The Passover holiday begins the night of April 1. Historically, on the first day of Passover, the Jews began their exodus from the slavery of Egypt, and on the seventh day of Passover, the sea in the Sinai wilderness opened for them to pass through and witness from the other side the pursuing Egyptian army drown as the waters closed upon them.
The Passover exodus is so basic to Judaism that it is a referred to at the beginning of the Ten Commandments:
“I am the L-RD your G-d, Who has taken you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery” (Exodus 20 Verse 2). There is another biblical verse invoking the Exodus from Egypt. This one relates more directly to our relation to other people than to just G-d. “Do not oppress a stranger; you know the feelings of a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. (Exodus 23 Verse 9). This is a call to compassion. Everyone experiences being an outsider at some time. The festival ritual meal Jews observe the first night of Passover is called the Seder. The seder ritual has a prayer guide book called the Haggaddah. The seder ritual reminds Jews what it felt like to be slaves as they eat the ritual matzah and bitter herbs. And they celebrate their redemption with cups of wine. Near the beginning of the Seder ceremony, the matzah is lifted and the people read aloud in unison from the Haggaddah to invite outsiders: “This is the bread of affliction which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt, let all who are hungry, enter and eat.”
There are Jewish Passover dietary laws and rituals for the calendar-Passover, but I would say that there is a Passover spirit meant to be part of an internalized and personalized year-round Passover-Haggaddah to guide social behavior toward the outsiders and otherwise disadvantaged.
Hersh Goldman is a Swampscott resident.
