Re: The Lord's Passover
Submitted by Ben on March 29 1999 at 07:13:00
In reply to The Lord's Passover Submitted by F.O.D. on March 28 1999 at 14:05:30
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Hi FOD - Thanks for your ideas about Passover. This being the very first year that I will celebrate Passover with....er....the scales fallen from my eyes...so to speak...I have been giving lots of thought as to how I might integrate my own new beliefs. Certainly this passover will have far more meaning to me than any Passover did before. To answer your questions: It is not permitted to eat bread at all on Passover. Instead we must eat Matzos (unleavened bread). When the Israelites fled from Egypt, they had to leave so quickly that there was no time to allow the bread to rise. It had to be cooked right away and ended up flat and hard, like a cracker. While the bread still signifies "life" in that it is sustenance, on Passover it is only to be eaten unleavened. Wine does not have any special significance on Passover other than that it continues to represent the "fruit of the vine", ie, that which comes from plants or vegetation and is a gift against thirst from God. In convenience however, wine is used traditionally to help us remember the plagues of Egypt. Therefore, we dip our finger in the wine 12 times, once as we name each plague, and then soil the tablecloth (in modern times we just drip the wine on our plates) with each of 12 drips. While I am certainly not the most observant of Jews, my family has tried to hold on to the gist of these traditions. Passover can actually be alot of fun and the food is ALWAYS great :) You are not alone. 
Ben |