and then the bread was taken out, with the help of Sean Goren, 3.

“This is a fabulous experience for the children. It’s exposure to the Jewish traditions they learn in school,” Shari Urman said.

“This is my third child to come through the program,” she added, cradling Jillian.

Over the course of 10 days, more than 3,000 children, 1,500 of them non-Jews, will visit the synagogue basement, separate the wheat from the chaff, grind the kernels in a stone hand mill and mix, roll and bake their own matzos.

“The kids get a lot out of it. it’s a hands-on history lesson and the rabbi is very entertaining and relates well to children,” teacher Sandy Baylin said.

Gniwisch, a businessman and a father of five, volunteers for The Living Legacy, a series of programs that visit schools in Montreal to bring Jewish traditions to life.

“The kids are amazing. That’s why I do it,” he said.