Freedom

The 10th plague was the worst. Hail, locusts and frogs had not convinced Pharaoh to free God's chosen people from slavery in Egypt.

... So Moses said, "This is what the Lord says, 'About midnight, I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.'"

-- Exodus 11:4

New International Version

"Do you remember the movie, 'The Exodus'?" asked Shoshanna Weinisch. "Pharaoh awoke to find his son dead and screamed 'Moses!'"

The plague of the firstborn convinced Pharaoh to let Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Through the generations, as commanded by God, Jews have celebrated this freedom through the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, commonly known as Passover.

Weinisch, a missionary with Jews for Jesus from Manhattan, N.Y., spoke Monday night at a Passover seder demonstration sponsored by Lost Bridge Community Church in Garfield.

Weinisch identifies herself as "a Jewish believer in Jesus." Leaders of local and state Jewish communities declined comment.

"The eight-day festival of Passover is celebrated in the early spring, from the 15th through the 22nd of the Hebrew month of Nissan," reads the website chabad.org. "It commemorates the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. And, by following the rituals of Passover, we have the ability to relive and experience the true freedom that our ancestors gained."

The modern Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish movement and philosophy has its basis 250 years ago in a movement of a branch of Hasidism, according to the website.

Weinisch explained the tradition of the Passover, according to her beliefs.

God told Moses to have each Israelite family to sacrifice a lamb, and put some of its blood on the sides and the tops of the door frames.

Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you.

-- Exodus 12:13

"No harm came to the home, to the homes of the faithful," Weinisch said.

Today, Jews for Jesus believers replicate the tradition with the herb hyssop and red wine, the fruit of the vine, she explained.

The Feast

Once Pharaoh agreed to release the Israelites, they had to leave immediately, taking their bread dough before the dough had risen (Exodus 12:39). The bread, when baked, became matzo.

"The Israelites were warned to be ready to go when Moses called, to sleep with their sandals on," Weinisch said.

On the night of the Passover, the Israelites put blood on their doors, so their families would escape the plague of the first son.

Modern Jews for Jesus traditions include a seder meal on the first night of the Passover as a way to tell the story of the Exodus -- with "seder" meaning "order" of the Passover service, Weinisch said.

Eggs (chagigah) and green vegetables (karpas) celebrate spring and new life. The lamb bone (Z'ora) recalls the temple sacrifices of lambs. Bitter herbs (maror) represent the suffering in Egypt and salt water the tears of the slaves.

Charoset -- a sweet dish made with apples, other fruits and wine -- "represents the mortar and bricks the Israelites made for Pharoah," Weinisch said.

The Seder

"The man is the king and priest of his home, so he leads the family through the order of the seder," Weinisch said.

She demonstrated the traditions "my people follow at the Passover," she said, adding the sometimes amusing eccentricities of her own family.

Several generations of a family unit or friends gather in someone's home for the seder, Weinisch began. Each will bring a seder plate for easy access at a large table.

All the furniture has been taken to the bedrooms, and the celebrants sit around "pop-up tables," she described. "There are 15 or 20 adults. Auntie sings songs. You laugh and tell jokes ... It's a four-hour ordeal.

"The holiday starts at sundown," Weinisch continued. "So at 8 p.m. when the seder starts, you've already got some starving kids."

The holiday starts with the lighting of the candle by the oldest woman in the family, which Weinisch demonstrated with her head covered as a sign of submission. "Messiah, you are welcome," Weinisch said while waving her hands through the smoke.

She repeated a chant in Hebrew, and the women gathered Monday at the Lost Bridge Community Center read the English translation from a screen.

Each adult drinks four cups of wine during the evening, Weinisch said, explaining the various drinks represent sanctification or setting this ceremony apart as holy; remembering the tragedy of the plagues; redemption or God's salvation from sin; and the Hallel, a traditional Jewish prayer.

At this point in the seder, adults and children drink the first cup as the man says a prayer to bless the rest of the seder, Weinisch said. Here, the men in attendance repeated the English translation of the prayer.

"Each year, one child will ask four questions as a part of the seder tradition" -- similar to a Jewish seder, Weinisch continued. "They have practiced. They might have a new outfit. Some hide in the bathroom and won't come out. But I've never seen any child not get through this." The child is rewarded with candy and coins.

"Why is this night different?" the child would ask.

"This night is different because it's what the Lord God did for me," the leader replies, listing hardships from which God delivered the slaves.

"Passover imparts that God means redemption through the slaughter of the lamb," Weinisch said. At this point, the Jews for Jesus faithful dip hyssop in wine to mark their own doors in the way the Israelites did on the night before the 10th plague.

The family places three pieces of matzah in an Afikomen (meaning "dessert") bag. The father removes the center piece, breaks it and hides one half. The other he wraps in a white cloth.

"Children spend the evening looking for it," Weinisch said. "The seder can't end until after the Afikomen is returned. And when it's returned the father raises a cup and chants a blessing."

"On all other nights, we eat vegetables and herbs of all kinds," the child asks the second and third questions. "Why on this night do we eat only bitter root?

"On all other nights, we are not required to dip the herbs once. Why on this night do we dip them twice?"

"The karpas -- or parsley -- means life," Weinisch said. "Everyone rips off a piece and dips it in saltwater, which the rabbi says represents tears. It represents a life immersed in tears (as it was for the Israelites held in slavery). Then everyone eats."

Next, each person eats enough ground horseradish "to shed a tear," noting that life is bitter to the point of tears, Weinisch said. "Kids are crying because they don't want to eat it, so there really are tears," she said with a laugh.

The charoset comes next, and it's a popular tradition. "After the bitter-sweetness of toil, the freedom is considered sweet, with redemption to come," Weinisch said. "My people are always looking forward.

"Three or four different families bring bowls," she explained. "It's the first food we eat, so we eat a lot.

"On all other nights, we eat sitting up or reclining," the child continues. "Why on this night do we recline?"

Slaves had to eat standing up, so pillows are placed on the dining chairs as a reminder that free men can recline, Weinisch said. "Jesus and the apostles reclined at the Last Supper," she noted, referencing a Christian story possibly linked to the Jewish Passover meal.

Now, participants drink the second cup of wine -- the cup of the plagues. "Hundreds of thousands of the first-born died in Egypt," Weinisch said. "It was an awful tragedy in the community. It harmed even the family of the disobedient Pharaoh. God used the plagues to free his people, but we don't want to gloat."

The Messianic Jews dip fingers in the cup 10 times, representing the 10 plagues, and wipe the red wine on their napkins "as a sign of blood to be remembered through the ages," Weinisch said. "Passover celebrates deliverance."

At this point, a full meal is served, with traditional dishes such as matzo-ball soup, chopped liver, gefilte fish, red beet horseradish, brisket and chocolate-dipped macaroons.

"We've now eaten until our bellies are full," Weinisch continued. "And the children are sugared up on too many macaroons. It's about 10 p.m., and we want to go home ... but we're still looking for the afikomen."

When the child returns the afikomen -- whether found or won in a fist fight, she said with a laugh -- the leader breaks off an olive-size piece for each person, saying it represents the meat of the lambs Israelites slaughtered as a sacrifice to God. Then the Jews for Jesus drink from that third cup of redemption.

"So my people (symbolically) eat the body of the Passover lamb and drink from the cup of redemption," Weinisch said.

"It ends very chaotic," Weinisch said of her family seders. "People are putting their coats on, waking up children who have fallen asleep. But you've fulfilled your obligation. You're set until Passover next year."

NAN Religion on 04/04/2015