'Next year in Jerusalem': Passover a Jewish holiday rich with tradition, customs
Passover begins Wednesday, April 5. It has always been one of Rabbi Judy Caplan Ginsburgh’s favorite holidays because it is filled with rich tradition, customs, and lots of family memories. The holiday is always celebrated in the home with family.
“I love Passover and it's important to me and my husband to keep it. A lot of people don't and I think that's important that I do,” said Ginsburgh who is the part-time rabbi of Temple B'Nai Israel in Monroe but lives in Alexandria. “I think less and less people do, and certainly if you can’t for health reasons, that's always acceptable. Your health comes before Jewish law.”
But she finds it discouraging that younger generations aren’t doing as much for all of the holidays.
“I think it's not just Judaism. It's the churches, too. I fear that a lot of customs and traditions are disappearing. It's kind of sad to me,” she said.
Celebrating the exodus from Egypt
Passover celebrates the Jewish people’s exodus from Egypt where they were enslaved, she said.
“And we go through the 10 plagues that basically help to free them. The last plague was the death of the firstborn Egyptian sons,” explained Ginsburgh. Jews were told to sacrifice a lamb and eat all of it but to take the blood and put it on their doorposts so that on the night of the 10th plague, the Angel of Death would pass over their households and not kill their children but only the firstborn sons of the Egyptians.
“That's where the name Passover comes from,” said Ginsburgh. After the 10th plague, that also took the life of the Pharoah’s firstborn son, he relented and let the Jews go.
"But then of course we know Pharaoh changed his mind and chased after the Jewish people. The story says he was swallowed up in the Red Sea. There are other stories that dispute that,” she said.
Moses led the Jewish people into the desert and, much later on, to the Promised Land. It is while in the desert that they get the 10 Commandants. Eventually, the next generation ends up in Israel.
There’s also a story that before the exodus, the bread didn’t have enough time to rise so that’s why unleavened bread, or matzah, is eaten on Passover.
When is Passover?
Passover begins Wednesday, April 5 and is celebrated for 7 or 8 days.
“Some people will celebrate it an eighth night just depending on which denomination of Judaism you have. Reform Jews celebrate it for 7 and more traditional Jews would celebrate an 8th night,” explained Ginsburgh.
The first night of Passover is the most important
“We have what's called a Seder. The word Seder means order and there is an order to the Seder. We talk about it right up front. There are 15 steps to the Seder,” she said. All the steps are mentioned in a song that is sung at the very beginning so it is known what all the steps are going to be.
“Most of the steps are before we eat dinner and one of the steps is to actually eat the Seder meal,” said Ginsburgh.
A few things are done after the meal, one of which is to find the “Afikomen” which is a Greek word that means dessert.
“What we do toward the beginning of the Seder is we take a matzah and we break it in half,” she explained. “And we hide half of it. And that half that we hide is called the ‘Afikomen.’”
Children are very involved in the Seder because it is very important to pass on the traditions to the next generation. After the meal, the children are usually the ones who have to go find it, said Ginsburgh.
“The seder can't end if they don't find it. So it's very important unless you want to be there all night long, you know, to do that,” she said. “And once you find it, everybody tastes a little bitty piece of it and that ends the Seder.”
Passover is a holiday that is celebrated in the home with family, said Ginsburgh but some synagogues will host community Seders. The Jewish Temple in Alexandria, Congregation Gemiluth Chassodim, will host one on Thursday, April 6. Reservations are required.
What is eaten at the Seder?
Ginsburgh said they eat special food that they don’t typically eat a lot at other times of the year but they aren’t supposed to eat anything with leavening in it. No breads or sweets are eaten for about a week. But meat, vegetables, fruit and anything else that is unleavened can be eaten during Passover.
“Traditionally we would eat matzah ball soup. We would have a fish, it’s called gefilte fish and it's kind of a mixture of different ground up fishes that we don't eat it any other time except Passover,” said Ginsburgh. “And a nice meal, usually like brisket or chicken, something like that.”
Why celebrate Passover?
“We are commanded from the Torah to celebrate the holiday of Passover and to share it with the generations yet to come. So it’s actually a commandment,” said Ginsburgh. “And originally, in the days of the old temple in Jerusalem, Passover was one of three pilgrimage festivals where Jews would make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to the temple.”
Since there is no longer a temple in Jerusalem, they don’t do that anymore, she said. But they still celebrate the holiday.
“And at the end of the seder, we always say, ‘Next year in Jerusalem.’,” said Ginsburgh. The reason is because very traditional Jews have hope that the temple will eventually be rebuilt in Jerusalem.
"So every Passover, they always say, ‘May we be in Jerusalem next year,’ because when the temple is rebuilt, there will be an age of peace,” said Ginsburgh. “So it's kind of like saying, ‘May there be peace in the world’ by saying, ‘Next year in Jerusalem.’”
This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Passover a Jewish holiday rich with tradition, customs and family
