Vying for the Jewish vote in New York, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz visited a Jewish community center in Brooklyn on Thursday where he learned how to make matzah from scratch at the center's Model Matzah Bakery.
The Texas senator joined Chabad Neshama Center director Rabbi Moishe Winner, his wife Leah, and a dozen children who were making matzo while singing "roll, roll, roll the matzo dough."
"We took the stalks of wheat, we ground it up, we had flour, and we actually rolled out the dough with rolling pins," Rabbi Winner said.
The rabbi told reporters, "We're happy that he's here to support the Jewish holiday” of Passover, adding that "matzah is all about freedom."
Cruz inquired about the children's favorite thing about Passover. One boy said he liked the morar - the bitter herbs eating during Passover Seder night, while a little girl seemed fascinated by the many holes in her dough.
“That is a lot of holes!” Cruz joked. “Holy matzo!”
He also told Rabbi Winner that he once hosted a Holocaust survivor for Passover Seder. "He actually survived the Holocaust by being in a Gulag in Russia and he spent nine years in the Gulag," Cruz said.
While this was the first time Cruz tried his hand at making the unleavened Passover flatbread, he was regardless quite happy with the final result, saying that "fresh baked is better than the box."
Cruz, a Baptist Christian, also joined the children while they sang the Passover song "Dayenu."
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Cruz at the Chabad center in Brooklyn, wearing a kippah that says 'I support Teddy' in Hebrew (Photo: AP)
(צילום: AP)
Rabbi Winner insisted the event was not political in nature and that neither he nor the Chabad center were endorsing Cruz, saying that all candidates were welcome.
Cruz has increased his campaigning time in New York in an effort to defeat Donald Trump in the April 19 Republican primary in the frontrunner's home state.