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The S outhern Israelite
The Festival of Passover
Some Customs of tlhe Great Feast of freedom
Hy FLORENCE ROTHSCHILD
Beginning with the Seder
evening on April. 12 th the
Festival of Passover com
mences for a period of eight
dogs for the Orthodox and
seven dags for the Reform
Jews. Commemorating the
exodus of the Jews from their
house of bondage in Egypt,
Passover has always symbol
ized freedom, for the Jew.
Throughout the centuries it
has always served as a re
minder that out- of the op
pression some day there
might again come liberation.
In this article are sketched
some of the most important
customs that go with Pass-
over. Although the article
does not discuss all details,
it emphasizes some of the
most interesting aspects of a
holiday which is replete with
ceremonials and rituals THE
Editor.
Freedom is the keynote of Pass-
over. And because we .lews have al
ways, above all else, loved that free
dom which we have so seldom attain
ed Passover has always been the fes
tival most closely allied with our emo
tional life, dearest to our racial soul.
That freedom is the keynote of the
whole Passover celebration. It is
symbolized particularly on the Seder
night by the easy and reclining atti
tudes of those gathered about the fes
tive board. The master and mistress
lean back on specially cushioned
benches; the guests rest at ease on
soft pillows. The thoughts of a
whole people turn back to the epic
struggle for freedom waged by the
Israelite slaves in cruel Egypt; to
the final triumph of the Israelites
under the divinely inspired leadership
of Moses and the subjugation of the
Egyptians by means of the ten
plagues. The paschal lamb is a re
minder of the blood of the lamb that
was smeared over the Israelitish
doorposts so that the Angel of Death
might pass them over when he claimed
the first-born of the Egyptian house
holds—a torture which finally result
ed in permission to Moses to lead his
people forth to the desert and the
Promised Land.
The whole story is recounted in
symbol and in actual relating. The
haroseth, a particularly delicious
dish, nevertheless is a somber remind
er of the mortar which our forefath
ers had to mix with the sweat of
their brows in the days of slavery and
torturous toil. The bitter herbs re
mind us of their bitter lot. But the
hard-boiled egg strikes a note of de
liverance—a symbol of the free-will
offering given to God in thanks for
deliverance.
On this day each man and woman
is a free being. Because in the old
days free men could recline while they
ate, while slaves consumed their re
past less comfortably, each Jew re
clines on the Seder evening. And wine
flows unrestrained. Four cups of wine
are prescribed, even for the children,
though in all fairness it must be add
ed that the children’s portions were
rarely undiluted. The custom was
usually to give them just enough
drops of the red, sweet wine to color
their water effectively—and nowa
days grape juice is often substituted
for their potion. One cup of wine is
placed for Elijah, in the hope that
the wandering Prophet will come in
in some guise and grace the occasion
with his presence.
It was this celebration of Passover
that gave our ghetto fathers the
courage to continue their struggle.
For it reminded them each year anew
that once upon a time God had led
Israel forth to freedom from bond
age, and aroused in them ever again
the hope that some time God would
lead his people back again to the
Promised Land of liberty.
More than any other Jewish period
of observance does Passover directly
touch the physical lives of our people.
For during the week of this holiday
the normal diet of the faithful is con
siderably disturbed—though not dis
agreeably so. Days before the Pass-
over week the matzos are imported
into the house and carefully stored
away, safely out of the reach of long
ing mortals; for in order to whet the
appetite for the enforced week’s diet
of unleavened bread the law decrees
that none shall be eaten before the
sun drops over the rim of the horizon
on the Seder eve. And before the
noon-day dishes of that day are wash
ed and put away every bit of bread
and trefeh flour must have disappear
ed utterly from the house—or the
apartment.
There has long existed perhaps
it was so even in the unrecorded
households of the Middle Ages—a
flagrant though extremely secret vi
olation of the strict letter of this or
dinance. Perhaps this is the first
public whisper of the fact. Perhaps
not. In any case, it is the custom in
many homes which employ non-Jew-
ish servants to secrete enough leaven
ed bread in the servants’ quarters to
keep the goyim contented with their
usual rations. But that is simply a
fortuitous concession to an unfortun
ate circumstance, and in no way in
validates the main thesis.
Though we in America use square,
rectangular or round matzos impar
tially, depending on which com
pany’s products we use, the custom
until this age of machinery was that
matzos should be round. There nev
er was a law to that effect, but for
many generations usage was strong
er than any law could have been. So
strong, indeed, that when rnatzoh-
baking machines were first introduc
ed in London it was the manufactur
ers who objected, because they were
sure the people would never buy any
but round matzos—and the machines
of those days were not capable of
rounding off the edges. But time
has proved these merchants wrong.
