By: Sadie Urtz
Growing up Jewish in a small town like Cortland, almost no one at my school knew anything about Jewish holidays. I would often teach my peers about holidays like Hanukkah and Passover, and often my teachers as well.
It brings me joy to share the history of the holidays with non-Jews, so I would like to take the opportunity to share the story of Passover this week.
The story of Passover is from the book of Exodus, and it surrounds the Jews being freed from Egyptian enslavement. It all starts with the Pharaoh of Egypt worrying about the number of Hebrews outnumbering Egyptians, so he forces them into enslavement. Along with enslaving them, he also declared that the first born son of Hebrew families would be drowned in the river. However, one baby, named Moses, was saved.
Many people know about Moses in some capacity, usually as the savior of the Jews.
When Moses is older, God speaks to him and tells him to speak to the Pharaoh and free the Jews. the Pharaoh refuses, thus bringing on the Ten Plagues.
The Ten Plagues include water turning into blood, plague of frogs, plague of lice, plague of flies, livestock pestilence, boils, hail, locust, darkness, and finally, the killing of the firstborn Egyptian sons.
During the tenth and final plague, Jews are told to smear lambs’ blood over their door frames so God “Passes over” their homes and does not kill their sons, thus birthing the name, Passover.
During current Passover celebrations, Jews give drops of wine during Seder to give their “joy” to the Jews who were killed and enslaved in Egypt.
During the final plague, the Pharaoh’s son is killed. The Pharaoh says he will free all Jews, but then changes his mind. The Jews fleeing Egypt endure a chase with the Pharaoh, and the chase leads them to the Red Sea. Moses is leading the pact, and God intervenes and parts the Red Sea so the Jews may pass through, and finally reach freedom.
The Passover celebration of current times includes a Seder. A Seder is a dinner with a prayer book that those around the table perform, telling the story of Passover.
The Seder plate consists of:
- The Passover offering, the lamb shank, to remind us that Jews were spared using lamb’s blood.
- The Matzah, which represents the Jews rush to freedom and the sacrifices it took. (When the Jews were escaping slavery, they did not have time to let bread rise, thus birthing the yeastless matzah bread we still eat today.)
- The maror, or bitter herb. Usually horseradish for modern Jews. This reminds us of the bitterness of slavery.
- There are other traditional foods on the plate, like a boiled egg and parsley and salt water, but the main three are offering, matzah, and maror.
The actual “meal” comes after the reading and the Seder plate.