(04-21) 21:02 PDT San Francisco -- The talk at Passover tables this weekend wasn't just about Moses leading Jews out of slavery. Jews also discussed the shortage of matzo.
Around the region, grocery stores reported having completely run out of their supplies of the essential staple for Passover, the weeklong observance that began Saturday evening.
Safeway, Whole Foods, Lunardi's, Lucky and Mollie Stone stores were among those that reported selling out of their supply of the unleavened bread. A reporter's calls found matzo-less stores in San Francisco, San Rafael, Oakland, Lafayette, Walnut Creek, Berkeley and Palo Alto. Even stores that specialize in Jewish products, such as Afikomen Judaica in Berkeley, said they'd run dry. Most grocers said the shelves emptied Friday or Saturday.
Many Jews said it was an unprecedented shortage.
And there are still five or six more days, depending on tradition, before observant Jews are allowed to eat any leavened bread.
"I've spoken to a lot of folks who are kind of at their wits' end," said Aaron Rosenthal, communications manager for the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. "It appears there's been a huge disconnect between the Bay Area grocery community and the Bay Area Jewish community in terms of supply and demand."
The reasons for the shortage are not entirely clear. But theories abound. A jubilee year in Israel, when some fields lie fallow, might have depressed production. Others believe that grocery stores may have underestimated a rise in Jewish observance.
But basic supply and demand may come into play. And supply is down. Safeway spokeswoman Teena Massingill said the company ordered more matzo than in the past. She suggested that shortages at other stores led people to raid Safeway stores.
Costco stores in the Bay Area didn't stock any matzo, store operators said. Company spokespeople didn't return calls. Trader Joe's decided to not stock matzo nationwide - though the shortage appears largely restricted to the Bay Area.
Trader Joe's is taking the year off to "re-evaluate" matzo, according to Alison Mochizuki, director of national publicity for Trader Joe's, which has 41 stores in the Bay Area. "We want to hear from our customers and what they expect from us."
They're not happy.
And demand is high. Passover is the single most widely observed Jewish holiday, drawing in the full spectrum of American Jewish life, from the ultra-Orthodox to those who never attend synagogue and view their Jewishness as a cultural heritage. The fact that it is celebrated in the home - and not the synagogue - encourages the wide observance. And matzo is essential.
On the first night of Passover, which was Saturday night, Jews are required to eat wheat-based matzo. And for the rest of the week, they can only eat unleavened bread made from wheat or four other grains: barley, oats, rye or spelt.
The ritual requirements make it very difficult to make matzo at home, said Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, scholar in residence at Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco.
"It would be impossible to make matzo unless you had a kitchen dedicated for matzo - and for the rest of the year it would be unused," he said.
And the actual preparation is painstaking.
The grains have to be guarded from the time they are harvested to the time they make it into the kitchen to make sure the grains don't come into contact with any moisture, which would allow the grains to rise. From the moment it is mixed with water, the baker has only 18 minutes to get it into the oven.
"Passover is an alternate gastronomic reality," said Kushner.
The bread symbolizes what enslaved Jews were allowed to eat, earning it names like "the bread of affliction" or "slaves' bread." The fact that it is unleavened is also a reference to the fact that in Jewish slaves' haste to flee Egypt, they didn't have time to bake leavened bread.
What lessons are to be learned are up for debate. As with all things Jewish, there are many opinions.
Several Orthodox Jews wryly noted that waiting until the last moment to purchase matzo didn't treat Passover and its rituals with due respect.
"For somebody truly observant, they're not out shopping on a Saturday," said Mark Cohen of Oakland, who attends Congregation Beth Jacob. Those who didn't buy well ahead of time "are not planning as wisely as the holiday would dictate."
But Rabbi Stephen Pearce, who heads San Francisco's Temple Emanu-El, said the holiday is about sharing. And those who have should give to those who do not.
A woman who came to the community seder Sunday night at the synagogue asked if she could take some of the matzo home - a wish that was granted.
Part of the seder liturgy includes the invocation "let all who are hungry come and eat and share in the Passover," said Pearce. "Well, let's put this into action."
