Here is reaearch on the history of Passover compliled by Al Tauber (Humanistic Jews of Greater Portland) during 1995-6. ROOTS OF PASSOVER INTRODUCTION Passover is the most popular of all Jewish holiday's. It is the greatest of the Jewish festivals. It is the oldest of the Jewish festivals, and it is the most universally observed Jewish festival. The rich Seder pageantry, with its appeal to the young and the old, the display of sparkling dishes, the traditional gourmet meals, the family reunions, and the general gay and festive atmosphere, all combine to create a charm and exuberance unparalleled on other occasions. Nature too, cooperates by exhibiting radiant colors and exuding a heady fragrance after the bleak harshness of winter. Jews have celebrated a spring festival from their early tribal days. Passover is based on myth and legend as well as history and custom ranging from the religious to the secular. Passover began as a tribal and family celebration, became a temple event both in the first and second temples, and, after the destruction of the second temple returned to a family event. To understand the evolution of Passover and it's meaning in our time it helps if one understands the concept of Memes. MEMES Memes are units of cultural information, comparable in their effects on behavior, to those of chemically coded instructions contained in the genes. Memes are passed from one generation to the next by example, communication, and imitation. Memes, once created, are independent of their creator and have a life of their own. Passover is a meme. Our behavior, under control of a meme becomes automatic. It controls us rather than our controlling it. We tend to believe our current version of a meme existed from the beginning of the meme. Passover was shaped as a meme over thousands of years, in a large part by very Orthodox Jews. We face the challenge of how should we modify the Passover meme from a Humanistic Jewish viewpoint for ourselves and for future generations of Jews. HOW A MEME LIKE PASSOVER EMERGES Festivals change and develop in accordance with various modes of life and periods of history. Holidays usually start as nature festivals and are observed in that season of the year when nature itself changes. Later however when people reach a higher cultural level, they give a deeper spiritual meaning to the festival, and the old ceremonies assume a new symbolic significance. A holiday is then often the interpretation which is given to it. First comes the custom, then the ceremony, then the observance. The ceremonies and the rites, to a great extent, remain the same but they take on new meaning. We will trace this process with the evolution of Passover. WHY SHOULD WE CELEBRATE PASSOVER When we celebrate Passover we are committing ourselves to an unending struggle for freedom from oppression for all people. We recognize that the myths we recite (the Exodus) and the symbols we use, food, wine, matzoth, are just a legend - a legend that brings an historically proven methodology of inculcating and teaching that pursuit of freedom meme into all peoples, not only Jews. It behooves us to address the issues of our times, and add our version to the festival. We then will pass that modified meme on to future generations. In order to remain vital, the past must be capable of being revitalized by every generation expressing its own fears and hopes in telling the stories of their forefathers. This is precisely the point made in the Haggadah story of the rabbis meeting in B'nai B'rak and discussing the Passover issues all night. The rabbis were in fact the leaders of the Bar Kocha rebellion against Rome, and they spent the evening planning the rebellion. They in turn made modifications to the Passover festival. Rabbi Akiba added a prayer to the benediction for redemption in which was expressed the hope of the Jew to live long enough to observe Pesach in a new, free Jerusalem. THE PASSOVER TRADITION OF FREEDOM The Passover tradition of freedom has served to inspire other people in other contexts. Some leaders of the American Revolution saw their situation similar to that of the Israelites in ancient Egypt. Thus they chose for the seal of the Declaration of Independence, a scene depicting Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt, and they added the motto "To Rise Against Tyranny Is To Walk In The Way Of God". Negro slaves saw their plight reflected in the biblical story of the Exodus which included an injunction against slavery. So they sang: "When Israel Was In Egypt Land-Let My People Go." In the 1960's, during the civil rights and anti war movement in the US a new Haggadah for a "Freedom Seder" took place in Washington DC The Jewish Feminist movement produced a Jewish Women's Haggadah. It is clear that the Passover story has impacted upon those yearning to be free in all lands and in all periods of time. THE REALITY OF THE JEWISH EXPERIENCE More than 100 years of determined and