Torah for Christians: The Seder
TORAH FOR CHRISTIANS
SEASON THREE EPISODE THIRTEEN
PESACH III
When do we eat? When do we eat? When do we eat?
It must be time for the Passover Seder. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr and this is Torah for Christians.
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Welcome to Torah for Christians. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr.
The Passover Seder is the largest, grandest, most intricate dinner of the year for Jews. Friends and family, often including non-Jews, gather around a beautifully set dining room table to tell the story of the Exodus and to enjoy both symbolic and festive foods. From the opening candle lighting to the closing prayer for a Messianic return to Jerusalem, the entire evening can last for hours. And it’s worth it.
Seder is a Hebrew word that means “order.” The Seder is a dinner ceremony performed in a prescribed manner. There are 18 steps to a complete Seder. We won’t go through all of them but in this episode, we will gain a basic understanding of the entire evening.
As I mentioned in Part I of this series, the Seder developed in response to the destruction of the Second Temple, after the year 70 CE. The Seder ceremony replaced the Passover sacrifice in the Temple, which had been destroyed. The entire original Seder can be found in the Mishnah, Tractate Pesachim, Chapter 10; it’s called the Seder of Rabban Gamliel II, who created the Seder ceremony around the year 90 CE, long after the death of Jesus, modeled on the ancient Greek and Roman banquets.
The Seder takes quite a bit of preparation. Immediately after Purim, exactly one month before Pesach begins, many Jews begin to clean their homes, to remove the chametz, leavened products.. These Jews might clean their carpets, scrub down kitchen counters, even shake out the drapes to remove chametz. As Pesach approaches, many Jews also change out their dishes, cutlery, glasses and pots and pans. Jews who keep kosher, and especially Jews who keep kosher for Passover, might own four sets of dishes, two sets for everyday meat and dairy and two sets for Passover meat and dairy. And many Orthodox and Chassidic homes even have a second kitchen used exclusively for Passover.
Many large grocery stores in major metropolitan areas carry Passover foods, especially matzah, matzah meal, wine and special jellies, vinegar, and ketchup. There are often specialty kosher grocery stores in areas with large Jewish populations. And of course, we can order almost anything via the Internet, which is especially important for Jews who live in smaller, isolated cities. Jews will visit these stores, often many times, to stock up for the Seder and the week of Pesach that follows.
Finally, on the night before the Seder, many Jewish families engage in a mitzvah called Bedikat Chametz, the checking for chametz. A great game for children, tradition dictates that we walk around the house with a candle, a feather and dustpan. Using the lit candle in a darkened home, when we see bits of chametz, we sweep those bits into the dustpan and either throw them out or, the next morning, burn them in a ritual called Biur Chametz, the burning of chametz. For Jews with small kids, parents often plant bits of bread around the house and turn this mitzvah into a treasure hunt.
With the burning of the Chametz, we stop eating leavened products after breakfast on the morning of the Seder. We can still eat chametz for lunch but only outside of the house. By midday though, the total ban on eating chametz is in force.
But for first-born males, there is an additional obligation, to fast in memory of the Egyptian first-born males who perished during the night of that fateful first Seder. Torah study and Tzedakah, charity, contributions can take the place of fasting but still, the idea that we fast in remembrance of Egyptians, of all peoples, makes an important statement.
Finally, it is time for the Seder itself. Technically, the Seder begins at sundown. However, that can be rather late in the evening, especially since the Seder usually occurs after Daylight Savings Time begins. This late start time is problematic, not just for hungry adults but especially for restive and starving kids, whose bedtimes might coincide with the scheduled start of the Seder. In these cases, many Jews begin their Seder service earlier than sundown, with the required blessings and eating of matzah and maror, the bitter herb, held until sundown.
But we do not just sit down at the table and begin to eat. First, we must set the table. Aside from using our finest china, perhaps for the only time during the year, we also set out two candle sticks, a plate with three pieces of matzah, often in a special cover, a kiddush cup for blessing the wine, a special cup for Elijah the Prophet, which we will discuss in a few minutes and the Seder plate, often an ornamental dish with spaces that hold the ceremonial foods, as well as a small bowl of salt water.
Some families also put out special table decorations, a smaller symbol plate at each place and Miriam’s cup, filled with water, that symbolizes Miriam’s Well that traveled with the Israelites through the desert until her death. Each person at the Seder also gets a book, called the Haggadah, which is our guide through the Seder. There are literally hundreds of versions of the Haggadah that families use; you can find examples of the Haggadah online or on Amazon.
