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49 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, April 20, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend April 3, 2004 Seder tables prepared for Passover By JOHN DARLING for the Mail Tribune For Jews, Passover is a time of celebration, marking their liberation from slavery in Egypt, and among the synagogues in Ashland it is a time for Jews to free themselves to live a full spiritual life. The holiday goes back 3,325 years to when Jews were "passed over" by the angel of death that killed Egyptian children during a plague. Jews judged that this punishment fell on the pharaoh for his forced sacrifice of Jewish firstborns, said Rabbi David Zaslow of Havurah Shir Hadash in Ashland. On Monday, the first night of Passover (which always falls on the full moon), the focus is on celebrations at home with one’s family, where the historic tale of Jewish slavery, liberation and exodus is told. A Seder dinner includes Passover foods, some of which, like slavery, are bitter — parsley and horseradish. Salt water also is used, symbolizing tears as well as amniotic fluid for rebirth associated with spring. Four cups of wine are consumed to represent the stages of liberation. "The historical story is personalized at the Seder table," said Zaslow, so that everyone talks about what they are presently enslaved by, what’s holding them back, what they need to be liberated from this year. It’s kind of a group confession." The process is based on the Hebrew word for Egypt, mitzrayim, which means "tight, narrow, restrictive place." In one’s personal spiritual journey, he said, this can be recognition that one is too mean, callous or sarcastic or has addictions or perhaps is performing mundane work while failing to achieve one’s life dream. Advertisement At synagogues here, Jews celebrate the second night of Passover (Tuesday) in similar feasting in communal settings, with retelling of the Passover story and more "personal liberations" from bondage. "It’s a celebration of freedom and coming through a restrictive place," said Rabbi Marc Sirinsky of Ashland’s Temple Emek Shalom. "We sing and have a Klezmer band (traditional Yiddish music of Eastern Europe), take our Passover meal together then ask good questions about life, trying to find what questions need to be asked this year, then challenging ourselves to answer them." The questions can be global or personal. When answers to tough questions seem elusive, Sirinsky said, "you just need to ask a better question." Sirinsky’s question for the year: "What can I do to better help make the world a safer and more peaceful place?" The four questions of Passover Passover (Pesach) is the eight-day observance commemorating the exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt during the reign of the Pharaoh Ramses II. A time of family gatherings and lavish meals called Seders, the story of Passover is retold through the reading of the haggadah. With its special foods, songs, and customs, the Seder is the focal point of the celebration. Seders are held on the first two nights of Passover. The haggadah itself stresses the importance of the Seder as "a spectacle meant to excite the interest and the curiosity of the children." At the Seder, the youngest child at the table answers the four questions asked at Passover: On all other nights we eat chametz (leavened bread). Why do we eat only matzah (unleavened bread) on Passover? Matzah reminds us that when the Jews left the slavery of Egypt they had no time to bake their bread. They took the raw dough on their journey and baked it in the hot desert sun into hard crackers called matzah. On all other nights we eat many kinds of vegetables and herbs. Why do we eat bitter herbs — maror — at our Seder? Maror reminds us of the bitter and cruel way the Pharaoh treated the Jewish people when they were slaves in Egypt. On all other nights we don’t usually dip one food into another. At our Seder we dip the parsley in salt water and the bitter herbs in Charoset (fruit, nut and wine mix). Why do we dip our foods twice tonight? We dip bitter herbs into Charoset to remind us how hard the Jewish slaves worked in Egypt. The chopped apples and nuts look like the clay used to make the bricks used in building the Pharaoh’s buildings. We dip parsley into salt water. The parsley reminds us that spring is here and new life will grow. The salt water reminds us of the tears of the Jewish slaves. On all other nights we eat sitting up straight. Why do we recline tonight? We recline to be comfortable and to remind us that once we were slaves, but now we are free. Source: Judaism 101 ( www.jewfaq.org ) John Darling is a free-lance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S RESOURCES Oregon Road Conditions & Cams SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Food for Thought Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? 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