Passover 2022
This year the Festival of Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) begins with the first seder night on the same evening as Good Friday. From the very beginning of Christianity the timing of the historical events with the celebration of Passover were linked. Unfortunately during many centuries this was not an example of positive relations between Jews and Christians. I’ll leave that story for another time but if one is interested I’m sure you can find out much about this.
The Festival of Passover lasts for 7 or 8 days. In the Torah we are told
to observe this holiday for 7 days. However, due to the difficulty of
knowing exactly when a new month began, before there were agreed upon
calendars and we relied upon siting of the new moon, the rabbis said
that Jews living in the Diaspora, i.e. outside of the land of Israel,
were to celebrate for 8 days. In Israel they observe 7 days. With the
beginning of the Reform movement in Judaism, many, even in Diaspora,
celebrate for 7 days.
The first (and for some the first 2 ) night Jews gather with family and friends in the sacred ritual of the Passover Seder. Seder means order, implying that there is a very specific order to the rituals, which was determined almost 2,000 years ago. Before that time, in the days when the Temple stood in Jerusalem, the ritual was to prepare a lamb as a sacrifice, and eat it with family and friend with unleavened bread, i.e. matzah, and bitter herbs. The ritual of four cups of wine, the seder plate, the four questions, et. al. was developed as the years went by.
The Jewish people are commanded in the Torah to recount the story of our
liberation and teach our children of both the slavery and freedom of
ancient days. By teaching our children we are also reminding ourselves
of the lessons of the holiday. We are to view ourselves as if we too
experienced the events, knowing that the blessing of freedom is not yet
complete for us or for others. We are to remember the oppression in
Egypt, know the heart of the enslaved, and work to liberate all from
such darkness. Today we add symbols to our seder table to remind us of
different issues around the world and within our own community.
The rituals of the Passover seder make it one of the most widely known
and observed of all the Jewish religious occasions. We tell the story by
reading a book called a Haggadah, which means the telling. The
traditional text has been developed over the centuries and additions and
changes were not uncommon. There are a multitude of different editions
where the art work, the commentary, the length, and the different themes
vary. Each year new versions are created and published.
This year, for the first time in three years many Jews will be rejoining
with family, with whom they had not celebrated for the past 2 years.
The issues of our world can be discussed and even debated at our seder
tables bringing contemporary meaning into the ancient rituals. At the
end the seder is often concluded with a statement, “Next year in
Jerusalem.” This is not a nationalistic statement but rather one of
looking to the future redemption for Jews and all people. As we
celebrate the biblical story and events that brought redemption and
freedom to our ancestors, we need to work for freedom and redemption
wherever it is needed.
May this season of Passover, Easter and Ramadan bring peace and spiritual renewal to all!
Rabbi Alan Katz, Interim Executive Director