In their American category, the Passover dish will be Wisconsin Matz & Cheese:  a bowl of Matzah farfel covered with their signature Wisconsin cheddar cheese sauce. For those looking for a fleischig meal, Noodles is offering a Chicken Matzah Ball Soup with a Tzar Salad — like a Caesar, but with crumbled Matzah instead of croutons (make sure to ask for the salad without the parmesan).

Noodle’s Asian menu, with its rice noodles, is already fine for Sephardim, but for the Ashkenazi community, Noodles will be offering Matz Thai, which is their Pad Thai dish prepared with Matzah farfel in place of the rice noodles.  Similarly, Ashkenazi will be able to order the Thai Curry Soup with Matzah balls in place of rice noodles.

Finally, the Mediterranean menu will feature Kugel Fresca, which features pesadik egg noodles with ricotta cheese, balsamic, olive oil, white Manishewitz wine and roasted garlic, red onion, tomato and spinach.

Let all who are hungry come and eat! Next year Noodles in Jerusalem!

We are thrilled at the partnership with conservative and reform synagogues and are looking forward to the day when coffee-drinkers will be welcome in all houses of worship,” said Aaron Schwartz, VP Marketing, Starbucks Corporation. “We will be selling a special size reusable cup — the ‘Vayahavta Vente’ — that will convey to the drive-up baristas to please hurry, the driver is on the way to prayer.  Profits from the mug sales will be split between Starbucks and the synagogue of the purchaser’s choice, so everyone wins.”

The synagogues have agreed to welcome all worshippers who arrive with the special Starbucks mug. It is expected that some synagogues will undertake enhancement projects to add cupholders to their seats, in order to add convenience during the service (and minimize spills).

For our part, we believe that this will make a lasting mark on Jewish continuity.  Our outreach efforts to the coffee-drinking community have been neglected in recent years, and we want all to know they are welcome in our synagogues, regardless of whichever brand they were raised drinking,” said Rabbi Joshua Peaberry, of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

We know that morning coffee is an important ritual which complicates attendance at synagogue. We think this effect is seen in the large influx of people who arrive just in time for the Torah service, rather than on time for Shacharit. By inviting those who are thirsty to bring their latte with them, we believe Shabbat mornings will go more smoothly and we’ll all get to Kiddush sooner.”

Announcement of similar agreements with Chabad and the Orthodox Union have been delayed over their requirements to add a Mashgiach barista to each drive-thru location, and negotiations over actually including a Starbucks outlet in shuls with over 500 families.

Look for the new mugs, as well as a special “He-Brew” blend at Starbucks locations and sisterhood giftshops shortly after April 1.

*April 1. Need we say more?

Similar to the Santa Tracker, the Elijah Tracker will follow Elijah’s travels throughout the Jewish world, particularly on the first, second and last nights of Passover. A private company that usually supplies visualization software for aerospace engineers — for the military, NASA, private companies that build planes or spacecraft, and so forth, will provide the software. If you’ve seen computer animation of a military mission, it may well have come from the same source.

If you go to the Elijah Tracker, you’ll see them taking an engineer’s literal approach to the Elijah story. He visits through the opened door during the seder, which means, if you look at the NORAD map, that you’ll see him moving across the world’s time zones from east to west, as the Passover holiday is observed in seders around the world.

This being the 21st century, there will be the inevitable links to Elijah’s Facebook and Twitter pages, and his location will be projected on a Google map. A typical tweet: “Elijah was just in Tel Aviv!”

Don't be blue, Eliyahu, the 4th cup of wine awaits you.

But the Elijah story remains pretty much what it’s been since the time of the first Passover in the desert, and technology has not changed it much. It is perhaps just a coincidence that Jews have been inviting Eliyahu HaNavi into our homes for millennia, while the April 22 DVD release of Avatar (just 2 weeks after the end of Passover 2010/5770) will bring the rest of the Na’vi into our homes soon.

*April 1. Need we say more?

"Who, me?"

While the editorial staff and legions of writers for the Boulder Jewish News were observing Passover with family and friends this week, Brownie, aka “Staff,” took some liberties with the online edition of the paper.

After the house was reset, the furniture returned to its proper locations, dishes and every wine glass in the house washed and stored, it was discovered that Brownie had commandeered a laptop and was busy typing while the rest of the team was still reclining.

These were important stories that needed to get published,” barked Brownie. “Although Purim is largely known for levity, the occurrence of April 1 during the week of Passover was just irresistible, like Nancie’s brisket. Speaking of which, if you want the passwords back, you’ll have to send some of the good stuff my way.”

Milo, the Intern

Brownie was aided and abetted by Milo, who’s been assisting with other staff duties like chowing all the soup mandlen (inadvertently left untended) and basically cleaning up anything that lands on the floor. “This is a great place to intern,” woofed Milo. “I’m looking forward to more holiday writing.”

We expect the Boulder Jewish News to return to its regular publishing standards before Shabbat, though it takes Nancie several days to cook the brisket. Enjoying having local, real-time Jewish news? Please share with your friends – help spread the word!