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The focus of the CJD Newsletter is to support the mission of CJD; which is to promote the understanding of our shared history and to come to the realization that we have more similarities than differences. The understanding comes from listening. This builds trust and respect that develops into a deep and abiding friendship that strengthens both of our faiths. This is true “dialogue”.
In the spirit of this dialogue, the theme of March’s Newsletter was, “What is Easter and why do Catholics celebrate Easter?” The theme of April’s Newsletter is “What is Passover and why do Jews celebrate Passover?”
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We extend our gratitude to CJD members Deb and Larry Hermalyn for providing the following explanation and story of Passover.
Passover, or Pesach, is a holiday celebrated each spring during the month of Nisan on the Hebrew lunar calendar. Passover often falls very close to Easter. This year, the holiday begins at sundown on April 22nd and will end eight days later. The coming of spring reminds us of the power we have to renew ourselves and re-commit to freedom and peace.
Passover is usually celebrated in the home with family and friends and sometimes in a synagogue or community setting. The holiday begins with a traditional meal called a Seder. Seders are generally held the first two nights of the holiday.
Seder means “Order “and there is a very particular order to this meal which is different than all other holiday meals . The purpose is to recount and remember the Book of Exodus in which the Ancient Hebrews or Israelites went from slavery in Egypt to freedom. It is not enough to read the words, but it is necessary by the symbolic foods eaten from the Seder Plate to be one with the sweet and bitter parts of the story. It is not about what God did for them, but rather becomes what God did for me in this symbolic re-telling of the Jewish people’s exodus from slavery to freedom. This lesson is passed on from generation to generation.
Although each family and community may have individual traditions, there are certain elements that remain the same. A book called the Haggadah is read. The Haggadah re-tells the story of the Jewish people’s sojourn into Egypt and subsequent enslavement by Pharaoh. It reminds us about the cruelty of being slaves and how Moses came to confront and demand the freedom of the Jewish people. Ten plagues were visited upon Egypt before Pharaoh allowed the Israelites to leave. As the story goes, during the tenth and final plague, God passes through the land of Egypt and strikes down the firstborn of every household. But the Jews have been told to mark their doors with the blood of a lamb they’ve sacrificed - the Passover offering - and so God “passes over” their homes.
The story reminds us that freedom also comes with struggles. God required the Israelites to wander for forty years in the desert, although the land of Canaan was nearby. This part of the story reminds us that Moses, like Martin Luther King, Jr., never reached the Promised Land. It takes time to truly be a free people. God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, five of which refer to the relationship of people to God and five of which are about the relationship of people to each other. It is a reminder that freedom requires of us to understand and follow the Rule of Law. We celebrate the freedom of self-determination, but must also accept responsibility to God and to each other.
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