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| OHCC LIVING | MARCH 2021 | 17 Yiddish Club What are you doing for Passover? Are you celebrating at home, or joining another family? These are questions which, under normal circumstances, would be asked by most members of the Yiddish Club as the holiday approached on March 28 this year. This festivity may also be shared by family and friends from various religious and ethnic backgrounds. If you are invited to a "seder" at someone's home, what should you know about this observance? The "seder" is a festive holiday, and the word "seder" actually means "order." It is called this because the meal follows a specific order which describes the advance from slavery to freedom. The "Haggadah," which means "the telling," is the book used at the Passover seder. The Haggadah explains the foods on the ceremonial seder plate, and describes the highlights of the Exodus and includes songs, prayers, questions and related stories. Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) is a ceremony most central to Jewish life and history. Passover celebrates the biblical account of the Israelites' redemption and escape from 400 years of Egyptian slavery. Holiday rituals include a retelling of the Exodus story. Pesach, which means "passed over," refers to the 10th plague which killed the Egyptians first born, but miraculously passed over the houses of the Israelites. Among the symbolic foods displayed on a seder plate are parsley, horseradish, and charoset (a mixture of apples, nuts, cinnamon and wine) which represent the mortar used by the Jewish slaves. Probably the most significant observance of the holiday involves the removal of "chametz" (leavened bread) from the home. This commemorated the fact that Jews fled from Egypt and did not have time to allow bread to rise. Therefore, only matzah (unleavened bread) is permitted during the holiday. During the seder, the story of the Exodus is described in detail. The story begins with the youngest person at the seder asking the renowned "4 questions." These questions are also known as "mah nishtanah" (why is this night different from all other nights?), which is the first of the four questions. These questions are then answered by the leader of the service. The seder is completed with a wish that next year we may celebrate Passover in a peaceful Jerusalem, and that we may keep working to make the world a better place. Pictured above is a typical seder plate with all the symbolic foods. Secondly, my family seder (pictured below), circa 1942. I am the little boy, on your left, sitting next to my cousin in the Air Force uniform, and I asked those "4 questions" at that seder. Happy Passover everyone! ~ Don Kent, Past Vice President