Susan B Judaica Lesson 4/7

Hello Vav! Hope you’re all doing well and pumped for Pesach!! It’s been great hearing from many of you. I miss you all and hope we can see each other soon! Happy Pesach!!

The Greatest Show-and-Tell Story Ever Told.

One of the many interesting things about the Passover Seder is the fact that this religious ceremony occurs at home. Isn’t that cool? This says something about the importance Jews place on family life, on the belief that anyone is capable of learning and leading, and on the Passover story itself. And food, too!! How many holidays can you think of where food practically jumps up and stares you in the face with a story to tell?

The Seder Table

Center stage- The Star of the Show

מצה – Matza – “Run for your lives, but you shouldn’t be hungry on your trip.” And so we have matza: there are more important things than fancy food when the hour of freedom has struck!

There are three מצות matzot on the table. Two loaves of bread are customary on Shabbat and holidays – feasting is fun! Passover’s celebration of freedom is so important that we add a third “loaf”. The matzot are covered, unlike …

The Seder Plate – The Leading Actors

כרפס Karpas – A fresh green – parsley– a symbol of springtime – the season of Passover. Go outside and marvel at the colors and smells of life returning!

ביצה Baytza – A roasted egg. Eggs are symbols of new life and the cycle of life – they’re (kind of) round. They also represent the roasted offerings of Temple times.

זרוע Z’roah – A roasted shankbone (from a lamb) symbolizes the lamb the Hebrews gobbled down that first Passover night. Some vegetarians use a red beet. (We often made a “bone” out of rolled-up silver foil. Use your imagination – throughout the Seder!)

מרור Maror – Bitter herbs = the bitterness of slavery. Many people use bottled horseradish. (I was brought up on the original horseradish root. It’s probably called horseradish cause it’s strong enough to knock over a horse should you mistakenly give one instead of a carrot to Tornado– a famous horse.)

חזרת Chazeret – Romaine lettuce – we’re asked to eat bitter herbs – plural. So you shouldn’t feel guilty about offering maror to your guests.

חרוסת Charoset – Nile Mud Pie -A delightful (or so it seems after an hour of preliminaries) mixture of apples, nuts, cinnamon and wine; or dates, raisins, figs, almond and wine; or any combination of fruit, nuts and wine pounded into a paste. This gives us a taste of mixing mud for the Pyramids.

The Supporting Actors

Salt water We dip the karpas in salt water to remind us of the slaves’ tears.

Wine and wine/grape juice glasses for everyone – enough for four cups!

A big, beautiful wine glass for Elijah – to fortify the prophet who brings a present - the promise of peace one day - to every Seder. Can’t come soon enough!

הגדות – Haggadot – enough for everyone! Back in the day, most people used The Maxwell House Haggada. Maxwell House makes your basic coffee, and they provided free Haggadot. (Dunkin’ Donuts would be an odd sponsor, but Starbucks could step up.) Some enlightened families used the first Reconstructionist Haggada (originally published in 1942). Now there are literally hundreds of Haggadot available – many with beautiful illustrations – for all ages, interests, and orientations. Plus, many families add their own nuggets of wisdom, humor, and memories (reminder: last week’s assignment?!).

Your Assignment: Lagniappe – לניפה

My youngest son, the one whose birthday is this year’s first Seder day, recently introduced us to this French word from his days in New Orleans. “Lagniappe” means a little something extra. Here’s a fun lagniappe to your Seder study: the ultimate Passover numbers game - Echad mi yodeah יודעה מי אחד. This song reveals 13 of the most important possessions of the Jewish people (spoiler alert: no five gold rings or 10 lords a leaping).

List the 13 things that the singer knows. What do these things say about Jewish values?

The Seder – like all Jewish learning - revolves around questions. Sometimes we even hear that the questions are just as, if not more important than the answers. Really? Not every religious community agrees. Some say there is one right set of answers to life’s big questions: this is what you must believe to be part of our community.

What do you think: What are the good things about questioning? The troubling? What makes life easier? What makes life worthwhile?

Think carefully – I know that you have time to put into this.

שמח חג Have a wonderful Passover! Susan