immensely expensive historical research and archaeological quest in the Nile delta have not yielded one single shred of verification of Jewish origins and the Exodus. No record of this monumental event appears in Egyptian chronicles of the time. Israeli archeologists combing the Sinai during intense searches from 1967 to 1982 did not find a single piece of evidence backing the Israelites' supposed 40 year sojourn in the desert. That means that the case for the existence of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua and the Exodus cannot be proven. PRIMITIVE ROOTS OF PASSOVER A myth is a traditional story of people in a preliterate society, dealing with supernatural beings or ancestors, who were originators of a primitive view of the world. A legend is as unverifiable popular story, handed down from earlier times, and may in fact be developed out of an ancient myth. There was a cultural pattern in the Near East in primitive times for spring festivals that included: Fasting Wearing of new clothes The exchange of gifts. Sacrifice and feasting Recital of epics of creation of the world and human kind. Rites of purification A going out of the city to open country. Food has to be eaten in haste so that it is pure and free of fermentation. Bitter Herb's must be eaten at the same time as an effective cathartic against any impurity that may inadvertently have been consumed. The recementing of the bonds of kindship and community by "breaking bread together:" The first born belongs to the Gods Primitive man, at the new year, is preoccupied with the coming year with hope and anxiety. There is a desire for continuity in the orderly benevolence of nature. It is necessary to approach and exert pressure upon the powers that govern the order of the universe and to maintain friendly relations with them. The ritual is directed towards a special divinity, it must be held on a fixed date, and at a certain shrine. It is preceded by ceremonies of purification and all who participate, including the animal victims, are ritually clean. The ritual is an assembly attended by all male adults, and this assembly is regarded as a mustering for military as well as for religious purposes. The people are divided into tribes, and the tribes into families. The people are led by a chief. There is a recital of the myths of Creation and the legends of the beginning of the tribe. There is also ritual dancing, and finally there is an exodus into the desert. In primitive societies, the family consisted not only of its human members but also of its God. He, too therefore is regarded as being present at the communal meal and as being bound by the bond which it cements. It is necessary to make some outward sign for those who have participated and thereby entered into renewed ties with one another. The usual method of doing this is to sprinkle some of the animal's blood on their forehead, the flaps of their tents, or the door posts of their houses. Accordingly, the mark of blood affords a means whereby the God may readily recognize those individuals or households with whom he has entered into a pact of friendship and protection. It thus becomes, in effect, a device for averting supernatural hurt. The roots of Passover were in two early festivals, one of shepherds, and one of farmers that welcomed spring in two different ways. PESACH (The shepherds' festival) The Pesach was a nocturnal ceremony performed at the full moon of the spring equinox. The ritual may have been directed towards a lunar divinity . The moon was widely held in ancient times to have influence on fertility. Practically it would provide uninterrupted light in which to carry out the complex ceremonial. As the month of lambing begins, the shepherds celebrated the flock's fertility by sacrificing a sheep, and dancing a skipping Pesach dance around the campfires in the belief that the first born belonged to God. The primitive Passover was performed at a shrine or shrines. All male adults were required to attend, and to observe ritual cleanness. After the settlement in Canaan all solemn communal meals took place at shrines, a widespread Near East practice. High places are hills considered holy by the Canaanites. On each was a stone slab which was used as an alter for sacrifices, as well as a holy tree. The sacrifice was roasted whole, just before nightfall, and eaten in haste in the middle of the night. The ceremony was considered as an antidote to plagues, misfortunes, and illness, and it was an assurance of good luck and safely for the coming year. It was a family festival, conducted by the head of the family. The village generally stood on the slope of the hill. The entire village would make it way to the "high place" on top of the hill. The people would offer their sacrifices and then hold a huge feast singing holy songs and dancing religious dances. THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD (The Matzoth festival) The farmers, in preparation