Passover marks multi-layered liberation

Andrew Edwards

Passover begins today at sundown, celebrating the world’s Jewish

people for the 3,317th consecutive year.

It is the oldest holiday observed in any Western religion, said

Rabbi Mark S. Miller of Temple Bat Yahm in Newport Beach.

Passover is the remembrance of the liberation of the Israelites

from slavery in Egypt, as told in the Torah. The story includes the

account of God sparing the Israelites from the plagues inflicted upon

Egypt, and the communicating of the Ten Commandments to Moses.

However, Miller said, Passover is observed as not only a day to

reflect upon the past, but for adherents to look to the future.

“It symbolizes you’re going forward to freedom,” he said, adding

that Passover gives people a chance to look at “the gap between where

you are and where you should be.”

Members of every generation that celebrates Passover should act as

if they themselves had been liberated, said Rabbi Reuven Mintz of the

Chabad Jewish Center in Newport Beach. Though modern observers may

not be held captive in a foreign land, life has many complications

that reduce freedom.

“We restrict ourselves with boundaries and limitations and so many

distractions in our own lives,” Mintz said. “There is so much going

on that pulls us away from our families, our communities, from caring

-- from giving to those who really need it.”

In addition to being a celebration of spiritual liberation,

Passover is also a time to be grateful, said Rabbi Marc Rubenstein of

Temple Isaiah in Newport Beach.

“No matter how much we kvetch or complain, we should be thankful,”

Rubenstein said.

An important part of Passover is the traditional Seder meal, in

which the foods served are symbolic. Matzo, unleavened bread, is

especially important, Miller said. Eating the flat, yeastless matzo

reminds us not to exhibit a puffed-up ego, but to practice humility.

“We want to conduct a search inside of us, into our spirits and

hearts, to find what has caused leavening in our personalities,”

Miller said. “We’re all God’s children equally; we have the same

amount of soul breathed into us.”

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment. He can be

reached at (714) 966-4624 or by e-mail at andrew.edwards@

latimes.com.