Passover begins tonight with the First Seder, and I'm at my parents helping with preparations. Mike Sanders of Keep Trying covers the meaning of Passover in Undersdtanding Freedom, which includes good thoughts and good links about the holiday and its spiritual meaning.
For those who prefer a more immersive approach, you can watch Charlton Heston in The 10 Commandments and get the holiday story that way. As a tip of the hat to Mr. Heston, I should note that if the ancient Israelites had owned guns, all the plagues, sea parting et. al. would not have been necessary and we could have headed straight to Mt. Sinai. Just sayin', is all.
Meanwhile, Rabbi Lazar Brody (who has owned his share of guns) talks about the 3 paths to faith in Matzah and Faith. Here's the key Passover quote:
"That's the whole message of Pesach. Leavened bread is symbolic of a puffed up ego and intellect. Matza is the symbol of simple faith. During Passover, we leave the prison of our own intellectual confinement to put our simple trust in G-d. For some folks, that's a tough task. Without faith, there's no freedom and no redemption."
May this festival of freedom herald a new dawn of freedom for many people - and nations - around the world.
UPDATE: And best wishes to you, too, Michele! Nice set of links, and many thanks for your own freedom-centered efforts over the past couple of years.
May this festival of freedom herald a new dawn of freedom for many people - and nations - around the world.
Amen.
Regarding your hat tip to Heston... if the Isrealites had had guns... there wouldn't have been a nation of Isreal. It is significant to note that the purpose of Passover is to remember that God Himself took interest in the Isrealites and did not merely save them from their plight but also demonstrated His awesome power and authority over all things.
I don't have the texts here at work, but God says to Moses that He will demonstrate that He is God and that He will strike down the gods of Egypt. Now, if the isrealites had had guns, then there would have been no need for God to demonstrate His authority since, as implied, they could have taken care of their problems themselves. Now as I recall, the destruction of the kingdom of Isreal was a direct result of the Isrealites refusing to give God His due and turning their back on Him.
Now, if God would allow His covering to be removed at this later time, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that if Isreal (the people) could take care of it's own or believed it could, that God would have allowed some other people to destroy them at a much earlier date?
All I'm saying is that Passover is not merely an exercise in Freedom, but rather a tradition to remember Who is really in charge and Who is responsible for saving the Isrealites (and by extension the rest of the world) from certain destruction (spiritual as well as physical). Just a thought.
Chad is correct re: the spiritual story of Passover and its message. It's an important point, too, and one made ably in the links I referenced. I'm glad he went into that here as well.
Though one must admit that the appearance of guns, in quantity, many thousands of years ago, would have been a pretty impressive miracle (even more impressive and also necessary: the ongoing miracle of ammo from heaven...).
No doubt most reader grokked the humour angle re: Heston's NRA affiliations, but there's a semi-serious point too - armed populaces tend not to be made into slaves, or kept easily in that state. In the modern world, where divine intervention cannot readily be counted upon, it's something worth thinking about as we contemplate the nature of liberty and slavery in an age of genocide.
Joe, if you like that Heston joke, then you will love this site:
http://www.jpfo.org/alert20040219.htm
Its a riot.
Back on topic: I am glad to hear people talking about Passover. Christians have, unfortunately IMO, forgotten the important role that Passover played, both in the lives of the Jews, and in the lives of Jesus and early Christians. The Last Supper, is after all, where Jesus celebrated Passover with his disciples. I hope that Christians keep that in mind. In fact, I wish that Churches would start to re-instate the Passover supper, to help remind us of our roots and the life of Jesus.
G-d bless the Sudanese.
Hope Passover is wonderful for you. I'm a bad Jew and not celebrating this year (hey, inside I'm doing the Snoopy-dance).
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