The Gimbel Passover Tradition

The Seder plate, albeit a little picked over already.

The "kids" table starts to take shape.
Elijah highlights the well worn Haggadah as well as his shiny braces.
Cousin Dana gets the honor of holding up the Passover symbols.
"The Last of the Gimbels"
The girls sing the four questions

Now it's the boys turn.
Doctor Barry - ace cardiologist and family prescription drug dispenser.
Uncle Seymour dispenses the gelt to the kinder.
In order of importance - Aunt Sara (the Chef), her world famous pickles........................................................................... josh.

Uncle Seymour and Aunt Sara have been hosting Passover since the mid 1960s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passover_Seder Prior to that I believe it was held at my Great Grandmother's house for many years. Other then a vague memory of that house basically all of my Passover memories have been created at Seymour and Sara's.

Each year the ritual is the same. Starting out with a Kosher cocktail, usually some special Passover vodka, Grey Goose it's not.... followed by the Seder service.

For many decades the service was led by my grandfather Harold. His style was a blend of Jackie Mason and Don Rickles. We miss him and think of him every day, but even more so on Passover. After he died uncle Jack took the reins, known for speeding through the service in about 30 seconds, he too is gone and not forgotten. Other beloved family members who brightened up the holiday have passed on but are never forgotten including my Grandma Virginia, Uncle Stanley and Aunt Marion. The new young leader of the Seder is Uncle Seymour. Known as "the last of the Gimbel's, not only because he is the youngest of his generation, but because it is said he is the last Gimbel man to actually have some control over his wife and family. All of the subsequent Gimbel men are said to have had the special operation which results the ability to only nod yes when told what to do by their wives. While my brother Josh would like to believe he is actually the new "last of the Gimbel's"....he's not.

The Passover service is set out in a book known as the Haggadah. There are a myriad of Haggadahs available from short to long, old to new. http://www.slate.com/id/2139601/ The Gimbel family follows tradition. We continue to use a 1950s era Hagadah, most likely given away for free in 1960. These well worn blue covered pamphlets are a short a sweet version of the Seder service, yet it covers all the bases - explaining the symbols of Passover, the story of the Jew's exodus from Egypt, a few prayers, the famous four questions (always asked by the youngest member of the family who is up to the task), singing the Dayanu (where God's miracles are recounted) song (always best when cousin Jeff is in the house), setting up the various drinks of lovely sweet Mogan David Wine, eating matzo, eating chorosus (a tasty mix of apples and honey)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charoset and eating Seymour's famous home made head rush and eye watering horse radish. We always snicker during the Haggadah text praying for the removal of the "iron curtain" as the curtain was actually removed before most of the attendees were even born.

After the service we enjoy Sara's superb gefilte fish, matzo ball soup and a great dinner. Her home made pickles are also a feature not to be missed.

This year I was lucky to attend as my schedule worked out just right. The family has spread out a little over the years with people living in Chicago, Cleveland, Connecticut, Florida and me in Singapore. It was a light crowd as my Dad was in Florida and many of the other out of towners had recently been in Milwaukee for the wedding of Brandon Gimbel. there is also a healthy influx of kids - Josh and his two, Seymour's kids Adam, Andee and Debbie and their 6 or 7 offspring and with newlywed Rachel and Brandon (not to each other!) probably more to come.

Needless to say it was a perfect Seder and a continuation of perhaps the most enduring tradition that keeps the Gimbel family together.

La Chaim!