BY GRETCHEN MURRAY
The heirloom table linens and fine dinnerware that are integral parts of the Passover celebration are cherished and passed down through generations.
More importantly, Jewish families love to pass down the story behind the holiday.
The eight-day observance that begins at sundown today and continues through the evening of April 27 traditionally starts with a Seder, a special meal symbolizing the passage of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt as told in Exodus.
It's Fred Goldenberg's favorite holiday. He says it's because it always brings his children back home. Goldenberg, of Bellaire, is president of Congregation Ahavat Shalom in Traverse City.
"Passover is not a synagogue or temple service. It is a home service, which makes it one of our most beloved traditions," said Goldenberg.
Passover takes its name from God's instructions to the Israelites to mark their doors with the blood of a sacrificial lamb so his Angel of Death would "pass over" their homes as he killed the firstborn male of each family in Egypt during the tenth plague. (Exodus 10:1)
Their flight from Egypt, arranged so quickly that the bread didn't have time to rise before it was baked, is told year after year around the Seder tables on the first night or first two nights of Passover. The rituals of special foods and readings of the Haggadah, a compilation of biblical passages and prayers, ensure the story is never forgotten.
"What makes Passover so unique is we were commanded by God to tell the story of the exodus each year. In Exodus it didn't say the rabbi will tell you, it says you are to relive the exodus. That is the key to the Passover Seder. You, as an individual, should feel as if you were liberated from Egypt," Goldenberg said.
He says Jews use a hands-on approach to relay the story to the next generation. The object of the Seder is to present four questions and then answer them so that even the youngest child old enough to understand can know what the liberation from slavery and the covenant with God is all about.
"The word Seder means "order" and the meal follows a specific order laid down by the rabbis. Each and every thing on the Seder plate represents part of the story of Passover," Goldenberg said. "You start out with a blessing over the wine. Then you dip green vegetables representing spring into salt water representing the tears of the slaves in Egypt. There are three pieces of matzo (unleavened bread) on the table representing the three remaining tribes of Judaism."
The opportunity to open a dialogue starts even before the family sits down to the Seder. Starting the night before Passover family members go through the house with a feather and a candle looking for leavening agents that are not allowed in the home during the holiday.
"You have to clean your house completely, give it a spring cleaning. You have special dishes, special silverware all foods that you eat for the eight days are kosher for Passover, so everything you do provides the opportunity for somebody to ask, 'Gee why do we do that?'" Goldenberg said.
Many Christians also ask questions about the Passover Seder and find a comparative association with the Passover's message of delivery from bondage and the Christian belief that Christ's death and resurrection ultimately deliver them from the bondage of sin. Some believe the symbolic shank bone placed on the Seder plate to represent the sacrificial lamb also can be interpreted as a reference to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who was sacrificed to take away the sin of the world. (John 1:29).
Whether the Last Supper actually was a Passover Seder is debated in both Jewish and Christian circles, but some churches are applying the Christian perspective in their offering of Seder-type meals on Maundy Thursday. That's the day during Holy Week when the Last Supper was believed to have taken place.
"According to the gospel of St. John , (John: 13) Jesus went to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. That is one reason why our Pascha (Easter) is contingent on the celebration of the Jewish Passover," said the Rev. Iakovos Olechnowicz, pastor of the Orthodox Mission Church in Traverse City.
The Rev. Dale Ostema, pastor of Central United Methodist Church in Traverse City, has shared an interdenominational Seder supper with one of his church groups as well as Seder-type picnic meals with youth groups.
"I think there is a growing interest by churches to have Seder-type meals that use the language of the Seder and connect it with the story of the Last Supper," he said.
"It's a fact that Jesus was Jewish and as a young child he undoubtedly followed Jewish traditions, but the Seders Jesus may have had probably didn't look this way," Goldenberg said. "The Seder as we know it today didn't evolve until the destruction of the second temple around 70 A.D. when the Jews were forced into the Diaspora." .
Goldenberg finds that modern Seders carry a Hellenic cultural influence.
"The Greeks were known for dinner party symposiums with eating, talking and debating the issues. One of the things that makes Judaism so unique is that it is really adaptable to the world in which it is in, and yet it still maintains its own culture and style of life. It is able to breathe within another culture," Goldenberg said. "That's why when you look at other cultures and other religions that have disappeared, it's why Judaism has stayed around for thousands of years."
