Beyond the Matza: Experiencing a Cantor's Passover

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For Cantor Sheri Allen, preparing for Passover is more than organizing and cooking a ceremonial kosher meal for her loved ones, it is an elaborate family affair that requires weeks of detailed planning, cleaning, and scrubbing down to the last bread crumb.

Every year Jews around the world gather for ceremonial Passover meals, called Seders, to remember their ancestors who escaped from slavery in Egypt. As a part of this eight-day holiday, Jews voluntarily give up all leavened bread products, called chametz, in recognition of the unleavened bread that was all their ancestors had to eat when they left ancient Egypt.

Allen has been a certified cantor of the Jewish clergy for over a year, but she has been living a strictly Kosher lifestyle for decades, raising her three children according to her faith's tradition.

In the weekend leading up to Passover, Allen invited ARN host Sarah Erickson to experience Judaism through her eyes.