Will you join me for a virtual Passover Seder next week to celebrate our deliverance from slavery in Egypt?

You would prefer I use a photo from a different White House Seder, Trump's perhaps?

I didn't realize that's where it was. Now I see Michelle on his left. Very cool.

Surely, you do understand, Ele, if your family celebrated with the ritual.

The youngest asks why, and the eldest explains;
it is about remembering the hardships of the escape into freedom, the travel and survival in the desert, acquiring the commandments, and the trials they had to face (for disobeying God) before they could come into their new homeland.

Imagine what they could carry with them at short notice (apples, almonds, wheat flour, dried herbs, poultry in cages, and perhaps goats or dried meat).
They also could have scavenged edible plants native to the Negev: wild figs, dates, fennel, hawthorn berries, the berries of Ziziphus Spina-Christi, caper-fruit, the fleshy inner stalks of Athman rushes, horsemint, pink sorrel and oregano.

Actually, I don't find the ceremonial food crappy; I find it delicious.
Except for one thing - modern matzoh is made from refined white flour with zero nutrition in it - it's almost tasteless.
Matzoh balls made from this stuff are almost as bad - doughy, gluggy and pasty, but at least they absorb some flavour from the soup.
The original escapees from slavery would have had wholesome organically grown, stoneground, wholemeal flour.
It tastes nutty and delicious, and it gives a feeling of satisfaction.

The worst is being hungry and having to wait throughout the very long ceremony - but hungry is at least half the point.


I see the Seder as a psychologically and socially important ceremony. Slaves could be seen as being like children, in that they are dependent on their masters for food, clothing, shelter etc and must obey, have no personal freedom.
By choosing to leave slavery, learning to fend for themselves, adopting a set of laws and guiding principles, and adopting a new land for which they become responsible - they are a people coming of age as adults.

 

 

This post was edited by inky at April 5, 2020 9:14 AM MDT

At least one goy is welcome at every passover feast.
It helps to spread cultural and religious goodwill and understanding.

It's traditional to welcome a stranger and to leave the front door open for Elijah.
There's an ancient Semitic myth that the stranger at the door might be an angel, maybe Elijah himself in disguise; one might make a terrible mistake by turning someone away. It's a practise designed to reduce prejudice and increase empathy and compassion. This post was edited by inky at April 6, 2020 5:19 AM MDT

The wine represents blood, the matzah is "the bread of affliction," and the shank bone represents the pascal lamb. Think maybe the wine and wafers used in communion were derived from this?

To your second point, that's exactly correct.
According to the New Testament, Jesus was conducting the Seder when he announced that he knew he was going to be betrayed, by whom, and how the disciples would react. He gave instructions that the traditional wine and flatbread ceremony should be used as a means of symbolically remembering him and to renew faith.

Have you seen the Mel Brooks version?

No, you use it as a reminder of what it feels like to be hungry and want more.
Ever eaten a chicken drumstick when hungry and gnawed it down to the last.

And don't worry - the items shown above are just the ceremonial part of the event.
In liberal Jewish households ( the majority), the real feast begins when the ceremony is over, and it can be three, four or five courses of the best of kosher dishes.

What is served varies depending on the cultural origins of the family. Ashkenazi families will serve Northern European dishes like borscht or sorrel soup, gefilte fish or lox, cholent, goulash or schnitzel and a green vegetable, maybe a salad, and finishing with a sweet like kugel or apple strudel. The wine is usually Israeli and kosher.

People have a fabulous time, talking, debating and singing.

Some families do shortened versions of the family.
In orthodox households, the ceremony may take 3 hours.

Look closely and see if you recognize who is at the head of the table and the lady to his left.

I did recognize them.  I would decline an invitation to sup with those two.  

Fair enough. Personally, I wouldn't turn down the chance to sit down with any president, Democrat or Republican.

Of course you may, provided it's kosher l'Pesach (Hebrew for Passover). The wine represents the lamb's blood the Israelites smeared on their doorposts so that the angel of death would PASS OVER their houses when killing the first born Egyptians (the 10th and final plague that convinced Ramses to spring Moses and the Jews). I have long been fascinated by the likely connection between these symbols and the Catholic use of wine to represent the blood of Jesus, also a sacrificial lamb in a way. Also, as I posted in another question, it hit me as I watched Charlton Heston in "The Ten Commandments" tonight that there are parallels between the roles/myths of Moses in Judaism and Jesus in Christianity.

As long as we don’t have to lick the wine off a doorpost...

Great movie, btw. I love the parting of the Red Sea scene. The soundtrack is powerful. Anne Baxter was friggin hot. This post was edited by Don Barzini at April 4, 2020 10:32 PM MDT

Indeed.

Of course! Remembering, as always, that matzah balls come from the male matzah, lol.

Woops! :/

Ari would have koshed me for that too (verbally).

Yiddish: מצה‎ matsoh,  Hebrew: מַצָּה matsa; plural matzot

I confess I often get my Yiddish and Hebrew confused.
Ari prefers Hebrew to Yiddish; he sees the former as a language of inclusion, the latter as one of exile.