‘Passover’
Good morning,
Passover/Pesach begins tomorrow, and so today’s contribution comes from Bill Shackman, one of our lay Jewish chaplains.
Why is this night different from all other nights?
This question is asked by the youngest child of the family at seder, the Passover ritual at which families gather together over a festival meal to retell the story of how their ancestors fled from slavery. Like many Jewish children, I remember being the child who recited this question sung to its simple tune. I recall the excitement and embarrassment when called upon to perform in front of the whole group of adoring aunts, uncles and grandparents.
The Passover meal was the one ritual that our secular Jewish family did not abandon in the new country. It was the one time of year the whole family gathered together. As for many other Jewish families, the Passover seder would form the only link in a chain of tradition stretching back for centuries to Biblical times. This year all families will be asking, like the children, how different this night is this year.
This Passover will mean something different from all other Passovers. It will be a Passover kept in isolation. Social distancing and enforced quarantine will teach us all fundamental lessons about the importance of family. Whether we are stuck together for the first time in years, or now cut off by miles, this year’s holiday will mean something new, something different, for all Jewish families. Even those of us who will be part of remote Zoom seders – as well as the many who will not – will nonetheless find ourselves spending this holiday alone in a new way for the first time.
At the heart of the Passover Seder is a dialogue between a parent and a child. Every year we retell the story of the Exodus from Egypt, imprinting the story from one generation to the next. This is such an important obligation that the Torah contains four separate instructions to parents for when their children ask what this ritual means.
Jews have gathered since Biblical times to share a meal as a family on Passover. In Temple times a Passover [animal] sacrifice was eaten by the whole group that sponsored it, on the very night it was purchased. The sacrificial animal had to be consumed together in a gathering, before daybreak. But to me, this year, it is another aspect of the Passover story that speaks loudest: the Israelites’ rushed, imperfect flight out of Egypt, hurrying in the middle of the night. This years’ Seder reminds us of a time of panic, fleeing, huddling together for safety, under one roof, with the doorpost painted as a sign against the ultimate plague. But those fleeing families also found a newfound reliance on each other. And so this year, equally, reminds us how important are the opportunities for us to gather together, to learn from each other what is really important.
Zoom is also the way that people can gather this evening for the next Holy Week service of Compline. This evening music will come from members of St Katharine’s Choir, and the address will be by Fiona Barnard, our international students chaplain, on the theme of taste. The service will begin at 9 pm. It has been lovely to see and hear this zoomunity gather this week, 32 households on Monday, 37 last night, from across St Andrews, the country and the world. All are welcome. Here is the invitation:
Donald MacEwan is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Holy Week Compline for Wednesday
Time: Apr 8, 2020 09:00 PM London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/737650896?pwd=RGxjb1lweXpKSEpuZ1JSd2VJNzNaZz09
Meeting ID: 737 650 896
Password: 5he5CR
Tomorrow evening’s service, on Maundy Thursday, also at 9 pm, will include the celebration of holy communion. If you wish to receive, please prepare some bread and wine (or other drink ideally from the grape).
Yours,
Donald.