Taking the story of Passover to the Web

MICHELE MARR

In 1968, a band named the Rascals released a hit song titled “People

Got to Be Free.” The song’s first few lines are, All the world over,

so easy to see / People everywhere just wanna be free / Listen,

please listen, that’s the way it should be / Peace in the valley,

people got to be free.

Had the band written the song 3,280 years earlier, the Hebrews

might have sung it as they scrambled for their freedom from slavery

in Egypt through a dry corridor across the Red Sea, cut by Moses with

God’s blessing.

Passover, a Jewish festival of freedom celebrated each year in

March or April, remembers God’s liberation of the Israelites from

more than 200 years of bondage under Ramses II in Egypt. This year,

the eight-day observance begins Saturday evening -- or the 15th day

of Nisan on the Jewish calendar. It is the most widely kept of all

Jewish festivals.

Unlike our secular Independence Day, Passover calls for

time-consuming preparation and the satisfaction of a number of

requirements in its celebration. Homes have to be rid of all chametz,

any leaven or any leavened product. During Passover, only matsah,

unleavened bread, is eaten in remembrance of how the Israelites fled

Egypt in such haste, there was not even time for their daily bread to

rise.

Stove tops, ovens, refrigerators, sinks, counters, pots, pans,

cutlery, flatware and dishes all must be kosher -- extensively

cleaned -- to be fit to use during Passover.

The Seder meal -- the centerpiece of Passover, held on its first

two nights -- is saturated with symbolism, telling the story of the

Israelites’ bondage and their long-awaited freedom. It also

celebrates the paschal sacrifice of an unblemished lamb, offered to

God, then eaten before the Holy Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.

Central to the Seder is the partaking of matsah, four cups of wine

and bitter herbs, and the recounting of the Exodus story, read from a

book called the “Haggadah” -- the liturgy for the Passover Seder,

containing commentary, illustrations, an English translation or

explanation of Passover customs.

The complexities of Passover could more than fill a book, which is

why Rabbi Aron David Berkowitz, of Chabad of West Orange County and

Congre- gation Adat Israel in Huntington Beach, is pleased to

introduce what he calls “the world’s most compre- hensive Passover

site,” at https://www .chabadhb .com.

The site has hundreds of pages of information about Passover,

practical how-to guides, video and audio clips, stories and games and

deeply mystical reflections.

One of the first things I happened across was a definition of

chametz that went beyond its physical nature to the spiritual --

likening matsah to humility and chametz to arrogance.

“Chametz is the antithesis of matsah, the unleavened bread we eat

on Passover,” the definition explains. “And the flip-side of eating

matsah is getting rid of chametz -- and the egotism and spiritual

coarseness it represents.”

There are Passover recipes, traditional Passover Seder songs, an

audio-visual lesson on baking handmade matsah and a complete

translation of the “Haggadah.”

A rather poetic introduction to the Passover Seder begins:

“Millennia before the Xbox, the PlayStation or even Apple computer,

an ancient desert tribe of mystics created the first multimedia

educational experience ... Rich audio, dynamic visuals, spoken

language and written text, even the visceral senses of taste, smell

and touch.

“It was intergenerational -- involving all the family with

something special for each one ... No lesson has affected humankind

with such impact, propagating the values of human dignity, liberty

and the search for higher meaning to every society it has reached.

“To this day, in every corner of the world, Jewish families come

together to reconstruct that original Passover Seder, again and again

... and every year, there is more to learn.”

The introduction notes Passover’s paradox.

“On Passover eve, the night that freedom was born, we experience

freedom by following a sequence of 15 defined and ordered steps. We

call it the Seder or ‘Order.’ ”

Berkowitz said the website was designed “with every Jew in mind,

young and old ... “ But he thinks all will find the site useful.

“Lubavitch emissaries bring the holiday practice and joy to

millions of Jews in myriad ways,” he said.

The emissaries sponsor community Seders, distribute hand-baked

Shmurah Matsah for Passover Seders, create model Matsah bakeries for

children and schools, and create publications and websites to explain

the customs of Passover. A few years ago, Berkowitz’s son Yossi, also

a rabbi, was involved in a public Seder in Nepal, which drew close to

a thousand people.

His hope this Passover is for the website to enable “visitors to

delve deeper into the holiday,” as well as to “allow hundreds of

thousands to learn about it for the very first time.”

I think his prospects are good. The website is colorful, well

organized and, I found, easy to navigate.

But should you disagree, you’ll find the site’s lively, animated

mascot, Mr. Matsah, ready and waiting to give you a guided tour.

* MICHELE MARR is a

freelance writer from

Huntington Beach. She

can be reached at [email protected].