Peace, Justice and Freedom Seder

This year I’m hosting another love, justice and freedom seder* on Saturday, 7th April 2012 (2nd night). We’ll be roughly using http://saltyfemme.wordpress.com/haggadah-zine/ but with a more traditional “telling” of the Exodus story and various other bits will also be more orthodox.

Matzo Pizza!

Been craving Italian food all week, but its passover, so for 8 days I’m not eating any grains except in the form of matzoh to celebrate the story that thousands of years ago my ancestors chose shitty bread and freedom rather than comfort and servility.  And that means no tomatoey, cheesey, herby goodness on a tasty dough base. :(

But last night I had a personal Eureka!  I can make pizza out of matzos!

Hosting an anti oppression Seder – what does it mean to us?

Interfaith Anti-Oppression Passover Seder

Friday 22nd April.  8pm.  The Free Hetherington, 13 University Gardens.

Facebook event

Pesach – shitty bread and freedom

For the 8 days of Pesach (passover) we eat Matzoh instead of bread. Matzoh is this rather plain, hard to digest thin cracker stuff. Its what you get if you just mix flour and water and flatten it out and then put it in the oven in less than 18 minutes. Along with millions of Jews around the world, I am not eating anything made of grain except matzoh. [0]

But its glorious!

For 8 days I eat it to celebrate that my ancestors chose shitty bread and freedom rather than complacency and oppression.

I eat it and think of how impossible it must have seemed back then that a motley group of slaves would escape from the great Egyptian empire. I do not believe it was some external G-d that freed us, but our inner G-d – our own human souls that give us the fire and resolve and passion to better our lives and the lives of our fellow humans.

For 2 nights I sat at seder tables with other Jews. We discussed the great story, and obeyed the dictat to relive it – that every generation should consider ourselves personally freed from Egypt. Egypy in Hebrew means many things but includes all that, internally and externally, which binds us, confines us. What confines us today? How can we also throw off, grow, develop and make ourselves free?

The first night I was with 2 other hippy/radical/Anarchist Jews and I really enjoyed the discussion of inner divinity, of freedom, of challenging oppression, of feminism and creating a better world. We finally started eating sometime after 1am! I got to bed at 4am. The second night I was hosted by a chasidic Rabbi and it was an interesting contrast. This time I learned more of traditional meanings, symbology and stories.

“Listen Israel, the lord is G-d, the lord is One” This is the great Jewish declaration of faith. It speaks to me of how the lord which we should listen to and follow is that inner divine, that inner voice that burns and speaks truly and drives us to do good. And that inner divine is One – it unites all of humankind.

So – to shitty bread and freedom! Humans have always fought against oppression, always sought freedom and better lives. In the past huge liberations were achieved against tremendous odds. Now its our turn.

[0] Many Jews also will be much more strict, only using special “kosher for pesach” foods and toiletries for the whole time. All other foods will be either removed from their homes, or put in special cupboards legally “sold” temporarily for 8 days.