According to Judaism 101:
On the first night of Pesach (first two nights for traditional Jews outside Israel), we have a special family meal filled with ritual to remind us of the significance of the holiday. This meal is called a seder , from a Hebrew root word meaning "order," because there is a specific set of information that must be discussed in a specific order.
After you read this explanation from the Judaism 101 Website I think the photo album at the end will explain the whole thing in pictures.
The Pesach Seder
The text of the Pesach seder is written in a book called the haggadah. The haggadah tells the story of the Exodus from Egypt and explains some of the practices and symbols of the holiday.
1. Kaddesh: Sanctification
A blessing over wine in honor of the holiday. The wine is drunk, and a second cup is poured.
2. Urechatz: Washing
A washing of the hands without a blessing, in preparation for eating the Karpas.
3. Karpas: Vegetable
A vegetable (usually parsley) is dipped in salt water and eaten. The vegetable symbolizes the lowly origins of the Jewish people; the salt water symbolizes the tears shed as a result of our slavery. Parsley is a good vegetable to use for this purpose, because when you shake off the salt water, it looks like tears.
4. Yachatz: Breaking
One of the three matzahs on the table is broken. Part is returned to the pile, the other part is set aside for the afikomen (see below).
5. Maggid: The Story
A retelling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt and the first Pesach. This begins with the youngest person asking The Four Questions, a set of questions about the proceedings designed to encourage participation in the seder. The Four Questions are also known as Mah Nishtanah (Why is it different?), which are the first words of the Four Questions. This is often sung.
The maggid is designed to satisfy the needs of four different types of people: the wise one, who wants to know the technical details; the wicked one, who excludes himself (and learns the penalty for doing so); the simple one, who needs to know the basics; and the one who is unable to ask, who doesn't even know enough to know what he needs to know.
This year we sang a very fun version - of the the four sons...maybe next year we won't have to read the whole explanation we can just sing the fun version (hint hint dad).
At the end of the maggid, a blessing is recited over the second cup of wine and it is drunk.
6. Rachtzah: Washing
A second washing of the hands, this time with a blessing, in preparation for eating the matzah
7. Motzi: Blessing over Grain Products
The ha-motzi blessing, a generic blessing for bread or grain products used as a meal, is recited over the matzah.
8. Matzah: Blessing over Matzah
A blessing specific to matzah is recited, and a bit of matzah is eaten.
9. Maror: Bitter Herbs Somewhere in here we sing Dayaynu - My mom found a tradtion from Jews in Iran that we incorporated into our Seder this year. We wacked each other with green onions while we sang Dayanu symbolizing the whips used by the Egyptians. It was fun- except our Iranian was missing this year. "next year..."
A blessing is recited over a bitter vegetable (usually raw horseradish; sometimes romaine lettuce), and it is eaten. This symbolizes the bitterness of slavery. The maror is dipped charoset, a mixture of apples, nuts, cinnamon and wine, which symbolizes the mortar used by the Jews in building during their slavery. I wonder how many of our ancestors were allergic to nuts...my mom has to make an extra nut free version for Al.
10. Korech: The Sandwich -If you think you have read a lot so far- that's nothing - imagine how hungry you are by the time you get to this point in the evening. We all think Rabbi Hillel was a genius because now we get to eat something - even if it is just matzah,horseradish and charoset.
Rabbi Hillel was of the opinion that the maror should be eaten together with matzah and the paschal offering in a sandwich. In his honor, we eat some maror on a piece of matzah, with some charoset .
11. Shulchan Orech: Dinner
A festive meal is eaten. There is no particular requirement regarding what to eat at this meal (except, of course, that chametz cannot be eaten). Among Ashkenazic Jews , gefilte fish and matzah ball soup are traditionally eaten at the beginning of the meal. Roast chicken or turkey are common as a main course, as is beef brisket. We had brisket - a tribute to one of the many things greatly missed by my late Aunt Clara. Mmmm.
12. Tzafun: The Afikomen
The piece of matzah set aside earlier is eaten as "desert," the last food of the meal. Different families have different traditions relating to the afikomen. Some have the children hide it, while the parents have to either find it or ransom it back. Others have the parents hide it. The idea is to keep the children awake and attentive throughout the pre-meal proceedings, waiting for this part. My dad always hides the afikomen and it happens that Marlo is the best afikomen finder - she has 2 parents as Attorneys so she is also the best at holding the afikomen for a decent ransom. This was the 1st year my dad didn't give out new $2 bills - he gave out new mint quarters and Elaine brought lots of goodies. Major progress this year - Setareh didn't cry and helped Marlo to get some good stuff. Someday Arian and new cousin, "baby Cohne" will get in on the festivities too.
13. Barech: Grace after Meals
The third cup of wine is poured, and birkat ha-mazon (grace after meals) is recited. We were a bit tired this year and sort of skipped much of the rest of the Seder- I have very fond memories of birkat from camp, and the Hochstadt shabbats - we should not skip this in the future - it is really nice. This is similar to the grace that would be said on any Shabbat. At the end, a blessing is said over the third cup and it is drunk. The fourth cup is poured, including a cup set aside for the prophet Elijah, who is supposed to herald the Messiah, and is supposed to come on Pesach to do this.
14. Hallel: Praises
Several psalms are recited. A blessing is recited over the last cup of wine and it is drunk.
15. Nirtzah: Closing
A simple statement that the seder has been completed, with a wish that next year, we may celebrate Pesach in Jerusalem. This is followed by various hymns and stories. It was fun to see the older generation of cousins playing and singing in our silly celebratory songs - Roger is the famed orator (normally he is so quiet)and thank goodness we had Hal to help us carry some sort of a tune and help us all along with our Hebrew.
Chag Samayach!
 |
| Seder April 2, 2007 |
No comments:
Post a Comment