For 39 years, Yaakov Buchris, 70, and his friends from the northern city of Kiryat Shmona and surrounding kibbutzim have been gathering together to prepare special matzo for the Seder.
For the second time since he was evacuated from his home with his family after the October 7 Hamas attack, Buchris returned to Kiryat Shmona last Thursday, fired up the old gas stove and met again with his old pals to carry on the tradition. "We couldn't bear the thought of not coming home to our city to make matzo," Buchris told Ynet.
Buchris says that his matzo has a special flavor that cannot be replicated without the mineral water flowing in the local taps and the air of the Galilee mountains.
"Passover is the holiday of liberty and we wish for liberty, that we may return to our beloved city," he said in a prayer. "It is a painful and uneasy feeling, arriving here and seeing the city completely empty. We will not return here until the war ends and it is safe here."
The kashrut laws require that matzo be made within 18 minutes from kneading to baking. Alongside these halachic guidelines, this year's matzo bakers on the Lebanese border also adhered to equally stringent rules.
"We made sure to work here in complete safety. Adjacent to the hall there is a shelter and in case of an alarm, we would all immediately stop working, even if we would need to miss out on the time to bake the dough, and run to the shelter. Thank God, Hezbollah did not interfere with us even once."