This week the Jewish world (which includes Danita and me) celebrated Passover. It involves a week of celebrations and weird eating habits (more on that later).
Passover commemorates the exodus from Egypt around 1300 BCE. The Hebrew people had been enslaved for over 200 years and through the intervention of Moses (with a bit of help from God) they were liberated.
Ever since then Jewish people have come together at this time of year (beginning of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere) to connect with family and friends. In the Biblical period it was one of the 3 times a year when everyone came together at the Temple in Jerusalem and so it was one of the major annual holidays. In Israel it’s observed for 7 days and outside Israel for 8 days.
It starts with a major cleanup of the house (the origin of Spring Cleaning??) to remove any leavened food products (things like bread).
The first night is a major gathering of the clans – families get together and it’s important that no-one is left out so friends, friends of friends and anyone who might possibly be a friend one day are also invited along (oh and the children come too). It’s quite common for the first night meal (called the Seder) to have 30-40 participants. So, cooking and cleaning are the two primary activities in any Jewish household leading up to Passover
As house-sitters we keep things VERY LOW KEY – just 8 people attended our Seder this year (which is perfect for us).
As I mentioned above, Passover involves eating lots of very weird food. Firstly, there can be nothing leavened so bread is completely out. The main staple is matzah or unleavened bread. It’s essentially tasteless (being made only from flour and water), is about 6 inches square and is very brittle – a bit like a SAO biscuit on steroids.
Other foods which are part of the ceremonial meal are horseradish (enough to thoroughly clear your sinuses and bring tears to your eyes), parsley dipped in salt water, a mixture of apple, wine and cinnamon, a boiled egg mixed with salt water and lots of wine.
Those are just the symbolic parts. The meal itself has taken on an element of tradition and usually involves matzoh balls in chicken soup, fish balls and lots and lots and lots of other dishes. BTW matzah has interesting binding properties and so prunes tend to feature prominently as well.
While this is a great family time it also has many important spiritual and personal lessons.
The main one being about freedom. As it commemorates freedom from slavery our first thought is about bondage and a slave being an object owned by another person. Fortunately, this situation is very rare today (although still not completely obliterated). It does however, beg the question of “are we really free?”
Many people have a boss to whom they are answerable and from whom they need to get permission for many of their actions. Even the boss often isn’t their own master. Many years ago I was the manager of a team of IT engineers. In order to be home on time for the beginning of the Sabbath I would leave work at 3pm each Friday. It wasn’t all that rosy as the rest of the week I would often be in the office well past 7pm. I remember a conversation with my boss at the time, who was also the owner of the business. I told him about the Sabbath and not having TV or phones and being able to spend the time reading and connecting with the ret of the family. His comment was “I wish I could have a day like that”. The thing that interested me at the time was, since he was the owner of the business and hence the BOSS why couldn’t he do it? (As a small business owner myself I now have a better understanding of why he couldn’t see his way clear to take the time out for himself.)
And what about the phone, email, SMSs and social media. We’re in a world that is on 24/7 and you need to be available all the time. So, who or what is controlling your time? In the words of Bob Dylan; “you’ve got to serve somebody”.
So, some of the big questions we need to think about for Passover are; “who are you serving?” and “how free are you really?”
For Danita and me, this Passover has been particularly instructive. After the exodus from Egypt the Children of Israel spent 40 years leading a nomadic existence. We’re nearly up to 2 years being nomads and so far it’s been a positive experience. But 40 years? – I hope not!
The other challenge for us on a personal level has been that we’ve spent quite a lot of time recently being house sharers rather than carers. That’s a lifestyle which works well when you’re a Uni student – bit more challenging when in a more advanced stage of life.
However, this week we move into our new house-sit which is for about 5 months. It’ll just be Danita, Sancho and me – freedom at last! (Or will it…)