Dear Diary - My First Seder
Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at 7:20PM 
Dear Diary,
I went to my first Seder last night - the feast that marks the start of the Passover holiday.
My friend had invited about 20 people - quite a feat considering she moved into her new house recently and we had been round to help her smash walls and tear down ceilings. The progress they have made with doing it up was staggering.
The Seder retells the story of the Hebrews' exodus from Egypt, where they were enslaved. When the Pharoah would not let the people go, God visited ten plagues upon Egypt.
By going through the Haggadah - which contains the narrative of the exodus - I was reminded of the wonderful Old Testament story of the ten plagues.
As Catholics, we learn the Old Testament stories - as good as compendium of Hans Christian Andersen stories - as children in Catechism classes. But, as you get older, the focus seems to be more and more on the Jesus stuff, and the wonderful stories of the Old Testament - like Abraham, Job, Cain and Abel, Noah's Ark - are largely forgotten.
It was great to be reminded of the plagues:
- Dam (blood)—All the water was changed to blood
- Tzefardeyah (frogs)—An infestation of frogs sprang up in Egypt
- Kinim (lice)—The Egyptians were afflicted by lice
- Arov (wild animals)—An infestation of wild animals (some say flies) sprang up in Egypt
- Dever (pestilence)—A plague killed off the Egyptian livestock
- Sh'chin (boils)—An epidemic of boils afflicted the Egyptians
- Barad (hail)—Hail rained from the sky
- Arbeh (locusts)—Locusts swarmed over Egypt
- Choshech (darkness)—Egypt was covered in darkness
- Makkat Bechorot (killing of the first-born)—All the first-born sons of the Egyptians were slain by God
At the last, the Hebrews were instructed to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a spring lamb and, upon seeing this, the spirit of the Lord passed over these homes, leaving the first born unscathed, hence the term "passover."
I have a great respect for the Jewish faith... I always have.
Growing up as a Catholic, it was clear to me that the Jewish and Catholic faiths have a lot in common. Strong family values, strong faith and the imperative to help others.
Of course, there is one major difference between Judaism and Catholicism. In the Jewish tradition, one is taught to question. Not only is the Torah to be discussed, but the writings and interpretations of major scholars are open for debate too. I greatly envy this fact. At church I simply had to listen to the priest's endless, droning interpretation of the readings in the homily (the priest's lecture during the Mass).
I mentioned this to one of the other guests at the party (we were the token Goyim) and she said she knew someone who'd converted because of this very fact - he wanted to be able to question, think through and form his own opinion in his faith.
Frankly, the lack of questioning and feeling free to debate issues of faith - or any issue at all - is a great loss in our modern society. The book we all worked from during the Seder made it clear that this was a dinner party where story telling and political debate is encouraged. Fluffy Bear and I were ecstatic.
I can't remember how many times we have tried to start a political discussion with friends or acquaintances or colleagues in the US and had them smile sweetly at us, take a long pause, and then change the subject. It's tedious and boring and cowardly. Not only is it OK for us to share, it's also OK for us to disagree, and to talk about it - even loudly.
People not questioning can have disastrous consequences - like a nation believing that Saddam Hussein should be punished for 9/11. Something our poor soldiers are still paying for.
And so Shulchan Orech - where the prayers and readings stop while the main meal is eaten and the wine can be poured in large quantities rather than in the small Kiddush cups - Fluffy Bear launched forth. Healthcare, education, politics... we left no PC stone unturned. It was great fun.
But I am getting ahead of myself.
The ritual and prayers leading up to the main meal were fascinating, and I was struck by how inclusive it was. Different people contributed readings and questions were encouraged. When the origin of a specific element was debated, various people contributed their explanations which were then debated again.
The hostess - thank God! - kept corralling us all to keep the pace going.
Fluffy Bear and I tried our best to sing the prayers - we must've sounded pretty funny, because we didn't know the tunes!
I love matzot, so I couldn't stop eating it, in spite of warnings of how much food was to follow. I had my very first bowl of matzah ball soup - which was yummy - and, in spite of my allergies, I let myself have one, delicious, soft, chewy deviled egg.
I had an emotional moment when dessert was served. My friend had made flan.
"Flahn."
Such a horrible sounding name for such a wonderful dessert. My mother used to make Creme Renversee or Creme Caramel. The flan was almost - almost - as good as my mother's signature dessert. I had to stop myself from crying.
It felt like a family evening - which is precious to an ex-pat whose family lives far away. There was a lot of food, alcohol, lively conversation...
What a wonderful evening!
