Why is This Night Different from All Other Nights?
Last weekend was the start of the Jewish holiday of Passover, which commemorates the freedom of the ancient Jews from slavery in Egypt. To honor this, on Saturday night our UU Church in Hartland, VT held its 2nd annual Seder celebration, which I led, and which focused on universal themes. Passover is quite relevant for all of us, regardless of whatever faith path we identify with, because, in a larger sense, it’s about the journey of liberation for all humans throughout history, including this present era, from all forms of oppression, on personal, cultural, and political levels.
Passover has to do with letting go of the contracted, oppressed parts of our ownlives and passing over into more liberated ways of living with ourselves and others. Passover is also about the transition from winter to spring, the cleaning out of contracted stuffy parts of winter and opening to the renewal, rebirth, and magic of spring. It’s about hope, faith, transformation, and peace. In addition, it is about deepening community, both locally and globally.
The word Seder means “order” or sequence”. The Seder is a sequence of rituals, which includes blessings, prayers,
sacred symbols, readings, songs, food, and drink. So we did many things, such as light candles, wash each other’s hands, drink 4 cups of wine or grape juice (each cup symbolizing something different), and, from the ceremonial Seder plate, we ate parsley dipped in salt water, horseradish as the bitter herb, the sweet apple-based charoset, plus, of course, the unleavened cracker-type bread known as Matzah, and more.
The heart of the Seder is telling the story of the liberation of the ancient Jews of slavery. As a preview to the story, the youngest reading-age child (which at our Seder was a college student) asks the Four Questions, which begin with “Why is this night different from all other nights?”, in terms of what we eat, how we sit, etc. We then tell the story by reading from a book called the Haggadah. And we share with each other what the story means in terms of our own lives today.
Our Seder last Saturday was a warm, fun, and meaningful experience, full of wonderful reflection, singing, food, cheer, and companionship for the 20 people who attended. Many thanks to my co-leaders Don Kreis and Dianne Rochford, and to my wife Helen who did the huge work of organizing and set-up for the Seder.
Near the end of our time together, we sang the traditional Yiddish round of Lo Yisa Goy, which translates as:
And ev’ry one ’neath vine and fig tree shall live in peace and unafraid
And ev’ry one ’neath vine and fig tree shall live in peace and unafraid.
And into plowshares beat their swords, nations shall learn war no more.
And into plowshares beat their swords, nations shall learn war no more.