for the harvest of spring barley and wheat, cleared out from their homes and storehouse all the chametz, the sour dough, the starter dough they used to make the bread rise. It was right to celebrate the new crop by starting over. It also meant starting over their history by eating the most ancient bread of all, the unleavened bread that was the beginning of the farmer's food. The feast of Unleavened Bread was generally held at a local high place. It is not hard for us to picture the simple joyous scene on these occasions. We can see festive Jewish persons winding up the hill in a joyful procession, bearing the omer, the first sheaf of barley to the "high place" HOW THE PASSOVER WE CELEBRATE EVOLVED BATTLES FOR FREEDOM There are two possible explanations for the origin of the battle for freedom against oppression that pervades the Passover story: A rebellion, for the first time, of an assemblage of peasants, mercenaries, and other socially underprivileged people contending against the ruling classes of the Canaanite city-states. Some Jews, perhaps recruited by the Hsykos kinsman, found their way to Egypt, and later when the Hsykos fell out of favor, returned from Egypt. At best only a small part of the Israeli nation was in Egypt. BIBLICAL PASSOVER REFERENCES The Seder, at the time of the Exodus, was a family meal. This was supposed to have happened around 1250 BCE. Passover was celebrated after Joshua led the Jews across the Jordan. In the tenth Century Solomon offered burnt offering upon an alter in the feast of unleavened bread. The next reference, 500 years later, was in the time of King Hezekian (715-687) BCE. Then King Josiah 620 BCE forever changed the nature of Passover. THE ORTHODOX INFLUENCE Between 900 and 300 BCE Jewish intellectuals, writers and religious leaders created a unique culture, a singular religion, a distinctive view of human behavior, and they invented a history of, and a theory of history, to justify and give narrative depth to all the other facets of their culture. They needed a story of their origins, a narrative myth to account for this specialiness, for their moral fiber, their intelligence, their intense communal sensibility, their durability in the face of onslaught and exile. A history was created going back to 2000 BCE to give substance and conviction to the law that went forth from Jerusalem. They became the people of the book between 900 BCE and 300 BCE. They leaned on the J and E documents. THE BOOK OF J Somewhere around 800 BCE, in the court of King David's grandson, a writer of genius, quite possibly a woman of the high aristocracy, contrived this astonishing legand about the rise of the Jews. It included the Exodus story. The J documents show that the blood of the Pesach victim was poured, in an atonement ceremony, at the base of the alter, its flesh was consumed whole with unleavened cakes. The victim had divine qualities. KING JOSIAH In the reign of Josiah there was a strong progressive party, seeking to reconstruct Jewish national life and establish it on a new basis of justice and right. One of the outstanding reforms was the elimination of the "high places" because Jerusalem was declared the one sanctuary for all Jews. The spring festivals, therefore, lost their local character and became a national observance. The reformers of King Josiah (621 BCE) rewrote Israelite history. The editors gave a Deuteronomist interpretation of the Exodus myth to the older narratives of J and E. Seeking to unite Jews of the South with Israelites of the North with a common epic, Josiah's priests attached the Exodus story to the great spring farmers' festival of Matzos, a seven-day celebration of the harvest characterized by the eating of unleavened bread made from unfermented new grain. Seeking to affirm the patriotic roots of the Hebrew people in the nostalgia of shepherd simplicity, the priest also attached the spring fertility festival of Pesach to Matzos. Pesach was a shepherd holiday which celebrated the fertility of the flocks and the arrival of new lambs and kids. It featured the killing and eating of young lambs and the marking of tent posts with blood to ward off the dangerous intrusion of evil spirits. In the reign of Josiah, the Pesach was raised to the status of a national ceremony, a status that it retained throughout its subsequent history, It was to be held only at the central shine in Jerusalem and in commemoration of the Exodus from Egypt. The rite of smearing the victim's blood was omitted. The flesh was now to be boiled, instead of being roasted. Some scholars suggest that not until the Babylonian exile did the two festivals become one. They were cut off from the nature-rhythm of their own barley harvest in regard to the one festival and cut off from the sacrificial alter at the Temple in Jerusalem in regard to the other festival. The Israelites in Babylon may have needed the two festivals connected and their dates fixed. In exile, their