Pharoah's Trapo

Thank God Passover is finally over. Trying to find food to put in Luke's lunchbox every day that didn't have any yeast, soy, corn syrup, or legumes was a pain in the butt. Tina bought Matzoh to send in his lunch (cream cheese and jelly matzoh sandwiches) and while we were packing his lunch one day we noticed something written on the side of the box: "Not for Passover use." I scanned the ingredients carefully. What, were these lobster matzohs or something? No, it was all legit. Apparently the matzoh company didn't spring for a rabbi to make the Passover blessing over their matzoh. Can you believe that? Matzoh that isn't for Passover use? It was like buying a bag of candy corn with a label saying, "Not for Halloween use." It was quite the moral quandary. Who would be harmed, really, by unblessed matzoh in my son's lunchbox? Who would know, once it was out of the box, that it was not, strictly speaking, Passover matzoh? On the other hand, couldn't sending this matzoh to school be considered an act of Antisemitism? Wouldn't we be sullying the entire Jewish Community Center with our sacrilegious matzoh? What do you think we chose to do? The lady, or the tiger?

In Luke's preschool room they have an imaginary play area that they change every few weeks. So far this year it's been a grocery store, a veterinarian's, a hair salon—you get the idea. Anyway, for the past few weeks it has been Pharoah's workshop. The kids have been playing with fake bricks and pretending to be Pharoah's slaves. I kid you not. One day last week, Luke was feeling sad in the morning and asked me if he could bring his trapo (his blankie--a white men's undershirt) to school with him. I told him he could bring it and leave it in his cubby. Well, apparently his teachers had put out a plea for parents to send in old men's shirts for the imaginary play area so the kids could dress up as Pharoah (apparently they've already figured out it's good to be Pharoah). When Miss Randi saw the undershirt in Luke's cubby, she figured we'd responded to her request. She took it out and made a big deal out of it, "Look, Luke's moms sent in some clothes so we can dress up as Pharoah!" Luke looks up and sees Miss Randi with his trapo and immediately starts crying and telling her it's his trapo. I'm sure he couldn't figure out why Miss Randi was trying to steal his blankie. What a culture clash.