The Jewish Book of Flowers by Naomi Spector (with hyssop drash by Naomi Stein)

Bumblebee pollinating hyssop flowers.

The drash below written by Naomi Stein, was first published in The Jewish Book of Flowers by Naomi Spector.

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Hyssop syrup recipe and Pesach Drash

Jewish ethnoherbalist Naomi Stein wrote this beautiful Drash honoring hyssop for this book: What will we keep out of our houses, and what will we pull in as we safely sleep through the night? 

The most auspicious time to make this syrup is on Rosh Chodesh Nisan. This new moon of the month of Passover is a very special one. We are taught that Nisan is the month of miracles, redemption, and freedom. A time ripe with the power of transformation for us now, as for our ancestors. The new moon represents new beginnings, and we’ll utilize this special night to begin the hyssop syrup that will grace our Pesach seder.

 For hiddur mitzvah (the blessing of making something good even better by beautifying it), put the syrup in a crystal decanter to sparkle enticingly on the table. Passover will begin the “new year of the months,” the second of our four new year celebrations, marking our newborn emergence into liberation. We follow our ancestral guidance to use this plant to help us create boundaries. What will we keep out of our houses, and what will we pull in to help us safely sleep through the night? What will we leave behind in the Egypt of the old year and what qualities will we create in the upcoming one, in our internal promised land? 

 It requires strong mental boundaries in order to parse what is useful to bring and what is necessary to leave behind on our journey. Hyssop can help us purify our hearts to clearly see and enforce the strong boundary between the ways we can be our own Moses and our own Miriam, versus the ways we can be our own Pharaoh.  

We begin this process after nightfall. Let the evening slow you down, feel this practice, kindling fire and drawing water, as the ancient repetition that it is. Set the scene to care for yourself and your loved ones, play some music, open the window to feel the sweet spring air as you work over the stove, whatever brings you pleasure.

Locate a clear, clean glass container with a lid. You will start by making 2 cups of a hyssop infusion.  Infusion is the best method for preparing the aerial parts of plants: flowers, leaves and stems.  It’s easy as can be, you just boil water, pour it over the herbs and let it steep (the length of steeping varies depending on the plant as well as the purpose of the infusion). Boil 2 cups of fresh water. Just before the water boils, pour a little of it into the glass jar to warm it and swirl it around (this prevents the glass from cracking caused by sudden temperature change). Place 1 tablespoon of dried hyssop or 3 tablespoons of fresh hyssop into the jar. Pour the water over the herbs and seal the jar. Let it stand overnight, in a spot the sun won’t shine on it in the morning. Then wait until it’s convenient for you the following afternoon, this is about liberation after all. Hyssop is a delicate taste, to me it’s like mint with an earthier base note, so a long steep ensures a clear hyssop flavor to your syrup.  

To sanctify the space and honor your role as a culture keeper, light a candle, plain or pretty, gently fragranced to your liking or pure as you prefer. Wash your hands, blessing the moment with prayer: ‘Bruchah at Shekinah eloheynu ruach ha-olam asher kisdshanu b’mitzvotav vitzivanu al netilat yadayim’. Bless the moment too with your exquisite attention, enjoying the warm water, the slip of the soap, and taking your time drying your hands. This is a ritual, the sort of embodied prayer our women have davened from the beginning, creating joy and health for our families and community.  

Now get out a large pot, with at least 6 cups capacity to allow room for a hard boil without losing any of the precious syrup (which is a pain in the tuchis to clean off a stove.) Strain your infusion, pouring the liquid into a measuring cup, compressing the herbs to get as much liquid out of them as possible. A nice way to upcycle the used herbs is to freeze them to use in a stock for a spring soup featuring peas or asparagus. Or compost them, it’s also a mitzvah. Now look at how much liquid you ended up with and match that 1:1 with your sweetener.  Honey has many medicinal properties and has long been used by Jews, and sugar works too. 

Combine these over high heat and bring to a full rolling boil. If you want to utilize the syrup mainly in beverages, boil hard for 1 minute. If you want to use it as a syrup to top a dessert (say a nice Pesadich sponge cake) boil for 3 minutes. If you want to make a jelly, boil for 5-7 minutes, less time makes a looser jelly, longer makes a firmer one. Allow it to cool, it will thicken as it does. Pour into a bottle or bottles. This makes a perfect gift to bring to a Seder or an impressive addition to your own offerings. In either case, be sure to wow them with all of your newly learned hyssop lore.

If you’ve kept your syrup thin (the 1 minute boil), it blends beautifully with liquids. Make a liberation mocktail by putting 2 tablespoons in a glass (or to taste), pour in seltzer and stir.  Or take it up a notch by adding a shot of vodka to that concoction. 

* It’s also delightfully refreshing in the summer.  And of course, make it anytime it will bring you joy! 

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