intense desire for exodus, for freedom and a return to the land of Israel, may well have burned hot enough to melt down the meaning of the ceremonial meal of matzo-to fuse it with the shepherds festival and the Exodus story. PASSOVER CELEBRATION IN THE 2ND TEMPLE PERIOD In the post exile period of the second temple the priests usurped the authority that had once been exercised by the kings. Passover was celebrated only in the Temple in Jerusalem. Both the sacrifice and meal were celebrated within the wall of the Temple. The importance of the centralized festival grew over time. Celebrants stayed in tents within the Temple area. As the numbers of pilgrims grew it made it necessary to permit the meal, but not the sacrifice, to be held outside of the Temple but restricted within the bounds of Jerusalem. As long as the Temple stood, the sacrifice of Passover was unique. The head of the household himself slaughters, in the temple, the lamb which his family or group were to eat during the evening. This was a great privilege, since all other sacrifices were carried out by the priests. For many, it was a meeting of males, organized in groups, with a minimum of ten participants. (A minyan). Yet the festive week, even in the Temple times, must have begun to assume some of its present family character influenced by the "humanistic rabbinism" of the Pharisees. Their ideas were converting formal archaic ritual into something warm, intelligent and human. The meal in the Temple times already included the recital of the story of Exodus. Towards the end of the second century BCE, some Jews who attached great weight to the scrupulous observance of tradition began to express this by joining a Chavurah (group), to ensure that they would be dealing with people who observed the proper standard of cleanliness and trust. Members of a Chavurah would pledge themselves to observe these standards and also those of ritual cleanliness, On this basis, they could trustingly do business with each other, knowing for example that the food they traded had been properly tithed. They naturally shared the Passover sacrifice. At the height of the 2nd Temple thousand of priests and Levites are gathered in the Temple. There are twenty-four division of them on duty for the holiday. They repeat the ritual 3 times to accommodate the crowds. Levites blow the ceremonial blast on their trumpets. Priests perform their share of the ritual and the Levites stand on a platform and sing Hallel to the accompaniment of musical instruments. Smearing of blood was now done on door posts within the Temple. Thousands of Jews rush from the Temple through the streets of Jerusalem, each bearing on his shoulder the sacrificial animal wrapped in it own skin. The animals are roasted in clay stoves called Pesach - ovens, that stand in the courtyards of the homes. Relatives and friends assemble from near and far. The poor are invited to the homes of the rich and a spirit of brotherliness, of national unity, binds all together. All are partners, masters and slaves, men and women, the aged and the youthful. All are dressed in white, festive clothes, much adorned and bedecked. The women wear jewelry in honor of the occasion. In the homes, people lounge on sofas placed around the room. The left hand rests on soft cushions, the right hand takes food and drink from small individual tables set before each feaster. One sits at the head of the room and leads the ceremonial observance. AFTER THE DESTRUCTION OF THE 2ND TEMPLE 70 CE It was only after Jerusalem was destroyed (70 CE) that the celebration became once again, a complete family gathering. Two courses were served, consisting of a piece of roasted meat on the bone and a roasted egg. The seder, when it began, was planned simply as a banquet. A meal with talk, prayers, and songs breaking in here and there. A festive, graeco-roman meal (talk-feast) which the seder emulated, had the form of a preliminary drink, some hour d'oeuvres, leading directly to food, during which wine and more talk continuing after the meal was over. THE MISHNAH (200 CE) Haggadah means a recital of the tale that is told to celebrate Passover. It can include ethics, history, folklore or anecdotes, and can address the issues of the struggle for freedom in our time. The Mishnah, which was edited around 200 CE was a deposit of four centuries of Jewish religious and cultural activity in Palestine. Therefore some of the seder material goes back as far as the second century BCE. The new interpretations were intended for a new generation, to whom the old ceremonies lacked meaning. As an example the mishnah reports that the father's answer was "we began with shame and ended with glory," where shame meant that our fathers worshipped idols. Over time, that became "we were slaves in Egypt". Passing over now became God's passing over the Jewish homes when he slew the first-born of Egypt. The quickly baked matzot were eaten because the Jews were