Interrupting our short series on the week leading up to Easter, Keith resurrects (pun intended) an early look we had in comparing Passover to Easter. Nathan reviews the passage found in Exodus 12, and Keith shares information found on the Internet about the 15 steps in the orderly Seder meal of Passover. Here’s the basic outline of events.
The Haggadah divides the night’s procedure into 15 parts
- Kadeish – recital of Kiddush blessing and drinking of the first cup of wine
- Urchatz – the washing of the hands
- Karpas – the dipping of the karpas in saltwater
- Yachatz – breaking the middle matzo; the larger piece becomes the afikoman which is eaten later during the ritual of Tzafun
- Maggid – retelling the Passover story, including the recital of “the four questions” and drinking of the second cup of wine
- Rachtzah – second washing of the hands
- Motzi – traditional blessing before eating bread products
- Matzo – blessing before eating matzo
- Maror – the eating of the maror
- Koreich – eating of a sandwich made of matzo and maror. Types of maror:
- grated horseradish, romaine lettuce,
- whole horseradish root
Maror symbolizes the bitterness of slavery in Egypt.
- Shulchan oreich (literally. “Set table”) the serving of the holiday meal
- Tzafun – eating of the afikoman
- Bareich – a blessing after the meal and drinking of the third cup of wine
- Hallel – recital of the Hallel, traditionally recited on festivals; drinking of the fourth cup of wine
- Nirtzah – conclusion
The four questions
Traditionally the youngest child is prompted to ask questions about the Passover seder,
- Why is this night different from all other nights? On all other nights, we eat either unleavened or leavened bread, but tonight we eat only unleavened bread?
- On all other nights, we eat all kinds of vegetables, but tonight, we eat only bitter herbs?
- On all other nights, we do not dip [our food] even once, but tonight we dip twice?
- On all other nights, we eat either sitting or reclining, but tonight we only recline?
In the second audio portion, we begin to discuss differences in the two traditions of Passover and the Christian observance of communion. Technical difficulties arise, and Nathan drops off our Skype call. Keith talks about some early Christian traditions and developments surrounding Easter. While he pauses to try to bring Nathan back online, more technical problems come up, and a helpful Retrobot only makes it worse. In his closing remarks from these visits to 2016, Keith comments that we’ll have to do a part 3 sometime. We never got around to it, and nobody ever asked for it.
So… Tada! Here it is… I guess…
Credit>/h3>Easter, Passover, Comparing, Traditions
“Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.” !–
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