A few weeks ago, after Purim, I was explaining to my sisters (who are not Jewish) about how we celebrate Purim.
I had enjoyed celebrating Purim with friends from Beth Tikvah as well as students and friends from Dickinson College earlier that day. To celebrate we had read the Megillat Esther, the Scroll of Esther, which may be familiar to some as the Book of Esther in the Bible.
My sisters wondered “what is a Megillah.” I explained that it is a scroll, and that there are in Judaism five scrolls, or Megillot, that are read as part of holiday celebrations throughout the year. These five scrolls are 1. The Book of Esther, read at Purim; 2. the Book of Ruth, read at Shavuot; 3. the Book of Lamentations, read at Tisha B’Av; 4. the Book of Ecclesiastes (Kohelet) read at Sukkot; and 5. the Song of Songs (also called the Song of Solomon), read at Passover.
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After that conversation I started wondering — why do we read the Song of Songs at Passover? If you have read the Song of Songs, well, it can be considered rather erotic love poetry. What does that have to do with Passover, a holiday that commemorates the Exodus from Egypt?
I decided to do a bit of research on it, and I found something of an explanation. According to Rabbinic tradition, the Song of Songs is considered a love song, but is interpreted with God as the Bridegroom and the People of Israel as the Bride. The holiday of Passover commemorates the beginning of the “courtship” between God and Israel.
Also the Song of Songs is a song about spring, and Passover is a spring festival. The tradition also tells us that Rabbi Akiva insisted that the Song of Songs be included in the Biblical canon, in part at least because he dearly loved his wife. Also Judaism does not favor asceticism or celibacy for adults, but rather considers it healthy and good for spouses to have a pleasurable sex life.
Passover starts this year on Monday evening, April 22 and will run for eight days. The Jewish calendar date for the start of Passover is the 15th day of the month of Nisan. During that period of time Jews will not eat “leavened” bread but instead will eat Matzah, a hard flat wheat bread.
We celebrate Passover to commemorate the Exodus from Egypt, an event many of you are familiar with from reading the Bible or from movies. During Passover, Jews tell and retell the story of the Exodus from Egypt during the ceremonial meals called “Seder.” Most Jews will celebrate two Seders, one on Monday night and one on Tuesday night.
It is a wonderful time for families and friends to get together to tell the story about the Exodus. As Jews, we are required to tell the story to our children, and the Seder is how we do that. The Seder, which means “order,” is a series of ritual prayers, questions and answers, as well as special foods that we eat.
The youngest person at the Seder will ask Four Questions about why this night is different, why we eat only bitter herbs and matzah, and why we relax around the Seder Table. The rest of the Seder consists of the older participants telling the story.
It starts with when Jacob’s family went down to Egypt to escape famine, at the invitation of Joseph. But later a Pharaoh who didn’t know Joseph and his contributions to the people of Egypt, came to the throne. He enslaved the Jews. As you know, Moses was subsequently born in Egypt and raised in the house of Pharaoh, and became a defender of the Jews. He tried to convince Pharaoh to let the Jews go, and it took 10 terrible plagues to convince Pharaoh to let them go.
We eat the bitter herbs to commemorate the bitterness of slavery. We eat the matzah, the unleavened bread to commemorate the haste in which we left Egypt; we didn’t have time for the bread to rise. And we drop 10 drops of our Passover wine out of our cups to commemorate the sufferings of the Egyptian people from the 10 plagues. Passover is a wonderful, happy holiday for Jews, a time for family and friends together remembering the miracles of that time.
Passover is followed by a modern holiday, Yom HaShoah, which is the Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust. This year Yom HaShoah will start Sunday evening, May 5 and run through Monday, May 6. The Jewish calendar date will be the 27th day of Nisan, during the same month as Passover.
Yom HaShoah is actually linked to the Passover holiday historically. The holiday was created by the State of Israel in 1951, to commemorate the Warshaw Ghetto Uprising against the Nazis that started on 14 Nisan/April 19, 1943, the day before Passover. Like the original Passover, the Warshaw Ghetto uprising was a struggle for freedom.
In order not diminish the significance of either Passover or Yom Hashoah holidays, the Knesset in Israel set the date as 27 Nisan. This date places the holiday during the period of the Uprising, but after the end of the Passover.
Yom HaShoah is a very somber holiday, whose purpose is to commemorate the millions of people, including 6 million Jews, who were murdered by the Nazi genocide in Europe in the 1930s and ‘40s. It is a custom in many Jewish communities to Read the Names, over a 24-hour period, of the 6 million Jewish victims who were killed, so that their names are never forgotten. Many communities sponsor special programs to commemorate the victims of the Nazis, including Holocaust survivor speakers and memorial prayers.
Every year Carlisle holds a Holocaust Memorial Service for Yom HaShoah. This year the annual Yom HaShoah service will take place on Wednesday, May 8, at 7 p.m. at the First Lutheran Church on High Street in Carlisle. This Yom HaShoah service is co-sponsored by Congregation Beth Tikvah and the Carlisle Area Religious Council. Everyone is welcome to attend.