What is Seder?

The Seder festival contains singing, enjoying special foods, telling stories, wine drinking, reading and any other types of Passover traditions. As commanded by the Hebrew Bible or the Torah, the Seder celebration is being done every sundown during the first and second night of Passover festival. But if you are living within the Land of Israel, you can do this for the first night. Jewish living outside of the Holy Land, they do these things in the second night of Passover. These things were being done to commemorate the day when the Children of Israel get their freedom from the slavery of cruel Egyptians more than 30 decades ago. The celebration of Passover Seder in this year will be done during the 19th or 20th day of April 2019.

During the first or second evening of the Passover Seder celebration, the following are the things you will need. Take a look at these;

•    Festive meals, such as gefilte fish and chicken soup that contains time-honored favorites.

•    Four cups of kosher wines.

•    Romaine Lettuce and Horseradish or different types of bitter herbs that did not provide any additives and dipped into a paste of wine, nuts, pears, and apple, which is known as charoset.

•    Matzah, which is usually dry and flat cracker-like bread.

•    Vegetables dipped in a saltwater.

Every item mentioned above has their place in the 15-step choreographed mixture of smells, sensations, sounds and tastes that take a big part to the lives of many Jewish people for many years.

What do Jewish People use for Every Passover Seder?

•    The procedure during the Passover Seder is derived from the Book of Haggadah. Even if the language used in writing the Book of Haggadah with a small touch of Aramaic language, it is still understandable by many Jews who don’t understand Hebrew by translating it to Haggadah in language.

•    The foods for the Passover Seder are being arranged on a Seder plate that is usually called as kaárah. You can also use one or more kaárah during the whole celebration for the Passover Seder.

A Note from the Jewish Sages

During the Passover Seder celebration, each Jews are allowed to celebrate the festival as if they are finally free from the cruel Land of Egypt. The retelling of the story of the exodus of Egypt will start with the patriarchs of the Jews, including Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham and commemorate the descents of the Jewish people in the land of Egypt and recall their persecutions and sufferings. The Jewish people were with the Egyptians when the Lord God sent His ten plagues as the punishments to the Egyptians as well as to Pharaoh for being a cruel leader, who still followed the Children of Israel on crossing the Sea of Reeds. The Jewish people also see the miracle given by the Lord God to their fellows when the water separated from each other, which allows the Children of Israel to pass the water. After the Israelites crossed the water, it returns to drown the Egyptians following the Israelites.

As the Jewish people eat their bitter foods of poverty and illness, the story of Exodus turns into reality, as real as the celebratory toasts and festive meals that follow.

The Benediction – Kadesh

The services for the Seder will start through reciting the Kiddush, which proclaims the holiday’s holiness. The Kiddush recitation will start through holding a cup of kosher wine, the first cup out of four cups of wines that they will drink throughout the feast.

The Four Cups of Kosher Wine

Why Jewish people need four cups of kosher wines to celebrate the Seder celebration. It is because the Hebrew Bible uses four different deliverance and freedom expressions in regards to the liberation of Israelites from the cruel land of Egypt. Some people connect this to the four various merits of the Israelites who have been exiled. These great merits didn’t change their names in Hebrew and continue to speak in Hebrew language and remain loyal and highly moral to their fellows. The kosher wine is being used to celebrate the Seder celebration because it symbolizes happiness and joy.

Why Jewish People Recline?

When Jewish people start to eat matzah foods and four cups of kosher wines, they lean to the left side of their body that symbolizes their freedom from the Land of Egypt. During the ancient Jewish times, only the Jews are allowed to have luxurious reclining while drinking and eating.

Urchatz – Washing

Jewish people usually wash their hands which a ritual manner and is done before their dinner time, but the customary blessing is not present. The second step to the celebration of Seder festival is the so-called “Karpas,” which requires Jewish people to dip their food such as bread into the water. According to the law of Jewish, wet foods can only be eaten with their clean and purified hands or with any types of eating utensils. During the Seder evening, the Jewish people prefer to choose the ideal but less common observance to arise the curiosity of their children.

Karpas – The Appetizer

A single piece of any vegetable, such as a boiled potato or onion for the tradition of Chabad were being dipped into a water that has salt and will only be eaten after the recitation of the customary blessing for the vegetables.

Through dipping the karpas vegetables into the salt water after washing their hands plays a big part in their customs that will arise the curiosity of Jewish children. Karpas is a Hebrew term which is parsley in English, when you read it from right to left, which symbolizes the backbreaking works by the 600,000 plus Jewish people while they are in the Land of Egypt.

Yachatz – Breaking the Matzah

The matzah in the middle of the Seder plate will split into two pieces. The lesser part of the middle matzah will be put back into the Seder plate. The broken middle matzah or also called as the “bread of poverty” that will stay visible as the Jewish people retell the story of Exodus in Egypt and will shortly eat after it breaks. The bigger part of the broken middle matzah will set aside for the future usage that is also called as “afikoman.” Splitting the middle matzah into two pieces will not only attract the attention of the Jewish children but also it will remind the scene when the Lord God divided the Sea of Reeds into two to let the Israelites cross into another land.

Maggid – The Haggadah

During this time, the poor Jewish were allowed to join the Seder festival celebration. The tray for Seder will be set aside and the second cup of kosher wine will be poured, and a Jewish kid, who is now being more curious and will ask some time-honored questions, such as “Why is this night different from all other nights? Or Mah nishtanah ha-lailah mikol ha-leilot in the Hebrew language, why do Jews recline and relax as if they are the kings? Why bitter herbs? Why the dipping? Why only matzah?

The curiosity of a Jewish kid will trigger one of the essential elements of the Passover Seder that will emphasize the ceremony of Seder; including the retelling the Exodus of Egypt by Jewish parents to their children. The answer to these questions of Jewish kids will include the short recap of Jewish history, which is a review of the story when Abraham rejects the idolatry and get in the path of the Lord God. This is the description about the sufferings experienced by the children of Israel, the 10 different plagues that were sent by the Lord God to the Egyptians, and the miraculous things given to them by the Lord God to make His people free from the cruel land of Egypt. They do this to thank the Almighty God for giving them the freedom from slavery in Egypt. They also pray for themselves about the final judgment of the Lord God.

Washing Before the Meal – Rachtzah

After finishing the Haggadah custom through drinking the second cup of kosher wine, the hands of the Jews will be washed for the second time, but this time the customary blessing will be present and is usually done before they eat the matzah bread.

Jewish Eat the Matzah – Matzah Eating

With the three matzahs in the hands of a Jews that have the broken piece between the entire piece of the matzah while reciting the customary blessing for the bread. Then they will let the base of the matzah to drop into the Seder plate again. They will still hold the entire matzah with a broken middle matzah on its center while reciting this customary blessing, “al achilat matzah.” After that, a Jew will eat the two broken pieces of the middle matzah while they are reclining.

Maror – The Bitter Herbs

The Jewish people will eat one ounce of bitter herbs and dip it into the so-called charoset while shaking it and recite the customary blessing, which is “al achilat maror” and without reclining, Jews will eat it.

Korech – The Hillel Sandwich

In keeping the custom of Hillel, according to the sage of the Talmudic time, the maror and the matzah sandwich will be eaten. Place the dipped bitter herbs between the matzah while saying “kein asah Hillel” and they will eat it while they are reclining.

The Passover Feast – Shulchan Orech

The meal for the holiday feast has been served. The Jewish people will start the meal by eating the hard-boiled egg that has been dipped into the salty water. Traditionally, eating the hard-boiled egg will remind the Jewish people about the sacrificial lamb of their meal.