Visiting BYU Professor Victor L. Ludlow took about 80 members and guests of the BYU-Hawaii Women's Organization luncheon meeting through a Jewish Passover seder on April 21 in the Aloha Center and explained the symbolic significance of the traditional meal to the group.
Ludlow, who has put on many similar Passover meals since he earned his doctorate in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University as a Danforth Fellow, is Professor of Ancient Scripture and Judaism, and Director of the Near Eastern Studies Program at BYU.
He explained the Passover celebration commemorates the deliverance of the Children of Israel from bondage in Egypt following the tenth plague that Moses called down, when the Angel of Death spared the first-born in homes of those who had marked their door lintels with the blood of an unblemished lamb and prompted pharaoh to release the people.
"The Lord commanded Israel to remember this deliverance each springtime," Ludlow said. "This has been going on for 3,300 years. I can find nowhere else in human history an activity that has been perpetuated for so long."
In addition to the symbolic foods, Ludlow explained that Passover among the observant is a time for feasting and celebration. "If you want to have a meal that will rival, maybe even surpass Thanksgiving as far as variety and content, find a Jewish family to invite you to Passover. They put out a spread, and you're guaranteed not to go home hungry."
Ludlow pointed out in ancient Israel the Passover included unleavened bread, bitter herbs and the "peace offering" of a shankbone — "one of the sacrifices, usually a lamb, of which a part of the animal would be burned on the altar of sacrifice. The right front quarter of the offering would be given to the priests and Levites as meat for their families. The other three-quarters of the sacrifice would come back to the donor and that would become the main meat course for the occasion of the peace offering."
"The Last Supper was a Passover occasion," Ludlow continued. "Most important for us, because we perpetuate this every weekend, is this is where the ordinance of the sacrament was instituted in that Passover setting."
Ludlow explained in the approximately 1,300 years between Moses and Christ, other symbolic elements were added to the Passover and "evolved into the seder or certain 'order' of things. By the time of Jesus it had 14 steps."
In modern times going through the order, which is widely available in copies of the hagadah, "can last as short as a half-an-hour...to five or six hours with extensive readings and commentaries. We're going to do an abbreviated version of this...that is, literally a taste of the Passover," he said, noting people usually come together in extended family groups for the occasion and use their finest china and linens.
A seder plate at the head table usually contains a roasted shankbone "as a reminder of the many centuries when the Israelites used to do the peace offering"; a roasted egg symbolic of the festival sacrifice at the temple in Jerusalem; the maror or bitter herbs "to remind us of the bitterness of slavery...any kind of slavery [such as drug addiction] that is difficult and bitter to break out of"; the haroset mixture of apples, nuts, and other things symbolic of the "mud" or mortar the Israelites used to build in Egypt; a sprig of parsley or green springtime herb; three matzah or the unleavened bread baked in haste because the people left so quickly; four cups of "fruit of the vine" or in this case, grape juice; and the afikomen, or a piece of matzah which is redeemed for a gift.
"Near the seder plate is also a special place setting for Elijah. No matter how crowded the house is, you always have to have a place setting for Elijah," Ludlow continued.
Turning to the 14 steps, Ludlow explained the first is called the Kiddush or blessing, after which the celebrants drink the first cup of the fruit of the vine. Next they wash or wipe their hands prior to eating the parsley. This is dipped twice into salt water "which reminds us of the tears our ancestors shed when they were in Egypt. Looking around this room, I don't know of anyone who would be excluded by this statement. I assume that most, if not every one of us in this room 3,300 years ago had at least one ancestor that was a slave in Egypt."
He added that the Passover celebrates the deliverance from political and physical bondage in captivity, while the second dip represents the deliverance from "spiritual captivity and moral bondage that God provides."
Other steps include putting a piece of matzah into the afikomen and hiding that for later redemption, reciting the story of the Passover, and washing the hands again before eating the unleavened bread. "The matzah also begins the Jewish tradition of the eight days of unleavened bread: This is the only kind of grain product they will eat."
Also, eating the bitter herbs — horseradish in this case; making and eating a "Hillel sandwich" or combination of the bitter herbs, haroset "mud" and matzah; eating the meal; redeeming the afikomen, which in well-to-do families could result in very valuable gifts, such as a new car or college tuition; saying grace after the meal; opening the door for Elijah to come in; reading psalms of praise; and everyone reciting the closing prayer.
Ludlow stressed that the coming of Elijah is a significant part of the Passover. "Traditional Orthodox Jews still believe in the coming of the Messiah, but the Messiah cannot come until there is a temple in Jerusalem. They can't build a temple until they have a prophet, and they haven't had any prophets since Malachi 2,400 years ago. In their tradition they have it that Elijah will come and announce this prophet."
"They say they don't know the year, but they do know the date — Passover," which follows a lunar schedule similar to Easter's floating date, he said.
"Once you close that door, you realize you have to wait another year, [and] another year. They're still waiting." Ludlow continued. "Of course, we could tell them...Elijah has come...to the young prophet Joseph Smith in the newly dedicated temple in Kirtland, Ohio. The year was 1836, the month was April, but not the day you would probably assume, April 6th."
"It was the third of April 1836 when Elijah appeared to Joseph Smith," he said, explaining in the Jewish calendar April 3rd that year was the Day of Passover.