The Jewish holiday of Passover begins this evening. Passover commemorates the departure of the ancient Israelites from Egypt. Under Egypt’s Pharaoh, the Jews had been enslaved and utilized, at least in part, in the building of large construction projects.
The story of Moses and the 10 plagues which resulted in the release of the Jews has been memorably (if somewhat melodramatically) retold by Cecil B. DeMille in The Ten Commandments. Over time this 1956 film has become a marker of the season, like It’s a Wonderful Life during the winter holiday season. I must say that seeing Charleton Heston as Moses is a bit unsettling, but his performance is wholly appropriate to what now seems a bit campy. (Author’s note: In researching this diary, it was revealed that DeMille actually filmed an earlier version of the story, way back in 1923.)
The seven day holiday is commemorated in Jewish households by the Seder, which literally means order. The seder is a combined religious service and meal during which there is a succession of rituals. The Haggadah is a book which contains the entire seder service.
Typically the host will place upon the Seder table a Seder plate containing several symbols. These are the bitter herbs (representing the bitterness of slavery), charoset (a mixture of chopped fruits and nuts representing the mortar of the aforesaid construction projects), salt water and a dipping vegetable (the salt water representing the tears of the Egyptian’s slaves), a lamb’s roasted shankbone (representing sacrifice) and an egg (symbolizing mourning according to Wikipedia). Some households have different meanings for these items. In mine, the egg was also taken to represent the coming spring season.
Finally, the matzot, or unleavened bread, made only of flour and water, is like the bread made by the ancient Jews before their flight from Egypt. Their hasty departure left no time for their bread to rise. And so today, Jews eat this cracker-like bread during the pendency of the 7 day holiday. Also, many have multiple Seders. (Note: Observant Jews eat no leavened bread or other leavened bakery products during the holiday. In fact, no such products are even to be present in the home during the seven day period.)
Of course, each family has its own traditions to add. Lately mine has created a new one. Getting the proper bone has sometimes presented a problem. I remember a time while growing up when we drew a picture of a bone and cut it out for placement upon the Seder plate when no suitable bone was available. In recent years, during visits to rural Utah, we came upon a small shop that sold dinosaur bones and fragments. At the insistance of the now 7 year old boran2 boy, we purchased some of these. A couple of years ago, we again ran into the bone problem and I half-jokingly offered to my mother one of the said dinosaur bones. She endured this substitution at the time but has now apparently fully embraced this custom. The other day, she called and asked that we bring a dinosaur bone for her seder plate. From such small things new traditions grow.
Happy Passover!