Good Friday, Chol Hamoed and Jumu'ah

It would seem that today is a day for prayer no matter what faith group is involved. It is Good Friday, one of the holiest days of the year on the Christian calendar. It is an intervening day (Chol Hamoed) of Passover for Jews and at sundown tonight will transform into Shabbat, day of rest. Lest I leave out the followers of Islam, Friday is a traditional day for intense prayer that includes the Jumu'ah congregational prayer that is required of all males. Frankly, I am glad that so many people and so many religions have found ways to reach out to the Lord for guidance. As I've always maintained, it's those people who don't seek a path to G-d that honest and law abiding citizens should most fear. In any event I hope everyone enjoys this holiday weekend and that it is a memorable time for one and all.

Preparing for Passover

In just a few hours at sundown tonight, Passover will be here. Like a good Boy Scout, I have done all I can to ensure that I am well prepared. Last week I spent over $300 on food for just this week at the only local kosher grocery store. Remember that I am just a single person. Imagine that kind of investment spread across the entire kosher community in New Orleans or, if you will, the entire kosher-keeping community nationwide. That is a significant amount of money. Also, I have placed all of my non kosher for Passover food in inaccessible or blocked off areas so that I will only be eating food deemed appropriate for the next eight days. This is a bit of an ordeal, but there is a method to this madness. It is intended to bring to mind the period of redemption that came about when the Hebrew slaves were freed from their Egyptian masters. We are commanded to recall the time as if we ourselves had been freed. It is a period of celebration, but also a period of introspection. Starting on the second night of Passover is a 49-day period of privation similar to Lent called the counting of the Omer. Certain events like weddings and certain grooming habits like haircuts are prohibited except for one day, Lag B'Omer, which literally means the 33rd day of the count. This period, which traces back to the agrarian society that worshipped at the Temple, leads up to the holiday of Shavuot, which commemorates the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai. Meanwhile, it is time to prepare myself for lots of matzah (unleavened bread), matzah balls, gefilte fish and a delicious mixture of nuts, apples, cinnamon and wine (or grape juice) called charoses. So, while it won't be a culinary event, it will be spiritual. Speaking of spirits, all grain alcohol including my favorite rye used in Sazeracs, Bourbon and Scotch whiskies are forbidden. That means only tequila made from agave or vodka made from potatoes are the only allowable spirits. Because it is distilled with grain spirits, rum, made from molasses, has also been deemed as not acceptable. All beers are out too. That just means there's more emphasis on drinking kosher wines. As a matter of fact, it is a tradition that four glasses of wine are consumed at each Passover seder meal. So, all in all, it's not that bad. At the seder table, the youngest child asks "why is this night different from all other nights?" This question and three others that follow it concern the practices of dipping greens (like parsley), eating bitter herbs (like horseradish or romaine lettuce), and eating matzah. So I will leave you with the modern interpretation of the Four Questions that probably should be asked by the oldest member at the seder table. "Why me? Why you? Why us? Why not them?" Chag Samayech or Happy Passover to you all!

Passover Partying

For one week during the year those of us who keep kosher go through an incredible series of actions in which we shun foods and foodstuffs that would normally pass muster. We stop ingesting "leavened" foods like bread and cakes which contain yeast or baking powder. This is so we can eat the thin unleavened, fairly tasteless matzahs that are required by rabbinic authority. Trust me. If it weren't for the fact that there is no way to get out of this, I'd be looking for some kind of loophole. But I have resigned myself to the fact that it is absolutely necessary. Now for those Jews who are not Orthodox, the holiday and all of its trimmings ends at sundown tonight. For those of us who do follow the Orthodox track, we have one more day (just like in "Les Miserables")...one day more! The day on Thursday is also a day when special memorial prayers for loved ones are read as well as a special rendering of "The Song at the Sea," the words and melody reportedly chanted in praise of the Almighty when the Red Sea split apart and Pharoah's army was drowned when it was rejoined. It reminds me of that story that was told about the seven-year-old who came home from Sunday School one afternoon. "What did you learn today?" asked the mother. "Well, we learned about the Red Sea," the youngster replied. "Oh?" she inquired, "Tell me about it." "Well, it was like this," her son continued. "When Moses and the Hebrew slaves were stuck at the Red Sea and Pharoah was charging at them, they looked to getting some help. They got Luke Skywalker and other Jedi knights to fight the chariots and the rest of the army." His mother looked puzzled. "They killed all of the men with their light sabers and then left, leaving Moses and the people all alone in the dessert," he said. "Are you sure about that?" the mother asked. "Is that what they told you in Sunday School?" "Well, maybe not, but I'm sure you wouldn't believe what they really told me," he admitted. That's the beautiful thing about faith and the New Orleans Saints. Sometimes you just gotta believe.

