The Spiritual Meaning of Pesach

By: Rabbi Jonathan Matt

It is difficult for a modern Jew to identify with the experience of offering an animal sacrifice. The last Passover sacrifice offered by a Jew was in the year 70 CE (AD), several months before the Temple was destroyed by the Romans. But believe it or not, there are still Samaritans who preserve this ritual every year at their shrine on Mt. Gerizim, overlooking Nablus in the mountains of Samaria. This 2,500-year-old sect is one of the most unique in Israel and indeed world-wide.

It is, however, easier to understand the significance of eating unleavened bread. We are surrounded by the creations of our civilization and have become dependent on them. How helpless we are when our car breaks down, when there's a power outage or when the water main bursts. One of the first advances in food technology was the discovery that yeast will cause dough to rise, allowing bread to be created. By denying ourselves this technique one week a year, we start off the agricultural year by reminding ourselves that there is more to life than our technology. We become conscious of how dependent we are on God for the daily miracles of life.

What is the significance of the Exodus for modern man? We start with the references to the Exodus in the Torah itself:

"You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt" (Ex. 23:9). "The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt..." (Lev. 19:34). "When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not pick it over again; that shall go to the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. Always remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore do I enjoin you to observe this commandment" (Dt. 24:21-22).

There are two alternative life-lessons that one learns from going through a hard time. The first option is toughness and self-defence: "After what I've been through I won't trust anybody; I'll rely only on myself and help only myself." The second option is: "I remember what it was like at the bottom. I'll do my best to help others out." The memory of our history as slaves must be an incentive for the second option, to help "the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow."

THE SEDER SERVICE
But how can we remember something which our ancestors experienced more than 3,000 years ago? We attempt to do so by imagining the experience of our slavery in Egypt through the Passover Eve Seder service. The prayer book used on this evening is called the Hagadah, the "Telling." The term is based on the following verse: "On that day you shall TELL your son, `This commemorates what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt'" (Ex. 13:8, NEB). This very verse challenges us to re-experience slavery.

The first part of the Seder further quotes biblical texts describing the enslavement, always in the first person: "When, in time to come, your son asks you, 'What mean the exhortations, laws, and rules which the Lord our God has enjoined upon you?' you shall say to your son, `We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and the Lord freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand'" (Dt. 6:21, NJPS).

As we know both from Rabbinic texts and from the New Testament, wine was a prescribed part of the Seder by the time of Jesus. cf. Luke 22:17-18 - "Then He took a cup, and after giving thanks He said, `Take this and share it among yourselves; for I tell you, from this moment I shall drink from the fruit of the vine no more until the time when the kingdom of God comes.'" (NEB) Four cups of wine are drunk during the course of the Seder. They serve to let the imagination roam to our historical past, and we relive first the slavery in Egypt and then the Exodus.

The Seder table includes many symbolic foods. A spring vegetable is dipped in salt water, symbolizing the tears of the slaves. We eat from a horseradish root, recollecting the bitterness of slavery. The horseradish is dipped in a sweet mixture called charoset, whose texture is supposed to remind us of the mortar which joined the bricks of slave labor.

As the Ten Plagues are recounted, we empty ten drops of wine from our glasses. The punishment of the Egyptians and the destruction of Pharaoh's army were a necessary prelude to the Exodus. But our cup of joy is lessened because of their deaths.

THE SEDER IN ISRAEL AND ON KIBBUTZIM
As you know, modern-day Israel is comprised of Jews from all corners of the globe. Variations of Seder customs have developed in each diaspora and enrich our lives here. For example, the charoset of European and American Jews is based on apples and walnuts and that of Middle Eastern Jews on dates. But the text of the traditional Seder has been quite consistent over these thousands of years.

Since I came to Israel almost twenty years ago, I have been living on a kibbutz, a semi-communal settlement unique to Israel. Kibbutzim (pl. of kibbutz, of which there are 275 in Israel) have a glorious history of reclaiming barren land, introducing the most modern methods of agriculture, innovations in industry, absorbing new immigrants, living close to the borders and fighting to protect them.

Kibbutzim have also been spiritual innovators, developing modern traditions for the ancient Jewish feasts. This is crucial in Israel because of the monopoly of the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox on so many facets of Israeli society. There are Reform and Conservative Jewish congregations in Israel, but there are greater numbers of Israelis affiliated with kibbutzim.

The kibbutz Hagadah is based on the traditional Hagadah in its recounting the story of the enslavement and the Exodus. But it has succeeded in recovering the celebration of spring which was part of the most ancient roots of the holiday. This is fortunate, since spring in Israel is exceptionally beautiful.

The kibbutz dining room is decorated with flowers, songs of spring are added to the Seder, the children perform folk dances; in short, the community celebrates the tradition and innovation of modern Israel and the return to the ancient homeland. The kibbutzim are packed with "once-a-year-cousins" of members who express a spiritual need for the non-Orthodox Judaism developed on kibbutzim. There are kibbutzim who open their doors to tourists as well to experience this special celebration as part of the family - remembering the strangers.

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• Pesach in the Torah - By : Rabbi Jonathan Matt