INTRODUCTION WHY PASSOVER MATTERS TO CHRISTIANS

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1 INTRODUCTION WHY PASSOVER MATTERS TO CHRISTIANS

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3 F our thousand years ago a momentous meal took place. Sitting around the table were Moses, his brother Aaron, sister Miriam, and the multitudes of Israelites preparing to leave Egypt. It was the first Passover meal. Nearly 1,400 years later, Jesus sat at a similar meal with his disciples. The story of Moses and his leadership of the journey from Egypt to the Promised Land was retold. When Jesus and his friends ate that Passover meal, they were a small band of Israelites living in the midst of the oppressive Roman Empire, and Passover s story of freedom and resistance to powerful political rulers resonated with poignancy and passion. Jesus Passover meal, of course, became one of the most famous Passover meals in history. It both drew on and re-created the events of the original Passover from Egypt, and it foreshadowed the worldchanging events of Jesus death. It has been immortalized in innumerable pieces of Western art, most famously Leonardo da Vinci s masterpiece The Last Supper, and is remembered and reenacted by Christian communities around the world every time they celebrate Holy Communion (otherwise known as Holy Eucharist, or the Lord s Supper). So the Passover meal is one of the interesting places that Judaism and Christianity intersect intersections that are, at once, rich, complicated, winsome, and sometimes fraught. Jews even Jews who observe very few other religious rituals celebrate a Passover seder each year, a meal that commemorates the events of the origi- ix

4 nal Exodus from Egypt. 1 Churchgoing Christians celebrate Jesus Passover seder when they take Communion, and many Christian communities specifically recall Jesus Last Supper on Holy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter. Finally, in recent years, a growing number of Christians have been attending Passover seders at the homes of Jewish friends or relatives, or celebrating their own seders in their church communities. This book, written primarily for Christian readers, does not just explain the nuts and bolts of traditional Passover seders, though it does do that. It does not just review what the Passover meal probably meant to Jesus and his friends, though it does that too. More fundamentally, this book explores the radical claim that one meal one momentous meal, the Passover seder can in fact change your life. This meal can draw you closer to God, and can help you find God s liberation from the places of scarcity, of imprisonment, that lurk in your life. You will ponder anew the places in your lives where you feel trapped and inadequate. You will see where God s outstretched arm can renew your life and faith. To enter more deeply into the liberation of the Passover meal, we will join the Israelites on their journey from slavery to freedom. We will see the tools God gave them to rediscover that freedom in every generation by asking questions, praying, celebrating, and retelling the story. As we do so, we will shed light on the journey of our own lives. We will ask ourselves where we might be enslaved. Are we enslaved to our possessions, our work, our addictions, our desire to please others? Are we stuck in an Egypt that will not let us free? As we ask these questions, we will join the ancient Israelites. We will bring their story to bear on our own. Passover is God s invitation for 1. The Hebrew word seder means order. It also refers to the Passover meal itself. Because of its frequent usage, I do not italicize throughout the book. Other frequently used words transliterated from Hebrew include haggadah and matzah. Less frequent Hebrew words translated into English are italicized. xii

5 each of us to become free. It has extended over thousands of years, and this book is the chance to make it your own. It may seem strange for a Jewish rabbi to write a book on Passover for Christians. I lead a large congregation in suburban Chicago and have devoted my own spiritual life to observing Jewish holidays, praying Jewish prayers, and studying Jewish texts. What do I have to say to Christians? A lot, it turns out. Many Christians have a yearning, I have discovered, to get closer to God by discovering the Jewish roots of Jesus and Christianity. In speaking and teaching at churches, I have seen the way Jewish wisdom can bring Christians closer to their faith. I have seen the way it can deepen the experience of prayer, expand the meanings of biblical passages, and open our eyes wider to the role of God in our lives. Exploring the Passover story helps us learn more about the context of Jesus own religious and spiritual life, and it sheds light on Easter, the resurrection of Jesus, and the meaning of redemption. But the magnificent drama and depth of the Passover story also gives us a powerful framework to understand the journey of our own lives. I have had students tell me the story of Passover helped them gain freedom from a difficult past. Others have told me the Passover story confirmed for them that God always keeps his promises, just as God did for the Israelites. The Passover story can speak to us wherever we are on the journey of our lives. My goal in this book is to help you discover what message this sacred story holds for you. What You Will Experience In chapter 1 we begin our journey into the liberating story of Passover. We will revisit the first Passover meal in Pharaoh s Egypt and see the faith and leadership of Moses that made it possible. Through the chapter are scattered practical insights into and interpretations of the Exodus story from three thousand years of Jewish xiii