The Sixth Child

Passover has always been a family oriented holiday. It is not unlike the American celebration of Thanksgiving when family members will travel cross country just to make it to the dinner table to break bread with their loved ones. Of course, at Passover we don't break bread. We break matzah (unleavened bread) instead. Before we partake of any foodstuff, we read from a special Passover prayerbook called a Haggadah. Haggadot (plural) are as varied as the permutations of Jewish observance. Some are plain Jane texts of Hebrew and English. Some have beautiful illustrations with detailed commentary, while others are far more inventive with games for the kids and song parodies. It is all in the spirit of the holiday which celebrates the redemption of the Hebrew slaves from an oppressed to a self-determining people who owe their existence to the direct intervention of God. Early in the Haggadah reading we are told of the Four Sons or Four Children who could attend a Passover meal called a seder. The Haggadah gives instruction on how to tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt to the Wise, the Wicked (or Contrary), the Simple, and the One Who Knows Not to Ask. Before he died, the Labavitcher Rebbe (Menachem Mendel Schneerson) instituted the concept of the Fifth Child, whom he described as the One Who Could Not Attend. Furthermore, some have gone to suggest that the Fifth Son might be representative of the children who perished during the Holocaust. As a member of a family, one can measure the changes in family structure and size by attending seders through the years. My maternal grandmother put on huge Passover productions. She not only had two sets of dishes for meat and milk for Passover alone, but went so far as to have a special stove and a special dishwasher that were only used at Passover time. I recall my Great Aunt Tante Pearlman, who attended my materal grandmother's huge affairs with her son. Her son David was a relatively young man who passed away shortly before his mother expired. Cousins would see each other for an evening and then not see each other for another year. The link was always through the Passover seder. After my grandmother passed away, my mother and my uncle and his wife continued the practice of hosting seders alternating with each other as to who would play host. Although these were much smaller affairs, they were similarly rewarding in connecting to family members. I watched my cousins grow up, the youngest of whom just became a mother herself for the first time a few months ago. I saw how the hardships of divorce and death affected family members and I offered my help whenever it was appropriate. Lately, I have started thinking about all of those family members I no longer see, those proper and genteel Southern ladies who would grace my grandmother's seder or those kindly gentlemen who sat at the table observing the ordinances for the holiday. They are at the seder, but only in memory. I would suggest that we might want to consider a new Passover tradition of recalling the Sixth Child: the one who grew up, experienced the Passover holiday through the years, but is no longer physically or mentally capable of being there or has gone on to meet his or her Maker. Passover is always open to new traditions. Recent changes to the traditional observance include the concept of a Miriam's Cup filled with water that is placed on the table as well as an orange that is included, both to emphasize and glorify the feminist contribution to our faith. When I think about all those faces I no longer see at a family seder, I wax sadly about it. Would it not be an appropriate way to acknowledge those whose company we can no longer enjoy than to say a word or two about them during the night's reading? I would suggest that we should prepare a few words to consider the Sixth Child (or Sixth Son). I know I miss seeing so many of my loved ones at the Passover seder. And it is true that eventually I, too, will be a Sixth Child one day.

The advent of Purim

Today is a date to check the calendars, all three of them. There must be a connection between the Jewish celebration of Passover and the Christian holidays of Holy Week, people reckon. The historical record says that the crucifixion of Jesus took place during the Passover celebration, so most Christians assume that the date for Passover is more or less connected to Easter. The fact is that there is no direct correlation to the two other than they both must be observed during the spring. The date of Easter is observed differently by the Western (Roman Catholic, Protestant and Anglican Churches) and Orthodox Churches. In the Western Churches, Easter is decided by the determination of Ash Wednesday, the date that follows Mardi Gras and is always 46 days prior to Easter. The date of Ash Wednesday is fixed according to a formula that is largely based on a lunar cycle (just like that found in the Jewish or Hebrew calendar) and a solar calendar that recognizes March 21 as the vernal equinox. Similarly, the Jewish calendar is not strictly lunar. Because there is a specific admonition in the Torah that the celebration of the festival known today as Passover must take place during the spring, there is a solar aspect to it as well. Similarly, the date of Ash Wednesday (not observed by the Orthodox Church) was set according to dates that were first fixed at the First Council of Nicaea in 365 C.E. when the Julian calendar was in place. Some may be surprised to learn that Easter had not always been observed on a Sunday, for example, prior to this important gathering. Changes implemented by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 determined new dates for observance of Easter and Ash Wednesday for the Roman Catholic world and the Protestant churches which sprang up during the Reformation kept those new dates, the Anglican Church being the last major church to accept them in 1752. However, the Orthodox Church has kept its dates for observance of Easter more or less in line with the Julian calendar. As a result, the observance of Orthodox Easter can be many weeks different from the date set by the ecclesiastical formula used to determine Ash Wednesday and, hence, Easter, in the Western Church. This year the observance of Easter between the Western and Orthodox Churches differs by five weeks. That means that the observance of Passover, which begins at sundown on April 19 will be closer to the date set by the Orthodox Church for Easter, which is April 14. What is unusual is the proximity of the Jewish celebration of Purim, which happens to occur on Good Friday (as observed by the Western Churches) this year. Usually, Purim is closer in proximity to Mardi Gras (or Ash Wednesday), but because the date for Ash Wednesday in 2008 was set as February 6 (the second earliest date it can be set), and because this year the Jewish calendar has an extra month inserted, Adar II (in order to keep Passover in the spring), we have this highly unusual occurrence. If all of this makes your head spin, just think about the nightmare this presents for calendar makers. I don't know about you, but my recommendation is just to go with the flow and take it one day at a time.