Billye Brim
Blogging from Israel April 23, 2008
Pesach – Passover Impressions
A delightful symphony of children’s laughter wafts upward to my ears from the swimming pool 11 stories below my room at the Dead Sea. This, among other things, demonstrates that the guests in the many hotels in the area have done a complete turnover. Gone are the majority of Russian tourists reported earlier to you. Jewish families celebrating Pesach (Passover) week have replaced them.
When I mentioned this to Rani Levy, he said, “Yes. Jewish families from both Israel and America book the hotels years ahead for Pesach.” I must say I enjoy the change. What a view of Pesach I am witnessing this year!
The Levy family invited me for the Seder meal at Rani’s sister Odelia’s home. The Levy family all seated at one table (actually two tables put together, but the effect is that there is one) included the host family, Aviad and Odelia and their three daughters… Rani’s brother (ZaHaL) and his wife (Ronit) and daughter... Rani’s mother, Nitza…. Rani and Alma and their daughters Yara, and Rotem, and their sons, Negev and Yehuda made up the family around the table. Odelia called me, “the guest of honor.” What an evening!
The weather on that April 19 evening was perfect. At about 7:45 we walked outside Rani’s home to go to Odelia’s. Fragrances from the Spring flowers in the lovely village so satisfied our sense of smell. The sound of families singing together drifted out open windows from the homes where they’d already begun their Seder.
Seder is Hebrew for order. “Seder Pesach” in Temple times meant the Order of the Passover Sacrifice. After the Second Temple was destroyed the Seder table became the place where Jews observe God’s commandment to “Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage;…” (Exodus 13:3).
And remember they do! And in order! Everything about the Seder is in order.
First, I noticed at Rani’s house how his children took showers and dressed themselves, except for Yehuda (5), who needed a little help, in what is called “festive clothing.” They looked good! This is a requirement. It’s also a requirement for Shabbat. The Shabbat table, as well as the Seder table, must have a white tablecloth. And the participants must wear “festive clothing.”
My thoughts journeyed many miles and from the past to the future on this wonderful evening.
Concerning the festive clothing. I remembered as a child getting ready for church. We wore our Sunday dresses and our Sunday shoes. Our Easter clothes were new. Spring colors. My sister and I wore hats, carried purses, and our new shoes were usually patent leather, either black or white. We followed this tradition when we brought up our four children. I remember the lilac bush outside our door in Collinsville, and when the weather was just right and the lilacs bloomed at Easter, I fastened lilacs into Shelli’s and Brenda’s hair. I’m quite sure this dressing up, like so much, has Jewish roots.
But concerning the festive clothing I also remembered a sad fact from studying the plight of the Jews in the Spanish Inquisition. Jews who pretended to convert to Catholicism to escape persecution were called Merranos. Torquemada and the evil Inquisitioners would ferret out the Jews who secretly kept Shabbat and Pesach, often in their cellars. They spied on the Jews to see if they dressed in festive clothing on those days. Or, if they lit candles. Or, if they sat at tables with white cloths. The Merranos were so dedicated, they risked their lives to keep the commandments.
And my mind went that night to the horrors of the past when the proximity of Passover and Easter brought fear to the Jews. The terrible blood libel for centuries and in diverse places said that Jews killed Christian children and used their blood to make matza. Thousands of Jews lost their lies due to that Satanic lie.
I’m so glad we live in a time when something good is evidently “going on” between Christians and Jews. And I can sit here and see so much of our faith in its Jewish roots.
At the table each person has a book, “The Haggadah.” The term means to tell the story. Through the long evening the Exodus is told in words, in drama, and in song. Each person follows the order of “The Haggadah.” .
The yearly observance of this Festival of Freedom was instituted by the Lord (Exodus 13:5-10). He especially laid emphasis on telling the story to your children.
He told them that this ordinance was to them and their children forever (Ex. 12:24).
He told them their children would ask, “What mean ye by this service?” (Ex. 12:26).
He told them how to answer. And He told them that their answers were to make it personal. “He delivered our houses…” (Ex. 12:27).
He told them to answer, “And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth from Egypt” (Ex. 13:9)
The tradition is that the youngest child stands upon his or her chair and asks the biblical questions. Whereupon the adults give the prescribed answers.
I can still see 5-year-old Yehuda’s face as he asked the biblical and time-honored questions along side his 6-year old girl cousin. They had learned the questions at school and boldly asked them with joy.
Think of it. This has been going on since Moses.
In marveling at the miracle of the Lord’s bringing the Jews back to their promised land in our day, I had long wondered at what may have been the greatest part of the miracle. And that is that they were still one people almost 2500 years after the initial scattering. How did God do it?
Part of that amazing feat has to be God’s Redemptive Calendar (Leviticus 23). Through the years, and through even terrible times, the Jews have kept its moeds (appointed times).
Rani Levy once said to me, “There’s something wonderful about knowing that on Shabbat, on Pesach, and on Yom Kippur, Jews all over the world are doing the same thing you’re doing.”
Consider this from David Ben Gurion’s speech in 1947 before the UN Commission on the Partition of Palestine which led to recognition of the modern Jewish state.
Three hundred years ago a ship called the Mayflower set sail to the New World. This was a great event in the history of England. Yet I wonder if there is one Englishman who knows at what time the ship set sail? Do the English know how many people embarked on this voyage? What quality of bread did they eat?
Yet more than three thousand three hundred years ago, before the Mayflower set sail, the Jews left Egypt. Every Jew in the world, even in America or Soviet Russia knows on exactly what date they left – the fifteenth of the month of Nisan. They retell the story of the Exodus and all the troubles Jews have endured since being exiled, saying:
“This year, slaves. Next year, free!
This year here. Next year in Jerusalem, in Zion, in Eretz Yisrael.”
That is the nature of the Jews.
That’s how God did it! At least part of the story! Oh! What a Planner1! Oh! What a plan!
And then, of course, the evening was topped off by the singing of the Hallel. Psalms 113 and 114 are sung before eating the festive meal. And then Psalms 115 – 118 are sung after the meal and just before you leave.
Oh! How my heart thrilled! Since I was a little girl I wanted to know what the hymn was that Jesus and the disciples sang as they went out (Matthew 26:30). I thought it might be “Amazing Grace.” Or, perhaps, “Blessed Assurance.” Now I know. And how blessed I am to know. Especially so, if you have been getting my partner letters, since the Lord gave me Psalm 118 as if it were my own special blessing!
My blogs are too long to be considered good. But this one has blessed me if I’m the only one who read to the end.