6 history and tradition. Chapter 2 brings us into the world of ancient Israel and discusses the way Passover was celebrated when Jesus lived and taught in Jerusalem. We experience the pageantry and sense of holiness that pervaded Jerusalem during Passover and imagine the promise of freedom it represented. Chapter 3 takes us to the fertile period of religious life after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. We learn how ancient Jews sustained their faith when all seemed lost. We discover the new understanding they gave to freedom and how they preserved the Passover message when others tried to destroy it. Then we get ready to eat! Chapters 4 through 8 walk us through the preparation for and meaning of the Passover meal. If you ve ever had a dinner party at your home, you know the time and effort it requires. You have to cook a meal, find a table setting, and maybe even think of interesting topics of conversation. Now add on a layer of spiritual preparation. Jews read different sacred texts during the month before Passover to prepare our hearts and souls to accept freedom. Passover is a time of rebirth, and the preparation for it can be as spiritually meaningful as the holiday itself. Jews traditionally start preparing for Passover thirty days before it begins. You will see the way this time of preparation resembles the forty-day period of Lent, which is also preparation for the rebirth of humanity through Jesus. In experiencing the way Jews prepare for Passover, you may discover an even deeper meaning in Lent and Easter. Chapters 9 and 10 bring Passover into the twenty-first century. They explore the way the themes of Passover have shaped contemporary struggles for freedom. The groups who embraced the Passover story as part of their struggle range from American slaves to Jews living in the Soviet Union during the 1970s and 1980s. The Passover story even shaped America s Founding Fathers, who saw their journey from oppression in the Old World to freedom in the New World as a modern expression of the Exodus story. xiv

7 For the final chapter, I have compiled a script for a Passover meal (the script is known in Hebrew as a haggadah, which literally means the telling ) designed specifically for Christians interested in exploring and experiencing this ancient Jewish ritual. It will reflect the traditional Jewish explanations so as to give participants the best sense of what Jesus experienced and provide brief summaries of the contemporary Christian interpretations that have emerged alongside the Jewish ones. An Invitation I passionately believe that religious and spiritual people can learn from traditions different from our own perhaps especially from those traditions that are our next-door neighbor traditions, which is how I think of Judaism and Christianity. As a rabbi, I have found great inspiration in the description of love from Paul s Letter to the Corinthians. My own prayer life has been transformed by what I learned from pastors and Christian writers. Quite often, I learn more about my own faith when I encounter it with new questions and concerns prompted by those who do not share it. I believe the same growth can happen for Christians interested in deepening their own faith. Passover in particular holds spiritual invitations that can speak powerfully to Christians. Passover was observed by Jesus. It is a holiday centered around family, food, and freedom. It is accessible and relevant to Christians of all denominations. So consider this book as an invitation: an invitation to explore the Jewish roots of your faith. An invitation to experience ancient texts and teachings which for centuries were accessible only to a tiny group of scholars and see the profound wisdom they contain for living a discerning, justice-oriented, loving life of service to God and neighbor. No book like this has been published before because xv

8 the walls were too high. But we live now in an age when Pope Francis can say Inside every Christian is a Jew and the President of the United States can host a Passover seder at his house. 2 This book brings you into the story that shaped the Jewish people. In entering into that story you will discover your own. 2. See Huffington Post, June 13, 2014, /13/pope-francis-christian-jew_n_ html. xvi