Passover

Every year at Passover I write a diary focused on the origins of Jews. This year I have one new insight into the origins of Judaism, and it comes from a direction that isn't quite what I was expecting, and it both goes along with and maybe modifies what is in the bible. So if you have read this before, keep with it, because I caught on to one of the earliest signs of something new in "Israel" originating in Egypt...just like the Passover legend suggests.

Passover celebrates, supposedly, the escape of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. This escape is considered one of the defining moments in Judaism, perhaps THE defining moment. Into this event is placed the entirety of the ancient Jewish identity, supposedly divided into "12 tribes," as well as the defining of Jewish religious law. That is a lot to put into one holiday!

The problem is that the bible account is internally inconsistent and is clearly a mixture of several traditions and myths. That does not mean that there aren't kernels of truth in it, but it is not clear how many events are covered by the Exodus story and what times those various events took place, or if any of the characters involved were real people. What is clear is that the story was written LONG after the events it claims to describe took place, which is common for ancient legends. The bible cannot be taken literally because it is often internally contradictory. That is odd if it is the revealed word of God…but it is very understandable if it is the collected lore of a small group of semi-nomadic people (Hapiru? Shasu Bedouins?) who eventually established a small state or collection of tiny states and were desperately trying to define their identity in relation to their often much stronger and very aggressive neighbors.

So some of my diaries seem poised to become traditions. This comes from last year almost without change. Hell, it has been thousands of years since this story was first told, so it is not surprising I have little reason to change it from year to year.

Passover celebrates Moses leading "his people" out of Egypt, the reception of "THE LAW" and the entry into the "promised land."

So just who was this "Moses?" What kind of name is "Moses?" And just who are his "people?" Well, it seems that "Moses" may be a pseudonym or, really, just half a name, the rest having been suppressed. Yes, suppressed because of some dark secret! His people seem to have been a rag-tag bunch of dispossesed ne'er do wells who may have heard about the idea of "one god to rule them all" from a heretic Egyptian king whose memory was being suppressed at the time that someone like Moses might have existed. And the Exodus? It may not have been so voluntary. Maybe they were trouble makers kicked out for subversive beliefs! So just what is this Passover thing anyway?

Passover celebrates, supposedly, the escape of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. This escape is considered one of the defining moments in Judaism, perhaps THE most important defining moment. Into this event is placed the entirety of the ancient Jewish identity, supposedly divided into "12 tribes," as well as the defining of Jewish religious law. The problem is that the bible account is internally inconsistent and is clearly a mixture of several traditions and myths. That does not mean that there aren’t kernels of truth in it, but it is not clear how many events are covered by the Exodus story and what times those various events took place, or if any of the characters involved were real people. The bible cannot be taken literally because it is often internally contradictory. That is odd if it is the revealed word of God…but it is very understandable if it is the collected lore of a small group of semi-nomadic people who eventually established a small state or collection of tiny states and were desperately trying to define their identity in relation to their often stronger neighbors.

Today marks the juxtaposition of the first night of Passover (starting today at sundown) and what Americans celebrate as April Fool's day.

What few Americans know is that April Fool's Day has its origins in the Passover story. It became dissociated with Passover when it was adopted to the Gregorian calendar, switching it from a lunar holiday like all Jewish holidays to a solar holiday and fixing the date.

April Fool's Day derives from the Jewish holiday called A'fikomen, which originally came 8 days before Passover. Passover, of course, celebrates the Exodus, as everyone knows. And everyone knows that before the Jews left Egypt, Moses tried convincing Pharaoh of the validity of the Jewish religion by matching wits with the priests of Amun, a manifestation of the Egyptian sun god. This famous battle of tricks, called the A'fikomen in ancient Hebrew, did not convince Pharaoh. It took the ten plagues sent by G_d to do that, thus symbolizing the futility of human actions in comparison with the power of G_d.

The battle of tricks between Moses and the priests of Amun were celebrated in a kind of foolish, children's holiday 8 days before Passover called A'fikomen. During this time parents would hide treats and toys and children would have to find them.

This holiday of tricks was condemned by early Christians as belittling the sanctity of Passover (now being transformed into the Christian Easter) and being incompatible with the Christian holiday. But as anti-Semitism grew, the silliness of the holiday was seen as a way of belittling Judaism, so Pope John John III in the 11th century revived the holiday, fixing the time of its observance at April 1st according to the solar calendar and renaming it April Fool's Day.

Passover is rapidly approaching, the day we celebrate freedom from slavery and a supposedly seminal event in our history. Well, the historical basis for this is uncertain. But for Jews around the world this holiday is a major part of our year and Matzah plays a central role.

My family is not so religious, as people have probably gathered. One Passover we spent with a friend that ordered a massive amount of Chinese food for our celebration. The eggroll of our affliction...and pork products did play a role in the seder.

And when it comes to Matzah, my family is ecclectic. We often get egg and onion...usually Streits. My son loves "yellow Matzah" meaning Goodman's egg Matzah. Plain Maztazh is fine. Everything Matzah (Manishevitz) is a bit much, but not bad. The only one we were left a bit flat by, though we appreciated the effort, was Manishevitz "Mediterranean" Matzah didn't quite work.

This year we happened to buy a 5-pack of Matzah for Passover. We tend to eat Matzah on a regular basis...all of us. So buying in bulk around Passover makes sense.

This year we happened to grab the Osem "Israeli Matzah," subtitled "Matzah with a Mitzvah" because they donate some tiny amount of gelt to plant trees for every 5-pack people buy. Planting trees is good. So we bought it even though we realized it was a touch of a scam.

Then we tasted it. THIS is what Matzah should be.

All four of us agree...this is some of the best Matzah we have ever tried. A bit dry, but that is what you expect. PERFECTLY fresh, crisp and tasty. I love it. My wife loves it. My 12 year old step daughter, who currently disparages the world, loved it. My son...he ate it. We are not sure if it's his favorite, but it sure pleased him.