Date: Fri 18-Apr-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Adath-Israel-seder-children

Full Text:

Adath Israel's Children Prepare For Passover

Children at Congregation Adath Israel in Newtown conducted a model seder

dinner recently in preparation for Passover, the festival of freedom which

begins this year at sundown on Monday, April 21.

About 80 youngsters in kindergarten through sixth grade joined Rabbi Moshe

Betan in following the Haggadah to learn the story of Passover, the Exodus of

the Jews from slavery in Egypt.

Seder means order; a seder meal follows a 15-step format which teaches the

Passover story. It is tradition that the youngest participant at the seder

asks the eldest four questions beginning with "Why is this night different

from all others? On all other nights we eat either leavened bread or

unleavened. On this night why do we eat only unleavened bread?"

In answer, the seder leader explains that this tradition goes back to the

Exodus of the Jews from Egypt. The Jews fled Egypt with such immediacy that

they had no time to bake bread. The dough, a simple flour and water, was

quickly baked into hard flat sheets called matzoh, the unleavened bread of

Passover.

The first seder was held on the night of the 10th plague in Egypt, the night

that death would visit every Egyptian home. To keep their homes safe, the Jews

marked their doorways with the blood of a Pesah lamb so the angel of death

would pass by.

On the seder plate are a roasted shank bone (lamb) or chicken, a hard-boiled

egg, bitter herbs, karpas (a green vegetable such as parsley, lettuce or

watercress), and Charoses or Haroset, a mixture of wine, nuts and fruit, and

salt water. The egg represents the life cycle and new birth; bitter herbs

symbolize the cruel and bitter treatment that the Jews endured under the rule

of the Egyptian pharaoh; the karpas is dipped into the dish of salt water, a

reminder of the parting of the Red Sea by God for Moses, the tears shed by the

Jews and the new life of springtime. Haroset is a reminder of the clay mixture

the slaves used for making brick for the Pharaoh.

The seder meal also includes three pieces of matzoh and Passover wine,

including a glass set aside for the prophet Elijah, who represents hope.

During the seder the leader sits on a soft pillow at the head of the table and

everyone else reclines, or sits in a relaxed position, as did free men in

ancient times. The seder concludes with prayers of thanksgiving and songs.