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Pesach

From: Mike Freedman [mfreedman@portables1.ngfl.gov.uk]
Sent: 15 March 1999 22:30
To: Bectans
Subject: Mike's Passover Tips...

Shalom!

Passover is coming and, as promised, I shall be sending out some informative information on the subject (although probably not daily!). This year Passover, or Pesach as we Jews call it, falls during the Easter holiday so I am doing my tips early in case anyone wants information in time for an assembly etc. before the hols

Pesach begins, this year, on 1 April which coincides with Maundy Thursday, although like all Jewish festivals it actually begins the previous night. In brief, Pesach is one of the 3 pilgrim festivals, when the Biblical Israelites would travel to the temple in Jerusalem to celebrate a harvest. At this first harvest of the year they also celebrated their ancestors' escape from slavery in Egypt (See the book of Exodus).

Pesach has many traditions, ceremonies and symbolisms attached to it. It is a time of family gathering, a time of reaffirmation and celebration of the continuity of Jewish cultural and religious identity and a time for children. At Pesach we stress the importance of teaching our history and traditions to our children.

The central ceremony is the Seder, a meal with many rituals which centres on the retelling of the story of the central character, Moses. (I think it is interesting that the most important humans in both Judaism and Christianity should be survivors/escapees of slaughters of the innocents). The Last Supper was probably a seder. It would have been entirely consistent with custom at the time for Jesus and his disciples to celebrate Pesach together.

The central symbolism is Matzo, the unleavened bread which we are required to eat instead of normal bread, together with a number of other special dietary restrictions that are peculiar to Pesach.

Attached are copies of two assemblies that I have done in sch*** . Please feel free to make use of them in any way that suits you. Dowload 2 assemblies (11K Zip file containing 2 MSWord documents)

Moshe ben Yehudah Ariah (That's me folks!)