Ugh I think I said the wrong thing and offended someone tonight.

[Anonymous]

I was invited to Passover Seder by a close friend. This was at her parent's home. I know this friend is an observant Jewish woman so I wanted to make sure I did every thing right. I made sure to follow the motions of every one around me so that I could keep up even though I didn't understand most of the speaking portions (in Hebrew). Anyway, when we got to the matzoh part, we were all eating it and her aunt said to me "have you ever eaten anything like this?" And I said "yes, we have something pretty similar" and another relative inquired about what it is. I said, "oh, Catholics have what we call Eucharist and it is similar in taste/texture". The aunt then said, "first of all, we do not have body and blood. That is a huge no no for Jews. This bread is the bread that our people ate in slavery and we eat it to recall the suffering that we had to endure. It is very very different!"

Well now I feel like a jerk. Obviously I wasn't trying to trivialize the holiday or the matzoh, I was honestly just answering a question and I feel like I totally offended this lady. Fwiw I know a lot about Jewish traditions and certain rules as I used to cook/work in a kosher home. The rest of the family looked at her like they were confused as to why she was upset and I was too. Exactly how bad did I mess up??

[Anonymous]

Forget it. It wasn't your fault. There are many ways to run a Seder and practice Judaism. You tried very hard but working/Kosher in one home can be very different in the next.

[Anonymous]

Based upon the reaction of the other people, you didn't mess up at all.

It sounds like she was almost looking for something to be offended by. I don't know how you said it, but it sound like there was no I'll intent. Don't sweat it!

[Anonymous]

You answered a question of taste and texture. She interpreted your response to be equating the symbolism. You didn't mess up.

[Anonymous]

You were fine! She just may have been feeling emotional about the holiday and misunderstood what you were saying. If not taste and texture, what exactly was she asking you??!

[Anonymous]

Jewish woman here. She sounds pretentious and uptight. You were perfectly fine. She was an eye-roller.

FWIW, I went to a Polish Christmas Eve where we ate something that I was told was like a Eucharist biscuit and I compared it to Matzah! So I agree! Bland is bland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You were fine! She just may have been feeling emotional about the holiday and misunderstood what you were saying. If not taste and texture, what exactly was she asking you??!

True. If she was looking for a symbolic similarity you could have said that ramen reminds you of your oppressed years in college but that probably would not have gone down well either. She was maybe looking for something, but not sure what? I would have thought she was asking about taste and texture as well.

[Anonymous]

With the rest of the family giving her the side eye, it's obvious she's just a prickly person. There's one in every crowd. Forget it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With the rest of the family giving her the side eye, it's obvious she's just a prickly person. There's one in every crowd. Forget it.

+1 I think you're fine, OP.

[Anonymous]

Your answer was dumb. But her response was over the top.

[Anonymous]

OP, you're all jerks. Maybe you can take comfort in that LOL

[Anonymous]

Just a guess here, but the aunt perhaps could have been (erroneously) triggered by the linking of matzo and blood, given the historical blood libel. It was an overreaction to your awkward and weird but nonetheless innocuous comment.

[Anonymous]

I'm Jewish and fairly traditional. She was looking was something to be offended by. You answered a question SHE posed about a food and you answered honestly. She chose to take that to the next level.

Unless you dipped it in your wine or knelt while eating it to prove a point, you're all good.

[Anonymous]

I think the fact that she asked you if you'd ever eaten something like that showed that she was singling you out as different from all the other guests. That's just rude. Don't worry about it-- you answered her question honestly and without offense. She was looking for drama.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm Jewish and fairly traditional. She was looking was something to be offended by. You answered a question SHE posed about a food and you answered honestly. She chose to take that to the next level.

Unless you dipped it in your wine or knelt while eating it to prove a point, you're all good.

LOL. Love the sense of humor *most* people have about this!