Happy Pesach

My last chametz

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I had flatbread for lunch

That’s right, there is a full moon tonight.
Happy Full Moon!

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Getting there

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Closer. I’m sure I’m still missing something…

(The haroset is coming with a guest.)

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Save me a Google. What’s with the turkey leg.

Did you invite Elijah? Damned if you don’t, cuz it will be the one time he does show up.

We always invite Elijah. He didn’t drink much, though.

Visiting every house, he would get sloshed if more than a sip.

He saw how fat Santa got from the cookies

He visits only the most sincere Seder, eh?

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I’m glad you asked that question.

That’s a lamb shank bone. It is there to remind us of the lamb our ancestors sacrificed to God, to put some blood on their doorway, so the angel of death would pass over their homes when it slew the firstborn in the Egyptian households.

The purpose of the Seder is to remind us of the Exodus from Egypt, and to teach our children about it. That’s one of the three central symbols we use. The other two are matzo and bitter herbs (usually horseradish)

The matzo is to remind us that our ancestors fled with little notice, grabbed their stuff and ran, without time to let their bread. You can see a box of Aviv matzo on the table. Also that colorful flat thing in the center holds three sheets of matzo that are part of the ritual.

The bitter herbs are to remind us of the bitterness of slavery, because our ancestors were slaves in Egypt before they fled. The lumpy thing on the same plate as the shank bone, behind the egg, and between the parsley and the orange, is a chunk of horseradish root. The white stuff between the orange and the shank bone is sliced horseradish. There are also slices of horseradish on the little blue plates. That’s the stuff we actually ate, the stuff on the center plate is for show. There’s also a bottle of ground horseradish & beet on the table. But i think everyone ate the sliced horseradish this year.

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You do the orange too? I believe the quote source of that has been disproven, but it has become a family tradition

Thanks. That was way more interesting and informative than what I got from reading online.

I started putting an orange on the Seder plate based on the “urban legend”, but I’ve kept it there to support lesbian Jews and other marginalized by mainstream Judaism. This is a good summary of the story:

In a longer article i read last year, Heschel said that she debated what to add to the Seder plate, and initially thought she might add bread, but decided that was wrong, because bread actually doesn’t belong at the Seder. She settled on an orange, instead.

The purpose of the Seder plate is to inspire children to ask “what’s that mean?”, and “what is the purpose of this shank bone?” (where “shank bone” is spelled “pesach”), followed by an explanation, is literally part of the service. I added the stuff about matzo and maror (bitter herbs) because that’s the rest of that section of the service.

So i was super amused that you asked, and also pleased.

us too. Always joke it is to insult Anita Bryant (known for hawking OJ and homophobic comments, in the 70’s(?)

Ooh, good line. I’ll have to add that next year.

Lol,so its working as intended.

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Exactly!