We begin the Seder by lighting the festival candles, thanking God for giving us the light of the Pesach. If the first night of Pesach also falls on Shabbat, we include special Shabbat inserts into the candle blessing and into the Kiddush, the Blessing over the Wine that follows. This blessing over the wine is the first of four wine blessings that we recite. Each blessing symbolizes one of the four promises that God gave the Israelite people in Exodus, Chapter 6, “I will free you, I will deliver you, I will redeem you and I will take you to be My people. These four blessings occur at various points in the Seder ceremony, two before dinner and two afterwards.
The Romans would often begin their symposiums by eating an appetizer, perhaps a vegetable dipped in a sauce. We echo this when we next dip a sprig of parsley or some other leafy green, one of the components of the Seder plate, in salt water. The salt water, which takes the place of the fruit dip, reminds us of the bitterness of slavery. The parsley reminds us of springtime.
Once we have blessed the candles and the wine, and dipped the parsley into salt water, we assume that the children are rather bewildered. We don’t normally eat like this. So, we ask the children, often targeting the youngest capable child, to recite the Four Questions, questions designed to ask why we are doing these rituals. These questions are in the Haggadah and, to be frank, the entire service that follows is an answer to the Four Questions.
The answers are called the Maggid, the Story. The story begins with an allegory of the Four Sons, each of varying intellectual abilities, which show us that we must tell the story of the Exodus according to each person’s capacity to understand it. Then, we begin the story, from the time of Abraham, through Jacob’s descent into Egypt and then finally, the Exodus itself. Surprisingly, Moses’ name is never mentioned in the Haggadah; everything that happens is dependent on God.
Two parts of the Maggid deserve a deeper dive. The first is a recounting of the 10 Plagues. As we mention each plague, we spill a drop of wine onto our plates, to show that the joy of freedom is tempered by the death of the Egyptians. The second highlight is the poem Dayyenu, which means “It would have been enough for us.” It would have been enough if God had only taken us out of Egypt. But then God also led us through Sinai, gave us the Torah, etc. We are overwhelmed with God’s beneficence and even sing a festive melody of Dayyenu after recounting all these blessings. You can find many different versions of this song on youtube.
After Dayyenu, the Maggid is over. We next move to Pesach, Matzah, Maror. We again return to the Seder plate and lift a lamb shank, a reminder of the Passover sacrifice in the Temple. Then, we lift the matzah and the maror, the bitter herb such as a horseradish root, also found on the Seder plate, to remind us of what accompanies that first Pesach, standing in our slave huts in Egypt.
Next, we recite a series of Psalms, called the Hallel, praise, to recount God’s glory. We split the Hallel, reciting some of the Psalms now and the rest after dinner. Before our food blessings, we offer the second blessing over the wine. We then bless and eat the matzah and maror, usually eating a bit of matzah and then a bit of horseradish root. Then, just before we eat dinner, we make what we call the Hillel Sandwich. Rabbi Hillel, who lived in the 1st Century, BCE, would place a bit of lamb and maror between two pieces of matzah, to commemorate the mitzvah of Pesach, to eat the Pesach, matzah and maror together. But since we don’t have sacrificial lamb today, we substitute charoset, a fruit chutney, made in the Ashkenazic world with diced apples, nuts, raisins, cinnamon, and sweet wine. It’s everyone’s favorite Pesach dish, to be sure and can be prepared in dozens of ways.
Then we eat. We’ll talk about the foods after the break. But after dinner, there is a special game for the children, finding the Afikomen. Afikomen means hidden; the children run around the house looking for a hidden piece of matzah. After they find it, it is ransomed, often for chocolate bars, before the service can continue. After the Afikomen is eaten, it is customary not to eat anything else during the evening.
Following the Afikomen, we recite a Blessing after the Meal, called Birkat HaMazon, followed by the 3rd Kiddush. Then, we finish the Hallel and quickly move to a most interesting part of the Seder, Welcoming Elijah. If you recall, we had placed a special goblet for Elijah on the table. Now, we fill that goblet with wine and literally open the door for Elijah. The idea is that one day, Elijah will return to earth and herald the coming of the Messiah. We hope and pray that he will return in the coming year and personally announce to us that the Messiah is here.
