Even though Passover isn’t for another six months, and last Saturday happened to be Yom Kippor, another Jewish holiday, we reenacted the traditional Passover dinner last Monday with our Judaism professor (for him it would be like having Christmas the day before the 4th of July). Passover dinner is so long! We started the meal at 4:30, but didn’t finish until almost 8:00. Before eating, we read several passages from the Torah and Talmud including the story of the Passover. It kind of reminded me of acting out the nativity scene on Christmas Eve. There were designated spots in the narrative where we sang Jewish songs that we had prepared the week before. “Let my people go” is one of the songs we sang all together.
Some parts of the Seder meal were really solemn, but there was also a touch of humor worked into the narrative and traditions. I thought it was really cool to see how the Jews so actively remembered and commemorated their history. Remembering seems to be an important theme in Jewish culture. This week all of the Jews are celebrating their Sukkot holiday where they build huts out of leaves and branches and eat all of their meals in them to help them remember what it was like for the Israelites during the exodus.
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