Passover 5779/2019
Posted on April 18, 2019 at 8:00 am
Have a blessed Passover!
For family viewing: try It’s Passover Grover!, The Prince of Egypt and The Ten Commandments
Interview: Rabbi Evan Moffic on What Every Christian Needs to Know About Passover
Posted on February 2, 2015 at 3:58 pm
Rabbi Evan Moffic’s latest book is What Every Christian Needs to Know about Passover: What It Means and Why It Matters
What would Jews and Christians be most surprised to learn about each other’s beliefs?
I think Christians will be surprised to learn some of the Jewish legends surrounding the exodus. For example, the story about the angels singing when God drowned the Egyptians, but then God telling the angels that the Egyptians are God’s children as well. Or some of the Jewish interpretations of why God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
I think Jews will be interested to know why many more Christians are holding seders and will be fascinating by some of the interpretations and meanings Christians draw.
Was there ever a time when Christians observed Passover or held seders?
Definitely in the first century where most Christians saw themselves as Jews. It faded away as Easter replaced it. But over the last three decades, as Christians have embraced Jesus’s Jewishness and tried to recover first century practices, more and more have been conducting seder.
Which of the traditions of the Passover seder were practiced at the time of Jesus?
It’s unclear. Certainly it was not the same kind of seder we do today. That was not finalized until after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 C.E. But we do know communities and families held Passover meals in which special foods were shared and the Exodus story was told during the time of Jesus.
Are there any depictions of the Last Supper that include matzah or other symbols of Passover?
No. The last supper was definitely a Passover meal but not a seder—with its precise order and ritual foods that we understood today.
Which elements of the Haggadah are of most relevance to Christians?
The story of the Exodus. It is so universal. We all search for freedom in our lives—from addictions, from unhealthy relationships, from idols like success or perfection. Passover tells us God wants to grow and escape the narrowness that traps us.
Why do you call this a “holiday we share?”
Because the Hebrew Bible is part of Christian scripture as well. The Exodus is part of the Christian story as well. It is a story of redemption that Jesus certainly knew and whose meanings are universal.
Do some Jews express concern about sharing this celebration with non-Jews? How do you respond?
Absolutely. Some Jews feel Christians may be appropriating and misinterpreting a Jewish ritual. People have said to me, “How do you think Christians would feel if synagogues did some sort of communion or eucharist?” My answer is always the same. Yes, some people or communities could abuse the ritual and interpret it in ways that make the Jewish part of it irrelevant or superseded by Christianity. That’s why we need this book. It gives an authentic traditional Jewish interpretation that can educate and guide Christians in observing Passover in a meaningful way. It will prevent abuse rather than encourage it. And truthfully, we live in a free society. Our own religious sensibilities should not be threatened by those of others, even if they are deeply consistent with our own. The fact that others celebrate Passover in ways different than our own does not threaten the meaning and truth of our own.
What is the most important lesson you want readers to understand from your book?
Celebrating Passover can change your life. It can help you see your life as an ongoing journey to freedom and purpose. The story of the Bible is also the story of ourselves.
Lullaby
Posted on June 10, 2014 at 8:00 am
B-| Lowest Recommended Age: | High School |
| MPAA Rating: | Rated R for language and brief drug use |
| Profanity: | Very strong language |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | Alcohol abuse, smoking, brief drug use |
| Violence/ Scariness: | Very sad themes of illness and loss |
| Diversity Issues: | Diverse characters |
| Date Released to Theaters: | June 13, 2014 |
An outstanding cast, a weighty subject, and the sincerest of intentions are almost enough to make up for an undercooked, stuntish, and stagey script in this story about a man who decides to die and the family he leaves behind.
The always-brilliant Richard Jenkins plays Robert, who has been fighting cancer for twelve years, eleven and a half longer than his doctors expected. We get a glimpse of him in a flashback, superbly confident and capable as he crisply guides a boardroom through the details of a complicated transaction and then leaves them behind to take his adored and adoring 14-year-old son Jonathan to lunch.
Garrett Hedlund plays Jonathan at 26 and we first see him getting in trouble on an airplane for smoking in the lavatory, and then persuading a flight attendant not to have him arrested with charm — and a request for sympathy because he is on his way to be with his dying father. He is on his way to be with his dying father, but we get the idea that he has been using that as an excuse for a long time.
This visit is different, though. While Jonathan and his mother Rachel (the lovely Anne Archer) and lawyer sister (“Downton Abbey’s” Jessica Brown-Findlay) tell Robert that he can get through this as he has so many times before. But he says, “I fought for 12 years. I’ve got nothing.” He wants to be taken off the drugs so he can see his family clearly. And then he wants them to let him go.
He has a surprise for them. He has given away his money. “I love you both and I raised a couple of spoiled brats,” he tells them.
It takes about a day to sort this all out, and a lot happens. Some of it is touching, as when Hedlund explains why he has stayed away: “It’s hard to love someone with an expiration date stamped on his forehead.” And he did not want to come home until he could be proud of what he had accomplished. Jonathan has to admit that he is the one who is not ready. Rachel is devoted but shows some asperity when no one acknowledges the challenges she faces as the caretaker.
But too much seems artificial. Jessica Barden, like many of the other actors, does far more than it is fair to expect with an underwritten role. In her case it is the plucky dying teenager who just wants to know what one of the normal pleasures of adolescence might feel like, which gives Jonathan an opportunity to duck out on his family as a personal Make-A-Wish, with a chorus of cute sick kids cheering him on. There is a sort of seder in the hospital chapel and an impassioned oral argument. Amy Adams shows up as Jonathan’s ex and Terrence Howard and Jennifer Hudson are the doctor and nurse. All three are sensitive performances in underwritten parts. Issues and hostilities between family members appear and disappear without the underlying emotional heft necessary to provide a reason for the changes. When Robert says he is proud of Jonathan, it is hard to understand why. And yet Jenkins and Hedlund find something in the moment that makes it matter. Writer/director Andrew Levitas shows promise, but he needs to trust his audience a little more.
Parents should know that this film deals with issues of death and dying, including assisted suicide, and it includes smoking, drinking, drugs, sexual references, and strong language.
Family discussion: Who should decide when someone should be allowed to die? Have you discussed your wishes with your family?
If you like this, try: Two Weeks
List: Passover Movies
Posted on April 19, 2011 at 9:59 pm
Reposting — Hag Sameach! Passover is not just about remembering the story of the Exodus from Egypt. It is about telling the story. Thousands of years before people talked about “learning styles,” the Seder included many different ways of telling the story, so that everyone would be included, and everyone would feel the power of the journey toward freedom. The Haggadah makes the story come alive through taste, smell, and touch as well as sight and hearing, and through the example of the four sons it presents the story to the wise, the simple, the skeptic, and most especially to the young — one of the highlights of each Seder is when the youngest person present asks the traditional four questions, beginning with “Why is this night different from all other nights?”If they had known about movies back in the time of Moses, they would have included that form of story-telling, too. For younger children, The Prince of Egypt and Joseph – King of Dreams
