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Incense of the day: Gardenia Passover, called Pesah or Pesach in Hebrew, is the Jewish holiday that commemorates the ancient liberation of Jews from slavery in Egypt. The story of this liberation and escape, which is told in chapter 12 of the book of Exodus in the Bible, is a dramatization of the escape from confinement and death into freedom and life. This ritual is reworked into all holidays at this time of the year. This is a move from darkness to light. In Exodus, God tells Moses to instruct the congregation of Israel to sacrifice a lamb on this night, and to paint the lamb's blood on their doorposts. During the night, God brought a plague on Egypt and all of their first-born died, but when the angel of death saw the blood of the lamb on a house he passed over the dwelling. Also on this night Moses instructed his people to eat only "unleavened bread and bitter herbs" with the meat of the lamb. On the next morning, the congregation of Israel was freed from bondage by the pharaoh, and they left Egypt for the land of Canaan, bringing their unleavened bread with them for the desert journey. On this day Jews have a ceremonial meal in which they eat lamb, unleav-ened matzo, and raw vegetables dipped in bitter vinegar. These elements are all derived from the story of Exodus, but the meal also contains the magical hard-boiled egg as a symbol of God's love. The egg talisman reinforces the connection between Passover and the Vernal Equinox celebrations of other cultures. During the meal, the head of the household drinks four cups of wine, but a fifth is left out for the prophet Elijah. By the way, the Bible says that Elijah did not die. Instead, he was taken to heaven in a whirlwind. It is said that when Elijah returns it will mark the true coming of the messiah. |
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