Saturday, April 19, 2008

Passover...The Feast of Unleavened Bread

Passover, also known as Pesach, is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the exodus and freedom of the Israelites from Egypt.
The term passover comes from the fact that God "passed over" the Jews when he killed the firstborn of Egypt. This story is told in Exodus 12:23.

It is traditional for a Jewish family to gather on the first night of Passover, for a special dinner called a Seder, where the story of the Israelite exodus from Egypt is retold by the reading the Haggadah. (over 1000 year old book of instruction)
If you are ever invited to celebrate Passover dinner...you must go...it is beautiful and the very roots of what we believe as Christians. The food, symbols, words of Passover tell one of the greatest stories of all times.
Matzo or "Unleavened Bread" or "Bread of Affliction," are crackers made with flour in an environment that yeast wouldn't ever have time to leaven it.
This is about 18 minutes from the time the grain is ground to flour (or touches water) to the time it is placed in the oven.
It's called "Bread of Affliction" because it is the last thing the Hebrews ate as they left Egypt; it is the final token of the affliction and bondage they had been subjected to.
As unleavened bread it represents a lack of sin.

This is a Passover Coke, You will notice on the cap, the Hebrew "Kosher for Passover" text. The circled-U symbol is for the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, and marks a Kosher product.(Thank you Babby, my G-d mother for teaching me about this.)

The -P apparently signifies that it's not just Kosher, but Kosher for Passover. Made once a year so observant Jews can still drink Coke.

I love this!

Whatever God thinks we need...He provides.

Just like the escape from Egypt....to the Promised Land...

Thank you God for our heritage in the Jewish faith

Let us never forget that is where it all began.

Grace and Peace,

DCC

1 comment:

LJFredricks said...

Debbi,
We did this with our Sunday School kids this year on palm sunday. We had the group from pre-k - 6th grade. It was wonderful to see the deeper understanding of the death and resurrection of our Jewish Rabbi!! EVERYONE should do this!
LOVE!!