03 April 2007

Why is this night different from all other nights?

I made both Sephardic and Ashkenazi food for church on Sunday. It was my turn to bring snacks and I figured, since two of my favorite Unity ministers, Richard Levy and Leona Evans were Jewish, (Unity is cool that way) I should honor Passover. That, and I had the Sundays at Moosewood Cookbook out.

Then I started thinking about Passover and wondering what the story was all about. I found this:

About 3000 years ago the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians under the rule of the Pharaoh Ramses II. According to the Book of Exodus - Moses, a simple Jewish shepherd, was instructed by G-d to go to the pharaoh and demand the freedom of his people

Moses' plea of let my people go was ignored. Moses warned the Pharaoh that G-d would send severe punishments to the people of Egypt if the Israelites were not freed. Again the Pharaoh ignored Moses' request of freedom. In response G-d unleashed a series of 10 terrible plagues on the people of Egypt

1. Blood
2. Frogs
3. Lice (vermin)
4. Wild Beasts(flies)
5. Blight (Cattle Disease)
6. Boils
7. Hail
8. Locusts
9. Darkness
10. Slaying of the First Born

That G_d!! What a prankster he was.
So the Jews marked their houses with the blood of lambs (don't ask) weren't killed and escaped with their lives and some unrisen dough, which they thankfully made matzoh out of.

3000 years later we get brisket for you non-vegetarians and matzoh brei and other good stuff for us vegs. For church, I made a frittata de espinacas (kinda like a spinach quiche) and a really cool cheese blintz casserole. And the people pronounced it good.

Happy Passover to all my Jewish readers. There's Suzanne, Amy and half of Christina. Anybody else?

3 comments:

claire said...

well, my other-half is, so we did the passover thing on monday and tuesday with his family.

it was a lot of fun, especially since his parents invited my mother who had never been to a seder. and who doesn't like kugel (potato, of course) ?

Alex Elliot said...

The boys and I are Unitarians, and my husband is Jewish and a Unitarian so we have the Seders and he observes Passover.

mdog said...

in case you haven't seen this.

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