in such a hurry to get out of Egypt that they had no time to leaven their bread and bake it properly. The bitter herbs were declared to be reminders of the bitterness of the Jewish lot in Egypt. Even the fruit salad, the charoses, was considered symbolic of the mortar mixed by the Jews when they were slaves in Egypt. One point of the seder is to affirm that we are descendants of slaves - the first group of slaves in recorded history ever to wage a successful rebellion against their masters. The central message is that the world can and should be transformed CONTINUALLY CHANGING CEREMONY "A wandering Aramean was my father"...affirms a kinship between Jews and Syrians, the hereditary enemies of Egypt. As read today "An Aramean sough to destroy my father", making it anti-Syrian. This was done to soften the anti-Egyptian features of the Exodus during the rule of the Ptolemies of Egypt. 30 generations of Jews had lived prior to the rabbis formulating the rule that all Jews are obligated to regard themselves as if they personally were delivers from Egyptian bondage. In 500 CE the Gemara's commentaries made some changes to the text and arrangement laid out in the Mishnah. One of the Mishnah questions is about the roast lamb of the Pesach sacrifice. This was changed to one about reclining. The custom of reclining during the meal was an expression of freedom ...free Roman citizens would recline to eat a formal dinner. It also shifted the telling of parts of the ritual around to make sure the telling was done well and thoroughly before the effects of wine and food had dulled the abilities of the celebrants, and the children became tired. Pour out thy wrath was added in 1189 as a reaction to the Crusades THE HAGGADAH Seder means program which means that the ceremonies accompany the recital are carefully prescribed. The Haggadah become the story of more than one period of persecution. The Pharaoh of history personified later oppressors, and the archtypical salvation from the Egyptians carried echoes of Israel's every deliverance through the ages. The traditional Haggadah today is the legacy of our Ashkenazic forebears. It was Ashkenazic Jewry, also that adopted the many songs we sing at our seder. "Dayenu", originated in 168 BCE, previously optional, became an integral part of the service, other songs like "Hadgada" were added. The Haggadah tells a story that rings true because we ourselves have been shaped by it. The first full recording of what is basically our present Haggadah is in a famous prayer book, edited by a Babylonian scholar in the ninth century BCE (Rabbi Amram). It wrote out the Karaite, more conservative Moses oriented view from the Haggadah. It was a deliberate attempt to downplay the role of Moses (Levites) by the priesthood (Aaronites). Maimonides, in the twelfth century, included the Haggadah as part of his collection of prayers. In the thirteenth century are the first signs of the Haggadah is being produced as a separate book including songs and poems. In time, increasing attention was given to embroidering the Haggadah manuscripts with decorative letters and a variety of biblical and ritual illustrations. The Haggadah stimulated the imagination of scribes, printers, commentators, poets, artists and the general public as no other book has done in Jewish history. First printed Haggadahs emerged at the end of the fifteenth century. The prohibition against graven images applied to images for worship. In a social background art was part of the dominant culture. Jews felt free to include it in the Haggadahs. The great Haggadahs in southern France and northeast Spain incorporated miniature picture books. First accusation of the blood libel and ritual murder at Passover was in Ornwich, England in 1144. CHAMETZ Chametz owned by a Jew in violation of the Laws of Passover is forever unfit for consumption and enjoyment. Up until the late middle ages, the quantity of accumulated chametz by Jews was generally small. It was disposed of by destroying or selling. At that time long distant travel took weeks and months. Passengers had to provide their own food and most of it was chametz. The practice of selling and buying back came into being. A change in occupation and economic conditions of the 16th century east European Jewry had made the sale and repurchase at home a requirement (Inn Keeping). This was done for 250 years. In the 19th century the Rabbis contracted the buying and selling for all.(1856) PASSOVER IN OUR TIMES The key to making the seder work, today, is recognizing that it is not just about some ancient liberation - it is about our liberation toady. We should also use the Passover to actively engage ourselves in planning how to transform the world. A seder must have some time allocated for concrete discussion of how to move politically and/or culturally to transform the contemporary world. Our own liberation requires the liberation of all people and the end of all oppression.