Passover... with a difference
I flew to Melbourne on Wednesday afternoon to spend Pesach (Passover) with my family. Well, my mother and my brother to be precise. My dad isn't Jewish and is therefore more likely to be scoffing hot cross buns than matzah at this time of year.
In the diaspora, Jews have two seders. A seder is the ceremonial meal that you eat on Pesach. It's a totally dumb and outmoded reason that we have two seders these days. Another reason I can't wait to move to Israel. One seder. One meal that takes 5 hours to get through and a whole less constipation at the end of it.
The first night's seder was spent at the home of my mother's cousin. Her family are very religious and as such, we knew we were in for a LONG night. Not only do they read through every last word of the Hagaddah (the book we read which tells the story of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt and their subsequent liberation from 400 years of slavery) and trust me, at times I felt like the evening was taking 400 years to get though... but being a family of Talmudic scholars they all like to boast and show off just how smart and scholarly they all are. Not just one explanation of a particular passage, but seven.
Why read "Why is this night different from all other nights?" in one language, when you can read it in 12? We finally started the actual dinner at 11pm and after dinner we completed the Hagaddah which took another hour or so (by this point the table had shrunk from 20 people to about 10 - and we were hanging on by a thread). My brother was long gone by this point, so it was just mum and I who walked home, finally crawling into bed at 2.45am... Zzzzzzzzz
I wasn't planning to go to a second night seder. I really can't be bothered going through the whole rigmarole twice. During the day I was out visiting my best friend who had her first baby a couple of months ago. I hadn't met the new little addition, so I was in 7th Heaven playing Aunty SGD for the day. I got a call from my mum in the afternoon and she asked if I wanted to go with her to a second seder. But it was not going to be like any normal seder. This was going to be a seder with a difference.
It was at the home of a friend of my brother's - a theatre director. A gay theatre director. A non-Jewish gay theatre director - who loves all things Jewish - decided he wanted to have a seder.
He really didn't know what to do, but had Googled "Passover" and did a bit of research. He went to the supermarket and bought a heap of Kosher for Passover food (including the obligatory matzah) and even bought some really authentic chicken soup with matzah balls from a local Jewish restaurant. He really wanted to do it properly.
I asked mum if apart from us would there be any other Jews coming. She didn't think so.
Oh great. Looks like I am going to be Rabbi SGD tonight. Compared to my religious cousins I was a total heathen. To my audience tonight, I was a veritable expert. Cool. I can play that role!
Actually, I do know a fair bit. Definitely enough to educate a table full of people who had never been to a seder in their whole lives.
It was the strangest set up I had ever seen. From a "halachic" (religious Jewish law) perspective, this seder was as un-kosher as you can get. On the other hand, the effort this guy went to and the commitment of everyone there to learn and be a part of the ceremony was the most touching and endearing thing I think I have ever experienced.
It made me realise that in some bizarre way, this highly un-orthodox seder was the most authentic seder I had ever been to. It utterly encapsulated the spirit of Pesach. The importance of including the stranger, of people coming together, thinking about our lives today and being grateful for our freedom. Sure we were slaves 3000 years ago, but a shitload of people are slaves today.
We ended the night by walking down to the beach - all of us (and Charlie the cross beagle/chihuahua) to light Chinese firecrackers and watch them light up the Melbourne sky.
Me and mum, our eclectic host Jonathan, his new love - and his teenage daughter and a Chilean artist. A greater hodge-podge you are unlikely to ever come across, especially at a Pesach seder.
Another late night, but a wonderful one. As I lay in bed last night, I thought about another famous line from the Hagaddah; "B'shana haba'a b'Yerushalayim" (Next year in Jerusalem).
Next year I will be in Israel (G-d willing) and this time next year I will think back to my Melbourne Pesach and I will smile.
Chag sameach xxx
In the diaspora, Jews have two seders. A seder is the ceremonial meal that you eat on Pesach. It's a totally dumb and outmoded reason that we have two seders these days. Another reason I can't wait to move to Israel. One seder. One meal that takes 5 hours to get through and a whole less constipation at the end of it.
The first night's seder was spent at the home of my mother's cousin. Her family are very religious and as such, we knew we were in for a LONG night. Not only do they read through every last word of the Hagaddah (the book we read which tells the story of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt and their subsequent liberation from 400 years of slavery) and trust me, at times I felt like the evening was taking 400 years to get though... but being a family of Talmudic scholars they all like to boast and show off just how smart and scholarly they all are. Not just one explanation of a particular passage, but seven.
Why read "Why is this night different from all other nights?" in one language, when you can read it in 12? We finally started the actual dinner at 11pm and after dinner we completed the Hagaddah which took another hour or so (by this point the table had shrunk from 20 people to about 10 - and we were hanging on by a thread). My brother was long gone by this point, so it was just mum and I who walked home, finally crawling into bed at 2.45am... Zzzzzzzzz
I wasn't planning to go to a second night seder. I really can't be bothered going through the whole rigmarole twice. During the day I was out visiting my best friend who had her first baby a couple of months ago. I hadn't met the new little addition, so I was in 7th Heaven playing Aunty SGD for the day. I got a call from my mum in the afternoon and she asked if I wanted to go with her to a second seder. But it was not going to be like any normal seder. This was going to be a seder with a difference.
It was at the home of a friend of my brother's - a theatre director. A gay theatre director. A non-Jewish gay theatre director - who loves all things Jewish - decided he wanted to have a seder.
He really didn't know what to do, but had Googled "Passover" and did a bit of research. He went to the supermarket and bought a heap of Kosher for Passover food (including the obligatory matzah) and even bought some really authentic chicken soup with matzah balls from a local Jewish restaurant. He really wanted to do it properly.
I asked mum if apart from us would there be any other Jews coming. She didn't think so.
Oh great. Looks like I am going to be Rabbi SGD tonight. Compared to my religious cousins I was a total heathen. To my audience tonight, I was a veritable expert. Cool. I can play that role!
Actually, I do know a fair bit. Definitely enough to educate a table full of people who had never been to a seder in their whole lives.
It was the strangest set up I had ever seen. From a "halachic" (religious Jewish law) perspective, this seder was as un-kosher as you can get. On the other hand, the effort this guy went to and the commitment of everyone there to learn and be a part of the ceremony was the most touching and endearing thing I think I have ever experienced.
It made me realise that in some bizarre way, this highly un-orthodox seder was the most authentic seder I had ever been to. It utterly encapsulated the spirit of Pesach. The importance of including the stranger, of people coming together, thinking about our lives today and being grateful for our freedom. Sure we were slaves 3000 years ago, but a shitload of people are slaves today.
We ended the night by walking down to the beach - all of us (and Charlie the cross beagle/chihuahua) to light Chinese firecrackers and watch them light up the Melbourne sky.
Me and mum, our eclectic host Jonathan, his new love - and his teenage daughter and a Chilean artist. A greater hodge-podge you are unlikely to ever come across, especially at a Pesach seder.
Another late night, but a wonderful one. As I lay in bed last night, I thought about another famous line from the Hagaddah; "B'shana haba'a b'Yerushalayim" (Next year in Jerusalem).
Next year I will be in Israel (G-d willing) and this time next year I will think back to my Melbourne Pesach and I will smile.
Chag sameach xxx