The origin of the matzoh-eating
custom has been variously given. The
accepted Sunday-school explanation
is that when the Israelites left Egypt
they were in such a hurry that they
didn't have time to mix or bake their
bread properly and that therefore
the bread didn’t rise, but remained
flat and unleavened. Therefore we
eat unleavened bread to commemo
rate that event. A perhaps more
reasoned explanation is that given in
the Midrash—namely, that the an
cient Egyptians were in the habit of
baking their cakes in round form,
and that the function of the matzos
is to remind us of the food upon
which the Egyptian taskmasters
forced the Jewish slaves to subsist.
Our modern thin matzos were first
approximated in the sixteenth cen
tury. But the hoary model is recall
ed by the matzos still consumed in
Eastern Europe. These are very
thick and extremely difficult to eat
unless they are first softened by
“dunking,” or are ground into mat-
zoh meal and them remade into small
er and more edible cakes.
The three matzos used in the Se
der dish were, in the Middle Ages,
made with special care and called,
respectively, Priest, Levite and Is
raelite. Even now care is taken
to keep them separate. Half of the
second matzoh is used to delight the
children who participate in the Seder
service. It is called the Aphikomen
—sometimes derived from the Greek
word meaning “to hide”—and is hid
den early in the evening by some
member of the household, usually one
of the kiddies. This piece of matzoh
is a required part of the service. At
the very close of the meal the master
of ceremonies must break off small
bits of it and hand them around for
each person to eat as the very last
morsel of the meal. But if the mas
ter of the house can’t find it he must
forfeit whatever is exacted by the
one who hid the Aphikomen, and the
promise thus made must be kept.
Many a little girl has acquired a
wanted doll, many a little boy has at
tained some long-cherished desire in
this way.
Nor is this the only way in which
the children participate in the serv
ice. The main purpose of the Seder
is to serve as an object lesson for
even the youngest children. Indeed,
it is the very youngest who asks the
four pivotal questions. Even the
supercilious child who shows his un
belief by asking skeptical questions
is duly answered with quiet dignity;
and painstaking explanation is pro
vided for the simple son who cannot
understand. These skeptics and these
simple ones Israel- has always had in
abundance—perhaps that is why their
presence is so officially recognized.
It is the custom for the women
also to join in the spoken prayers.
A different prayer is apportioned to
each adult to read, men and women
alike. And the youngsters have their
inning when the Dayenu is pro
nounced. The Dayenu is a prayer
like the others, but the refrain —
which means “it would have been
enough”—is chanted in singsong fash
ion and joined in by everybody, all
the way from:
“Had He brought us forth from
Egypt and not executed judg
ments upon them—Doyena!”
through the horror of the- plague^
and the journeyings through the d<-s-
ert and the giving of the Law to:
“Had He led us into the land of T.
rael and not built for us H
chosen Temple—Da gem,:"
And then to the triumphant finish
which acknowledges a double and
manifold obligation to God, for He
did do all the things mentioned—"p
atone for all our iniquities."
Then there are the two songs who.,
form is that which in modern child-
lore is exemplified by such poems a-
“The House That Jack Built.” With
each line all the previous ones are re
peated. There is the song titled "On*
Who Knoweth,” which goes:
“One do I know:
One is the God of Israel”
all the way through.
“Thirteen do I know:
Thirteen are the attributes of God;
Twelve are the tribes of Israel;
Eleven are the stars (in Josephs
dream) ;
Ten are the commandments;"
and so on, back through One. Th*
idea each time is to see who can ca.
off the numbers most quickly and
most accurately. A hectic and ra'h-
er deafening contest usually ensues
but it’s thoroughly enjoyed by ever;,
one participating.
“One Kid! One Kid!" also follow -
the procedure described above, and
winds up with:
“Then came the Holy and Blessed
God
And killed the Angel of Death
Who killed the butcher
Who slaughtered the ox
Which drank up the water
Which quenched the fire
That burnt the stick
That beat the dog
That bit the cat
That ate the kid
Which my father purchased for two
pieces of money.
One kid! One kid!”
This song has the general ring o!
a simple little Mother Goose rh\ni*
and therein lies its special appeal f<
the children. But there’s another
and fairly obvious symbolism attach
ed to it; God bought Israel and pai'j
for it with two coins—the blood o
circumcision and the blood of
over. Egypt—the cat—consumed -
rael; the Medes and Persians-the
stick—beat Egypt; the fier> * tX
ander wiped out the Medes and er
sians; Rome spread like water o\er
the whole world and quenched tm
fire of Alexander’s reign; the -ar
cens—the ox—drank up the ( ■■"
Empire. The rest is not so clear- d
the butcher may have been mean
crusaders; the Angel of Deat ''
an unfulfilled Agency, merely nop™
There are other songs which ante
dated and perhaps heralded
American community “ s ' n ^ s ". , on
there ai-e other customs w ic
Passover bind us particular*'
to our forefathers—for they ar< ; ^
same customs, if slightly 010 her
that have welded our peopi- L
from time immemorial.
Copyright, 1930, S. A.