Finally, we recite the 4th Kiddush, sing special holiday songs, and conclude the Seder with the cry, “Next Year in Jerusalem.” Now it is truly special to celebrate Pesach in Jerusalem, but the real meaning of this phrase refers to the concept that when the Messiah comes, we will all be transported to Jerusalem to celebrate the advent of God’s rule on earth. And please remember, for Jews, the Messiah has never come to earth.
There are other features of the Seder that we have “passed over”, pardon the pun, in the interest of time. Please feel free to look at an online Haggadah, or purchase one of your own from a reputable, Jewish source for more information.
After the break, we will talk a bit about special Seder foods and then take a high-level view of the entire Seder experience. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr and this is Torah for Christians.
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Welcome back to Torah for Christians. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr. Before we return to our discussion of Pesach, I want to thank you for listening to this podcast. Please remember to review and rate this episode on Apple, Spotify, Facebook, or whatever service you are using. Also, please go back and listen to previous episodes if you have not done so already. A transcript is also available on our Buzzsprout feed. And now, this and many previous episodes are available on our brand-new YouTube channel. And if you would like to read my weekly Torah Study, please go to Bible Stories They (Never) Taught You in Religious School, available for free on www.Substack.com. I have also started another Substack page called Wednesday Torah, where I share random thoughts on the Jewish experience. Please subscribe to both.
The Seder meal itself is quite sumptuous. On the Seder plate, and often on individual plates for each participant, there is a sprig of parsley, charoset, horseradish sticks, a hard-boiled egg, some smaller matzah crackers, a kiddush cup and an individual cup of salt water. It is customary to begin the meal with a hard-boiled egg, as this symbolizes both renewal and the chagigah, the Pesach festival offering.
In Ashkenazic households, we often include a piece of gefilte fish, a ground fish patty that is boiled and served along with horseradish sauce or even with wasabi or guacamole. In our family, we also include a small, boiled potato, in remembrance of the lack of food in our ancestor’s homes in Eastern Europe, when a potato often substituted for a missing item on the Seder plate.
These appetizers are often followed by matzah ball soup, a chicken broth with dumplings made of matzah meal – ground matzah, eggs, oil, and salt. It’s delicious. The main course often consists of chicken and perhaps beef brisket, accompanied by a potato kugel, a type of pudding, vegetables, and perhaps other dishes, like a sweet-potato souffle or a carrot tzimmes, carrots braised in orange juice, kosher sweet wine, raisins and perhaps even pineapple bits or pieces of brisket. Ashkenazic Jews don’t serve lamb for the Seder, out of respect for the ending of the Temple sacrifices, nor do they eat anything made with rice or legumes; Sephardic Jews often do serve lamb and do eat rice and legumes for the Seder and the entire week of Pesach. For dessert, there are a plethora of Passover sweets, such as meringues, almond cookies, cakes, macaroons made with matzah meal and, hopefully, some fresh fruit. We can also serve kosher, non-sacramental wine during the meal, as well as coffee or tea. As this is a meat meal, we do not cook with butter, milk or cheeses; Passover margarine substitutes for the needed dairy in many of these dishes.
Outside of Israel, many Jews add an extra day to the holiday, due to ancient calendar uncertainty. This led to adding a Seder to the second night in the Diaspora as well. Sephardic Jews might even conduct a Seder every night of Pesach, sometimes reading the Song of Songs after dinner as well as the regular Haggadah.
The Seder is a wonderful, elaborate ritual to which Jews look forward all year long. But to get it right, the Seder is not just an educational, it is experiential. The goal is to experience the first Passover as if we ourselves were in Egypt and God had freed us from bondage. If we come close to this, we have done it right.
I want to thank you for listening to Torah for Christians. Please remember to rate and review this, and previous episodes on Apple, Spotify, or other streaming services. You can also like and hear us on Facebook and now, you can subscribe to the podcast on Youtube and read a transcript on Buzzsprout.
Next week, we will continue our discussion of Pesach when we talk about how Pesach relates to Easter. We will talk about how Jesus might have celebrated Passover – which is quite different from today and ask whether the Last Supper was indeed a Seder. Spoiler alert: It was not.
Finally, I have begun to publish a weekly Torah Study, called Bible Stories They Never Taught You in Religious School. It’s available for free on www.substack.com. You can also sign up on Substack for the newsletter to appear every Friday in your Inbox. You can also find my new column, Wednesday Torah there, where I offer weekly musings about life, the universe and everything.
Have a wonderful week and remember; Hinei Mah Tov … L’hitra’ot, till we meet again. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr and this is Torah for Christians.
