Passover Seder

LSSU Students had the opportunity this past Monday to come together and celebrate one of the oldest religious ceremonies; it has been continuously practiced for over three thousand years, the Jewish feast of Passover. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is one of the most recognized Jewish Holidays and holds a special meaning to those of that faith.
Over three thousand years ago the Jews were held captive by the Egyptians who owned them as slaves forcing them to labor in the making of bricks.   
According to the Bible, God lead the captive slaves out of the land of Egypt, after bringing ten plagues upon the land.   The Passover Feast takes place on the night that God brought the tenth and final plague to the land of Egypt and with it killed all of the firstborn, male children in the land.   The Book of Exodus tells us that the Jews were spared this terrible plight by sacrificing a lamb and using its blood to denote their separation from the Egyptians.   On that night, after the Egyptians realized what had happened, they not only let the Israelites leave but they forced them to go quickly, so quickly in fact that they did not have time to prepare food to leave instead making wafers of unleavened bread for their journey.   The Jews have ever after celebrated their deliverance from Egypt with the eating of unleavened bread, herbs, and the drinking of wine to remember their miraculous deliverance from bondage.
Doug Anger, lead around 30 people in observance of the feast in the traditional Jewish manner, including all of the ancient customs and prayers that have been said for thousands of years.   As tradition mandates, several small children asked questions of why the feast was taking place, and to what purpose, then their questions were answered in the traditional manner.   One of the last of the traditions observed was the search for the missing piece of Matzah, traditional Jewish bread, which when found completes the feast.
This great evening of traditions was a great way for LSSU students to learn more about the world around them.   Even though we are a small campus, feasts such as this help to bring a sense of understanding of the world in which we live as well as provide a unique insight into the differences of cultures.   Hopefully, the celebrating of Passover will become and annual event here on campus as students continue to strive to learn more about what others believe and why they believe it.
