The hosts have been busy cleaning the house and cooking and setting the sedar table. Finally the guests arrive. The mistress of the house lights the holiday candles - two candles are lit in the home every Friday and holiday night at dusk, and the guests and the host family sit around the dining table, ready to begin a ritual that has changed little in the past two thousand years. The various parts of the seder are set forth in chapter 10 of the Mishnah Pesachim, which was completed around the year 200 C.E. It is fair to assume that Jesus and His disciples, at the Last Supper, which in all probability was a Passover Seder, followed the same procedure set forth in the Mishnah and which we largely follow today.
Join me as we examine the first four parts of the Passover seder.
Elders of Zion is a general Jewish interest group, open to anyone who wants to learn about Jews and Judaism. The group was created in order to facilitate such a space. Discussion of and questions about Jewish religion, ethnicity, history, culture, language, cuisine, music, literature, and identity are encouraged. Please keep this purpose in mind when commenting in our diaries. Antisemitism, diary hijacking, and I/P pie fights will not be tolerated and will be troll rated. For more information, see the inaugural diary.
The seder begins with: Kiddush:
They pour him the first cup. The school of Shammai says: "He recites the benediction over the day, and then he recites the benediction over the wine." But the school of Hillel says, "He recites the benediction over the wine, and then recites the benediction over the day."
Mishnah Pesachim 10:2.
The kiddush is the sanctification over wine or grape juice. It is chanted in observant homes every Friday night, and on the evening of every Jewish holiday except the fast of Yom Kippur. Every Friday night, the family gathers around the table, everyone's cup is filled with wine or grape juice, and one of the adults (someone 13 years old or over) chants the kiddush, at the conclusion of which each person drinks his or her cup of wine, the blessing is recited over the bread, and the meal begins. Passover night is different, because there is a lot of reading in the Haggadah before the meal can begin. The kiddush for Passover is:
Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Ruler of the Universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine.
Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Ruler of the Universe, Who chose us from all peoples and exalted us among nations, by making us holy with Your commandments. With love You gave us the festivals for joy, holidays and seasons for rejoicing, and this day, the Festival of Matzoh, the season of our freedom, which is a holy assembly, in remembrance of the deliverance from Egypt. For You have chosen us from all peoples to make us holy with Your holy festivals in joy and in happiness. Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Ruler of the Universe, Who makes holy Israel and the festival seasons.
Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Ruler of the Universe, Who has given us life and sustenance and has brought us to this happy season.
The first blessing is the blessing over wine, which pious Jews will even recite on weekdays, before drinking wine in a bar or with dinner. Rabbis Hillel and Shammai argued about whether this blessing should come first or second, Rabbi Hillel won this argument, and all others he had with Shammai. The final blessing is recited at every Jewish festival, and at other joyful events - such as by parents at their child's bar or bat mitzvah - we thank God for allowing us to live to enjoy this day.
When the kiddush is concluded, we drink our first of four cups of wine, and proceed to:
The second part of the Seder: OrHatz - washing the hands:
The Talmud teaches us that we must wash our hands before we touch anything that has been dipped in liquid. Pesachim 115a. Pious Jews recite a blessing for washing hands before they eat bread to begin a meal, but the Talmud, also at Pesachim 115a, teaches us that, as there is no meal at this point, we wash our hands without a blessing. The rabbis observed that this washing brings to mind the washings that the priests in the Temple undertook before participating in the animal sacrifices. Once we have washed our hands, we come to:
The third part of the Seder: Karpas - Eating a green vegetable.
Then they bring it before him, he dips the lettuce and eats it before he reaches the course that is secondary to the matzoh. . . . Rabbi Eliezer the son of Rabbi Zadok says: " The commandment is in the dipping."
Mishnah Pesachim 10:3.
Eveyone at the seder table is given a piece of parsley, which is dipped into salt water or vinegar. The common blessing for vegetables, said by pious Jews anytime they are about to eat a vegetable, is recited:
Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Ruler of the Universe, Creator of the fruit of the earth.
And everyone eats his or her own piece of parsley (or other vegetable).
The eating of the parsley dipped into salt water or vinegar follows the customary culinary habits of Roman-Talmudic times. Meals began with an hors d'oeuvre, dipped into some liquid. Throughout the Talmud, the rabbis discuss dipping their food - in most passages the discussion has nothing to do with Passover. When everyone finishes chewing their sprigs of dipped parsley, they proceed to:
The fourth part of the Seder: Yachatz: Breaking the middle matzoh and hiding the afikomen.
And in the Temple they then would bring before him the body of the Passover offering.
Mishnah Pesachim 10:3.
Three matzohs are in a single pile on the seder table. The leader takes the middle matzoh breaks it in half. He or she returns one half of the broken matzoh to its original place between the two whole matzohs. The leader wraps a napkin around the other half and puts it aside. The Talmud, Pesachim 115b - 116a, explains that, when we break the matzoh, we remember the poor who are forced to eat crumbs rather than whole loaves.
The half that has been put aside is called the Afikomen. Post-Talmudic commentators compare it to the line from the Mishnah quoted above - it is the representation of the lamb that was sacrificed in the Temple. After dinner is complete, the afikomen is eaten - it is our official dessert - we are not permitted to eat any more food until dawn, lest we become gluttons. That is assuming that one of the children has found the afikomen - this is a topic that will be discussed later in this series.
Reminder: Elders of Zion is an open space for discussing and learning about all things Jewish. This group is not the place for whatever I/P pie fight you want to start. It is not a group about Zionism or anti-Zionism. If you want to talk acrimoniously about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, regardless of the target of your anger, there are other diaries more suited to your preference. Antisemitism, diary hijacking, and pie fights are out of line with our group's mission and will be troll rated.