The Big Story We'll put all your ducks in a row. Pesach-At- A-Glance INNIS Designing and Installation services available Good Closet Keeping Systems MIDWEST VISUAL WORKS "AUDIO,, VIDEO AND HOME THEATRE" • Sales, Service and Installation • Home Automation Systems • Custom A/V Enclosures Call us for all of your electronic needs! (248) 363-9760 WHEN YOU WANT THE BEST CALL MIDWEST! Credit Cards Gladly Welcomed FREE NOKIA 5125 Phone TALK ALL YOU WANT NIGHTS & WEEKENDS! FREE Long Distance 250 MINUTES $29.95 A MONTH ANY QUESTIONS? PAGERONE cingulan WIRELESS Cellular and Paging Services 68 •Why We Celebrate: In the Torah, God commands the Jewish people to commemorate their liberation from Egyptian slavery (Exodus 12:14 19). • The Name Of The Holiday: Pesach in Hebrew, Passover in English. Pesach in Hebrew means "skip over or "pass over," and refers to the 10th and final plague that God brought upon Egypt, where He killed the all first-born Egyptians, but passed over the Jewish households - (888) 914-9700 4/6 2001 ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM AppleTree Editor Crosswinds Plaza • Next to Kroger Orchard Lake and Lone Pine West Bloomfield 248-538-2100 (Exodus 12:21-30). • When We Celebrate: On the Jewish calendar, 14-22 Nisan, which this year coincides with sun- down, April 7 to sundown, April 15. Most Jews observe an eight-day holiday, while some denominations celebrate for seven days. In Israel, the holiday is seven days. Sunday and Monday (April 8, 9), and Saturday and Sunday (April 14, 15) are full holidays when no work is permitted. The intervening days are semi-holidays when work is allowed. •What We Celebrate: Primarily, our liberation from slavery to the Egyptians, 3,000 years ago. On a more profound level, the founding of the Jewish nation and the beginning of our relationship with God on a national level. • How We Celebrate: With prayer, fellowship, dis- cussion and food. Special prayers are recited at all services for the entire holiday. In observance of the Torah commandment, "You shall tell your child" (Exodus 13:8), we gather with family and friends to hold a unique commemorative meal called a seder ("order"). The seder menu includes foods intended to arouse curiosity from the children and discus- sion among all gathered on the many subjects that revolve around Pesach: Jewish identity, our rela- tionship with God, the actual events of the Exodus from Egypt, our life in Egypt prior to liberation, miracles and so on. Among the best-known seder foods are matzah (unleavened bread), a bitter veg- etable and four cups of wine. •Rules And Regulations: There are many, most of which are concerned with food. On Pesach, we refrain from consuming any foods that are leav- ened or contain leavening (such as yeast). This includes bread and other items made from dough or batter, most foods and beverages made from grain, arid anything edible that even might contain any amount of anything leavened. All food for Pesach is certified as kosher for Passover (kosher lPesach) or is beyond suspicion of containing any leaven. Instead of bread, we eat matzah, either plain by itself or prepared with other ingredients to make a variety of dishes. :17, menial tasks. Racial superiority was foremost in the motivations of the slave holders. Other societies sought ever larger numbers of slaves, either through importation or natural increase, because more slaves meant less work and greater productivity for the mas- ters, and extra slaves could be sold as an additional source of income. The Torah states that the Jews were enslaved because the Egyptians both feared them and suspected them of disloyalty, and imagined they might ultimately take over (Exodus 1:10). The Egyptians actually wanted fewer, not more Jews. They made slaves of the Jews to take and keep them out of the country's economic and political mainstream, and to exhaust them physically so as to reduce their rate of birth. Moreover, the Egyptians resort- ed to male infanticide to decrease the Jewish population (Exodus 1:16, 22). Among the cruelest aspects of American slavery was how slave holders disregarded the slaves' natural feelings of family bonds. Slave holders separat- ed husbands and wives, parents and children; any member of a family could Prato Haggadah, be sold. Spain, circa 1300 Although slaves, the Jews in Egypt main- tained not only families but the structure of their own soci- ety through tribal organi- zation and a system of leadership headed by tribal or family elders (Exodus 4:29). For exam- ple, in Exodus 6:14-27, the Torah gives a brief genealogical A seder plate profile of some of the Jews, with tribes, clans and families, including the background of Moses. When the American slaves were finally freed after a long and bloody war between North and South, well-meaning, white politi- cians promised them each 40 acres and a mule. The former slaves spent the rest of their lives waiting for that promise to be fulfilled. The Jews, however, emerged from bondage laden with treasures, which the Torah says, was willingly given up by the Egyptians (Exodus 12:35-36). America's experience with slavery made the practice abhorrent, and eventually, illegal. It is with wonder and curiosity, then, that many read the Torah passages in parshat Mishpatim (Exodus 21: 2 11) deal- ing with the laws of Jews owning Jewish slaves, along with further laws concerning both Jewish and gentile slaves in parshat Behar (Leviticus 25:39-55). With regard to Jewish slaves, God admonishes the Jews to treat their brethren kindly, more liked hired help than slaves. The Jews are reminded that all of them were taken out of Egypt, and thus even those who are forced by poverty to sell themselves in to slavery deserve a measure of respect. EI -