Passover Seder And Its Glory

By: Albert Jules

We could never begin to understand another’s tearful joy as the Seder begins its celebration, yet again.

The joy of this holiday brings to light many people, many reasons and many memories.

The Seder, the dinner and its remembrance, is held three times a year at various importances. Passover is one of those importances.

Passover represents the time during the Jewish incarceration when the Egyptians were no longer in control of the Jews. It was the time when the Jews were freed and prayed upon the Mountain. It is the anniversary of the night when God delivered them from slavery.

It is the night when, at twilight, the fourteenth day of the month, that the Israelites were to slaughter the lamb and put the blood on the sides and tops of the doorframes. It was the night that G-d gave His people instructions that only through obedience would they be spared from the angel of death. And they were spared. The angel of death passed over the Jews house and did not take their first-born son.

All of this rich history is taught to us in the “Haggadah”. The Seder is a beautiful time when all gather to hear the story and to take a moment to reflect upon history and our lives.

It is a time when we gather with those who are close and we share and reflect commonalities. It is a time when we are all asked to look at an object and gather meaning. It is a time when our lives are reflected in our hearts and we also gather meaning.

For in our lives, an object is not just an object, but it is what is done with that object; like our lives. Lives are just lives, but what we do with those lives is what matters. How we fill our days and our lives is what counts. How we use the objects around us to fulfill their destiny and to fulfill ours and our lives, becomes it and our reason for being.

And time is how we all achieve our reason for being.

Time is not to be wasted or mishandled. It is the most precious element we have. Time should be filled with goodness.

Often in our lives we have filled our time with “things to do”, but they do not “get us anywhere”. Passover is a time to remind ourselves with a series of similes and props that life is common to all. During the Seder we are taught life is like matzoh bread and wine. Life is like the matzoh bread, which is unleavened bread (no yeast), in that life is not always fluffy and sweet, that often life can be flat and a mere continuum of itself. Life can be unexciting, uneventful and yet still be fulfilling. Life can be flat, but we can still gain nourishment from it. And unless we do something different to the unleavened bread, like leaven it, it will remain, the way it is, flat yet sustaining.

Another interesting aspect of matzoh bread are the burnt, charred lines and the holes. So, again we take a lesson and we learn that unless we take the time to settle down, our bread may always be flat; just like the Jews who fled and had no time to build ovens to bake bread, they had to cook it on top of the grill; and every time they made bread, they had to take the time to make many tiny air holes. So, unless we take the time at the beginning, such as building an oven, we will be destined to do extra work such as always having to make many tiny air holes. All are necessary to the making of the matzoh, but in life if we do as we need to and as we should, and do what we, as individuals, and as a group must do to fulfill our hearts and souls, at the beginning, we will not have to do that extra, tedious but necessary work required to sustain ourselves.

Life is also like the wine; sweet, good for you and joyfully intoxicating. And like wine, and life, too much of either is not good for you, whereas, enough is just right. Wine, like life can be filled with trials and tribulations along the way, but in the end, it is the wine and how it settles within us, just like it is our life and the way it settles within and around us.

Wine because of its fermentation teaches us to know our limits and heed our knowledge. It teaches us that a good wine, like life, is not always in our full control. A good wine is a combination of good seeds, good sun, plentiful water and good harvesting; it takes lots of elements, just like our lives are filled with lots of elements. The elements in wine and the elements in our lives are constantly relying upon one another, combining and intermingling to make one final product; a good glass of wine and with respect to our lives, a good life.

During the Seder, during Passover, we are physically reminded of life’s metaphors.

To remind us how important and empowering time can be, during the Seder, the Reader and the Leader often have wonderful words for our ears to hear and our minds and hearts to ponder:

Here are some of the writings from the Haggadah that are said at the Seder.

During the Maggid, the Reader reads:

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

During the Karpas, the Leader reads (regarding the dipping of the parsley, which is part of the simile symbolism):

We will take the parsley, called karpas and we will dip it into the salt water. We do this to symbolize the tears and pain of the Israelites.

The Reader then takes the parsley and dips it into the salt and says, ”remember that even though we have painful circumstances in our lives, we will always have the hope of God to free us from our tribulations.”

During the Yachatz the Reader reads:

Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

There are many meanings derived from the metaphors, which apply to all of us just a little differently. But they do all apply to all of us; Gentile or Jew, Muslim or Sruishcihili.

Many have never been to a Passover, Seder dinner. It is filled with history, food and at our table, a wonderful beef brisket.

The dinner is a time for the family and extended family to gather and celebrate and to remember, but more importantly to feel the love and the power that G-d has given us; as individuals and as a group.

The Seder teaches us that to overcome, as well as we have, as a people, is fantastic. That to survive and to rise above, shows strength and empowerment. That we, as a group, have a right to be proud and to teach our past so that it may never be forgotten or repeated.

Share the Passover Seder with someone you know and trust. It is an experience that will lift every spirit.

Barukh Atah Adonai! Pronounced,“Bar rook ahtoh addon I!” It means blessed are you.

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