I have long believed that HaShem (Almighty G-d) has a sense of humor that He reveals to us every once in a while. Included in this overt display of Hashem’s personal amusement is His creating the holiday of Purim for us in which our kitchen tables, counters, shelves, and candy dishes are supplied and filled with all kinds of fattening, delicious, often exotic, and frequently home-baked delicacies, including various styles and flavors of hamantaschen, cakes, candy, pastries, chocolate, and a myriad of dream-like desserts.
Naturally, all of this is chametz—the forbidden leavened food prohibited to all during the upcoming holiday of Passover. So, with our kitchens overflowing with an abundance of chametz everywhere in sight, HaShem then gives us 30 days to get rid of all of it! A very humorous deity, indeed!.
Passover is the holiday with the most mitzvot (commandments) — directions and instructions as to what to do, what NOT to do, what to eat, and what NOT to eat throughout the festival. Everywhere outside of the land of Israel, the holiday of Passover is celebrated for eight days, including two Seder nights. (The holiday is seven days in Israel, with just one Seder night.) Outside of Israel, the first two days and the last two days of the holiday are “full-force” holidays, known as ”Yom Tov,” on which all forms of work and other forbidden labor and activities are avoided. It’s very similar to the prohibitions of Shabbat..
Outside of Israel, the middle four days are more ordinary days—“Chol HaMoed”—on which one may return to work and other typical daily routines and tasks. Naturally, even on these days, all forms of leaven are to be avoided, and the laws of keeping “Kosher for Passover” remain in place..
The seder is the dinner service we observe on the first two nights (outside of Israel). It includes the holiday meal and the full course of rituals and ceremonies designed to remind us of the Exodus from Egypt. The word “seder” itself means “order” as we follow a strict, chronological line-up of commandments and traditions to be fulfilled throughout the seder..
Unlike other times, when our prayer services might be the focus exclusively of adults, our children are welcomed at all times of the seder celebration and their participation is desired, each one at his/her own age level and level of cognitive appropriateness. The seder, in fact, generally focuses on our children so each young person can feel that he/she is a valuable, contributing, and active participant during the service..
Included in the seder ceremony are four requisite cups of wine that, if necessary, may be replaced by grape juice for those under bar/bat mitzvah age, or those allergic to alcoholic beverages. Naturally, the eating of matzah is “front and center” in the fulfillment of commandments. Matzah is the overarching symbol of the holiday. We eat matzah at three distinct times during the seder, including the first consumption of matzah (following two ordained blessings), the second eating of matzah is with the bitter herbs and known as a “korech” sandwich or a “Hillel” sandwich. The official partaking of matzah is the “dessert” of the meal, as the “afikomen,” and the last item eaten at the seder dinner..
We eat the less popular “maror”—the bitter herbs—twice at the seder, once with the charoset, often a mixture of chopped nuts, cinnamon, wine, and apples, or of dates and nuts, and the second time as part of the korech sandwich mentioned above..
Typically, we lean to the left when we drink the wine or eat the matzah, if possible, leaning on an extra chair or pillows as we do so. This is a sign of relaxation and a free style of sitting and eating as free people, no longer as slaves in Egypt.
We read the Exodus story from the Passover Haggadah, from the Hebrew word “l’hagid”—“to tell”—as we recount the entire episode of our departure (exodus) from Egypt. At the seder table, we place three matzahs prominently in the middle of the table. The middle matzah is broken and one half set aside for the afikomen.
Children’s involvement often includes the reading or singing of the “Four Questions” – the “Mah Nishtanah.” This has become traditional and is very meaningful to the children and all others at the seder. In preparation for the holiday, Ashkenazic Jews avail themselves of a legal loophole within Jewish law known as the “Mechirat Chametz”, Selling of chametz (leavened foods) to a non-Jew so that during the holiday they do not violate the strict command against owning leaven in addition to not eating or using it. (I will be happy to review this tradition, and many of the other customs to which I have referred here during the upcoming weekly Saturday afternoon shiurim (classes) prior to Passover.
With Torah blessings,
Rabbi Dr. Yaacov Dvorin