All about heritage

The Seder plate isn't designed to please the palette, but its symbolic representation and tradition continues to be an annual highlight in Jewish homes.

Observed on the first and second nights of Passover - April 19 and 20 this year - the ceremonial meal consists of bitter herbs, saltwater, unleavened bread, vegetables, a hardboiled egg and a mortar mix of apple, nuts, wine and spices.

While many people wouldn't consider the course to be a savory banquet, the plate's arrangement provides a tie to Jewish past and a reminder for the future. The Seder observance also includes a full-course, festive dinner that's more flavorful to participants and there's wine involved.

On Sunday, the Temple Beth El in Odessa will have an open house event to educate and prepare for the eight-day celebration weeks away.

 Rabbi Sidney Zimelman of Fort Worth said Passover started with Moses and the ancient tradition has been continued through Jewish generations to commemorate the flight of the Hebrews from more than 400 years of slavery in Egypt.

"It's to relive the Exodus so we would appreciate, in every generation, how important it was for our people to come out of slavery and emerge into freedom - to live a life of service to others," he said.

The symbols and rites of the Seder meal, patterned after ancient Roman and Greek banquets, have special meaning to detail the experience of slavery's bondage.

"It's a home show-and-tell program - an educational tool - it's very didactic," Zimelman said. "There are lots of interpretations for all of these symbols."

The teaching moment is accented with Psalms of praise, prayers and reading of the Passover story from the Haggadah, traditional Jewish literature.

Picce Glast, the Temple's gift shop chairwoman, said preparations for the holiday involve a thorough housecleaning and removal of all starch products from the home. Children from out of town often come home for Passover to spend the time together as a family.
Because there was no Brotherhood Dinner this year, Glast said the Temple is having Sunday's open house before Passover to explain its procedure and importance. The gift shop will have educational materials, cookbooks and ritual items for sale.

"We're trying to keep that educational background going in the community and working with other churches in education," she said. "There's a growing interest for the community to learn about Passover and have their own version of a Seder - they want to know the traditional ways of doing things."

Odessan Dalia Oud, who was born in Israel's metropolitan city of Tel Aviv, said she was raised in the traditional Jewish ways and remembers Passover in her homeland as a national holiday.

"On the first day, most people have the day off work," she said.

 Oud said she's not sure where she'll celebrate Passover this year because she's leaving for a visit to Israel in a few days. Wherever she does observe the festival, Oud said the reminder of past hardships makes her appreciate the freedom that she does have.

"Being free - that's the main theme that applies to this holiday," she said. "You can't change the past, but what you can change, is the future."

What do they mean?

The traditional Passover Seder includes the following food items:
>> Matzah: Unleavened bread, much like a cracker that represents what the Hebrews ate in their flight from Egypt.
>> Charoset: A mixture of apples, nuts, wine and spices that symbolizes the mortar the Jewish slaves made in their building for the Egyptians.
>> Beitzah: A hardboiled egg with a darkened shell signifying the festival offering.
>> Zeroa: A roasted shank-bone, which represents the sacrificial lamb and deliverance of the people from slavery.
>> Karpas: A green vegetable, typically parsley, is dipped into salt water during the Seder. The parsley represents the promise of spring and the salt water represents the tears shed in Egyptian slavery.
>> Maror: Bitter herbs, usually grated horseradish, symbolize the hardships and bitterness of Egyptian slavery.
>> Chazeret: Bitter vegetable, usually Romaine lettuce, also reminders of the bitterness of slavery.

WANT TO GO?
>> The Temple Beth El gift shop has an open house event from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Synagogue, 1501 N. Grandview Ave.
>> There will be educational information on the Seder meal and Passover essentials for sale.
>> Call Picce Glast at 561-8118.