handmade art gifts for pessah
Give your Passover Seder the look of art and style with one of these beautiful matzah cover or afikoman cover!
The matzah cover has three sections inside to separate the top and bottom matzahs from the middle matzah.
MATZAH AND AFIKOMAN COVERS
Adorn your Passover table with this beautiful, hand-painted, silk matzah cover.
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It is a wonderful idea for a unique and artistic gift in honour of Passover, and will certainly delight your hosts!
The matzah cover is comprised of 3 sections in which to store the 3 matzot for the Pesach seder. I also offer an afikoman cover, which contains only one section to hold the piece of matzah that is broken and must be covered. This set will add a lot of colour to your table!
The size of both the matzah and afikoman covers is 40x40cm, which is generally sufficient to store the Shmura matzot that are traditionally used for the seder night. Nevertheless, I suggest that you first check the size of your Shmura matzot to be sure that the dimensions of the matzah and afikoman covers are fitting.
The price of a matzah cover is 190 shekels, whilst an afikoman cover costs 150 shekels.
ABOUT PESACH AND THE MATZAH
Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) is known as the “Festival of Freedom”, commemorating the exodus of the Jews from Egypt after 210 years of slavery. Pesach is considered to be the “birth” of the Jewish people and its teachings about our struggle and identity continue to form the basis of our Jewish consciousness 3300 years after the event itself.
The festival of Pesach lasts 8 days (7 days in Israel). Its name comes from the last plague in Egypt- the death of the firstborn sons during which G-d “passed over” the Jewish houses.
Matzah is eaten three times during the Seder (which takes place on the first and second nights of Pesach in the diaspora, and on only the first night in Israel):
1. After having told the story of the Exodus from Egypt (Maggid), washed the hands for bread (Rohtsa) and recited the blessings (Motsi Matsa), 30g of matzah are eaten.
2. For the sandwich (Korech), 19g of matzah are eaten.
3. For the afikoman at the end of the meal (Tsafun), a minimum of 19g (ideally 30g) of matzah are eaten.
Each time, the matzah must be consumed in less than 4 minutes.
What volume of matzah are these quantities equivalent to? The famous 19g of matzah are generally the size of half of a Shmura matzah.
Before the start of the holiday, weigh the box of matzah. Divide the weight by the quantity of matzot in the box in order to know how much to eat.
Matzah symbolises faith. In contrast to leavened bread, matzah has never been enhanced with oil, honey or other substances. It is comprised solely of flour and water and is not allowed to rise. In the same way, the only “ingredients” of faith are humility and submission to G-d, which result in the acknowledgement that we are “nought” in comparison to the infinite wisdom of the Creator.
ABOUT THE CREATIVE PROCESS:
My matzah and afikoman covers are created in my studio in Jerusalem. To begin with, I paint the silk. My patterns are inspired by the history of the Exodus from Egypt (the splitting of the sea, the journey through the desert) or other recurring themes that can be found in my artistic work, such as Jerusalem and flowers. I then sew the silk to a white cotton lining and other cuttings that will constitute the different sections needed to store the matzah.