Cooking with Kids for Passover

The Pesach or Passover festival is a time for family, freedom, and food. For many impoverished families and orphaned children in Israel, however, Passover is a harsh reminder of difficult circumstances rather than a joyous celebration.

The costly traditional foods required, such as hand-made matzah, wine, and meat, are simply out of reach. Furthermore, underprivileged and orphaned children don’t have anyone to cook their Passover meals with affection and love.

However, various organizations offer hope and help to these families. At Yad Ezra V'Shulamit, we try our best to feed every mouth through our food distribution project.

What Are the Traditional Pesach Foods?

Traditional Pesach foods are an essential part of the Passover festival. The first evening of the holiday begins with telling the exodus tale with a formal dinner known as the Seder.

Some symbolic foods served on a traditional Seder plate are:

• A roasted egg (Beitzah)
• A shank bone of lamb (Zeroah)
• A sweet mixtue of chopped apples, nuts and wine (Charoset)
• Horseradish, romaine lettuce and bitter herbs (Maror and Chazeret)
• Parsley or other green vegetables (Karpas) During Passover it is forbidden to eat grains that can be fermented and leavened, such as wheat, barely, oats and rye. Matzah, unleavened bread, is traditionally what is eaten during this holiday.

Some kid-friendly dishes for families with children to prepare include Matzo Brei, chocolate marshmallow matzah bark, chicken nuggets, nachos, cranberry chocolate cookies, and more.

Jamie Geller's Visit to Inspire the Children

Recently, Jamie Geller, the "Queen of Kosher," cookbook author and kosher chef, visited one of Yad Ezra V'Shulamit's children's centers. Jamie made her chocolate matzah bark recipe with the children and spent quality time with them.

Jamie also accompanied the children during their tutoring and playtime, ensuring they felt the warmth and joy of the holiday season.
Jamie was fascinated with the services of Yad Ezra V'Shulamit and expressed her gratitude, stating that:

"Without the help of Yad Ezra V'Shulamit, we would not have the opportunity to feed Jerusalem's poorest children."

Beyond this particular visit, Yad Ezra V'Shulamit is continuously working to help struggling Israeli families and children.

We give the children a daily hot lunch, tutoring, therapies, and playtime for poor children, as well as distributing over 12,000 food baskets and food vouchers each week, to feed impoverished families across 91 cities in Israel.

For Passover, we aim to distribute more than 55,000 food baskets containing traditional holiday foods, such as matzah and chicken, to those most in need.

Our weekly food basket contains fish, chicken, fresh fruits, green vegetables, oil, rice, dairy products, canned goods, etc. And we'll prepare our Passover food basket with the traditional Pesach foods.

Do You Want to Help?

By partnering with Yad Ezra V'Shulamit, you can bring the gift of Passover to struggling families and children in Israel. Your donations will help purchase essential food for the Passover food baskets, ensuring needy families and children will have the ingredients they need to prepare traditional holiday meals.

Together, we can spread the joy and blessing of Passover to those who need it most. The time to act is now. Please, give generously to support Yad Ezra V'Shulamit's life-changing efforts.