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Hello Summer!
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Saturday evening, April 19th, is The start of the Jewish Holiday of Passover (lasts till the 27th). This is when those of the Jewish faith celebrate the entire book of Exodus, from the story of Moses being rocketed from the doomed planet Krypton (and found and raised by an Egyptian Princess) to his becoming a dissident, meeting his birth mother, hearing Jahovah's voice in the burning bush and, from there, Jahovah's pissing contest with the Egyptian gods, the parting of the Red Sea (and the environmental damage this did) and the arrival of the 10 commandments and formation of the twelve tribes who wandered the desert for 40 years (no MapQuest).
The name, "Passover" refers to the point at which Jahovah there decided to go for a tenth plague on Egypt which involved killing all the firstborn of Egypt, animals included. Why this mattered so much, I'm not sure. We all know that families dote on the youngest kid not the eldest
(no, I'm not bitter....). The Hebrews were told that to avoid this curse they needed to paint their front doors with lamb's blood, and god would "pass-over" them. (Why god couldn't tell on his own which homes had Hebrews in them is not a question you get to ask. Maybe it was a test of faith, but, once again, why wouldn't god already know if you did or did not believe? But we're not going there....oh, wait. We just did...so hard being a nit-picky writer....)
Passover is important to Christians as well as it's J.C.'s last supper.
This celebration of freedom from slavery at the cost of a great many innocent animals is a long-winded dinner that includes many important symbols: Matzo--the Hebrews didn't have time to leaven bread as they buggered out of Egypt and so we, in the present, are stuck eating a tasteless cracker, Haroset (yummy mix of chopped apples, walnuts, honey and wine) to represent the brickmaking skills of the slaves (is this why so many Jews are Masons?), bitter herbs (horseradish) because life was hard, an egg because everyone uses an egg to symbolize this time of year, parsley to represent spring and a lambsank to represent the lamb's blood over the door.
Other elements of the celebration include four ritual questions asked by the youngest member at the table to the eldest about why they have to sit through a long-winded dinner, and a cup of wine for the prophet Elijah who everyone insists will show up for dinner but never does.
So, to get us started celebrating Passover, I've posted this thread. Please do one or more of the following things in it:
1) Post your own Passover stories, memories, quips or complaints.
2) Answer this question: If you'd been god, would you have shown yourself to Moses as a burning bush? If not, how would you have communicated with him? (I rather like the idea of a big, flashy spaceship, myself).
3) The four questions are: "Why are we eating only Matzo? Why bitter herbs? Why dip the herbs twice in salt water? Why are we resting back from the table? When can we eat?" Sorry, that's five...How would you answer these tough questions?
4) Post a picture that represents Passover to you (please, no images of Da Vinci's last supper unless they're of the disciples involved in a drunken orgy...haha, yeah, like anyone would ever draw something like that, right?)
5) Fave Haroset recipe?
Have Fun! And remember, Passover: It's not just for Jews anymore!
The name, "Passover" refers to the point at which Jahovah there decided to go for a tenth plague on Egypt which involved killing all the firstborn of Egypt, animals included. Why this mattered so much, I'm not sure. We all know that families dote on the youngest kid not the eldest
(no, I'm not bitter....). The Hebrews were told that to avoid this curse they needed to paint their front doors with lamb's blood, and god would "pass-over" them. (Why god couldn't tell on his own which homes had Hebrews in them is not a question you get to ask. Maybe it was a test of faith, but, once again, why wouldn't god already know if you did or did not believe? But we're not going there....oh, wait. We just did...so hard being a nit-picky writer....)Passover is important to Christians as well as it's J.C.'s last supper.
This celebration of freedom from slavery at the cost of a great many innocent animals is a long-winded dinner that includes many important symbols: Matzo--the Hebrews didn't have time to leaven bread as they buggered out of Egypt and so we, in the present, are stuck eating a tasteless cracker, Haroset (yummy mix of chopped apples, walnuts, honey and wine) to represent the brickmaking skills of the slaves (is this why so many Jews are Masons?), bitter herbs (horseradish) because life was hard, an egg because everyone uses an egg to symbolize this time of year, parsley to represent spring and a lambsank to represent the lamb's blood over the door.
Other elements of the celebration include four ritual questions asked by the youngest member at the table to the eldest about why they have to sit through a long-winded dinner, and a cup of wine for the prophet Elijah who everyone insists will show up for dinner but never does.
So, to get us started celebrating Passover, I've posted this thread. Please do one or more of the following things in it:
1) Post your own Passover stories, memories, quips or complaints.
2) Answer this question: If you'd been god, would you have shown yourself to Moses as a burning bush? If not, how would you have communicated with him? (I rather like the idea of a big, flashy spaceship, myself).
3) The four questions are: "Why are we eating only Matzo? Why bitter herbs? Why dip the herbs twice in salt water? Why are we resting back from the table? When can we eat?" Sorry, that's five...How would you answer these tough questions?
4) Post a picture that represents Passover to you (please, no images of Da Vinci's last supper unless they're of the disciples involved in a drunken orgy...haha, yeah, like anyone would ever draw something like that, right?)
5) Fave Haroset recipe?
Have Fun! And remember, Passover: It's not just for Jews anymore!
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