The Jewish holiday of Passover, which begins at sundown Monday March 26, is all about redemption — not just the redemption of Jews, but of the entire world, according to Rabbi
Sam Weinstein.
In leading the 10th annual Interfaith Passover Seder at his Sylvania synagogue, the Temple-Congregation Shomer Emunim, Weinstein pointed out the wealth of symbolism in the Passover Seder. Parts of the actual text used in the March 13 interfaith Seder have been observed by Jews for 2,600 years, since the Israelites were freed from bondage in
Egypt, he said.
The Passover Seder is not a re-enactment, Weinstein emphasized, but a ritual bridging the past with the present and future.
“We make history. That is a fundamental and cardinal principle of Judaism,” he said. “And so the question is: What kind of history are we making? What kind of history are we making right now? I don’t have the answer for that. This world is a scary place. … We have a lot of work to do before we reach the goals of redemption.”
In Judaism, the rabbi said, salvation is not a personal goal.
“When will salvation come? It’s not individual in Judaism. We’re not here to save our souls individually. That is not a Jewish concept,” Weinstein said. “For us, salvation, simply put, is when humanity will finally get its act together and start living at peace with each other.”
For the two-hour interfaith Seder, Weinstein led 80 people from diverse religious traditions through rituals detailed in the New Union Passover Haggadah, a step-by-step guide to the Passover Seder published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis.
The Passover Seder is typically held in a home, with the ceremony centered on a full meal with family. Passover Seders are always held at night to express “our hope that light
will come” and “our optimism of a better tomorrow,” the rabbi added.
Between much prayer and singing, Seder participants drank four cups of grape juice (in place of the wine normally consumed in a Seder). Wine is used not for religious symbolism, but because it “anticipates joy” and “breaks down our boundaries,” Weinstein said.
One of the many Seder rituals involves dipping a sprig of parsley into a cup of salt water. The green sprouts represent spring and rebirth, while the salt water represents “the tears shed by the people of Israel in slavery,” he said.
Matzo, an unleavened bread, represents purity and is baked quickly to symbolize the Israelites’ hurried escape from Egypt. At one point, participants spread bitter horseradish between two pieces of the flat bread to make a “Hillel sandwich.”
“In essence we are saying that bitterness is contained,” Weinstein said. “The bitterness is finite. The bitterness of slavery will end and ultimately human beings will reach redemption.”
To symbolize the 10 plagues the Lord inflicted upon the Egyptians, participants dip a finger or spoon into their juice 10 times, sprinkling the drops onto a plate. Removing wine from the cup “depletes the joy” and serves as a reminder that freedom came at the expense of human life —the Egyptian soldiers who drowned in the Red Sea.
David Yonke is the editor and community manager of Toledo Faith & Values
(ToledoFAVS.com), a website that provides in-depth, nonsectarian news coverage of religion, faith and spirituality in the Toledo area.
