Biblical Limericks: Roast or Boil?

The priestly author insists, madam,
that we roast and not boil the lamb,
but Deuteronomy’s
author quite disagrees,
‘boil it,’ he says, ‘roasting be damned.’

Exodus 12: 9, Deuteronomy 16: 7

(The verb used in Deuteronomy 16:7  is translated in most every other instance as “boiled” but is deliberately changed by some translations to “cooked” or even “roasted” in this verse to bring it into line with the explicit prohibition on boiling the Passover lamb found in Exodus 12: 9)

A Christian Passover – Hopefully Something More than an Exercise in Self-Justification

I fully realize that this may be an exercise in self-justification.  I recognize that, but it’s where I’m at, at least for now. 

For several years now I have lead my congregations in a Passover dinner – connecting it to the last supper of Jesus with his disciples.  I’ve shared the Haggadah that I’ve cobbled together (and continue to tinker with).  I have even made my own matzoh a couple of times. And I have found the practice to be very rewarding, spiritually and educationally.  And my church people have appreciated it too. They have experienced new foods, new customs and new traditions that help them to better understand their own faith, and to better understand the faith of their Jewish brothers and sisters.

(And yes- I do recognize that the gospels are not clear that the Last Supper was a Passover dinner, and that the Seder traditions that exist today were developed well after the time of Jesus.  I make these caveats known to my people.)

But earlier this week Theoblogy blogger Tony Jones shared Five Reasons You Probably Shouldn't Attend a Christian Seder.  This post troubled me a great deal.  Of his five points, it was number five that nagged at me.  

5) How would you feel if a rabbi or imam performed a mock baptism? That’d be pretty weird, right? That’s pretty much how it is when Christians take a practice that is central to Judaism and attempt to recreate it with Christian meaning. Virtually every Jew I’ve ever asked about this finds the practice offensive.

Here, and here, and here, and here are a couple more articles posted on line that debate the issue back and forth. Some rabbis say “sure, it’s fine” other say “no, absolutely not” others are somewhat ambivalent.

I take seriously the concern that a Christian Seder could be understood as a form of cultural appropriation, and as offensive.  I don’t want to do that. That has never been my intent.  There has been a terrible long history of Christian offenses against our Jewish brothers and sisters.  I do not wish to continue that.   I don’t want this to be a “mock” Passover – to ridicule or denigrate the faith and customs of anyone.

However I have chosen to continue with our plans to host a Passover /last supper dinner with my congregation tonight (fully recognizing that my Jewish friends celebrated the official Passover dinner Monday night) for the following reasons:

1) I believe in a continuity between the Hebrew bible /Old Testament and the New Testament. 

 2) The earliest Christians were Jewish; they did not consider themselves converts to a new/different religion and it seems very likely that they would have continued to celebrate the Passover and would have invited their gentile brothers and sisters to join them. 

 3) Religious borrowing is not a new thing – and not exclusively a Christian thing. Psalm 29 seems to be a “Yawhistic adaption of an older Canaanite hymn to the storm-god Baal, (Dahood, 175).”[i]  Proverbs 10 - 22:16 includes much material that is directly borrowed from an Egyptian source - The Instructions of Amenemopet.  And Paul (a Jew’s Jew, if there ever was one) ‘appropriated’ the statue “to an unknown god” at the Areopagus (Acts 17: 22 – 31).

 4) While recently in Israel, I was invited to pray at the western wall in Jerusalem - even if I was praying to God with an altogether different understanding, and offering my prayers in “Jesus’ name…”

So this is where I am –at least for now.  I have shredded the horseradish for the maror; I have mixed the haroset; I’ve set the tables with the nice dishes, and laid out the Haggadah books. In a few moments I’ll go back to the kitchen to finish a few more preparations before this evening’s celebration.  But my thoughts on this issue are not finished.  Whether or not I will do this again next year is not yet clear. 

Next year in Jerusalem...maybe...

*

(EDITED slightly - to qualify point number 2 a little and to add the Egyptian proverbs to point number 3)

---

[i] Dahood, Mitchell Psalms 1 – 50 Introduction, Translation, and Notes Doubleday & Company, Inc, Garden City NY, 1966.

Are You Yet In the Garden?

Approaching midnight, Thursday,
I am listening to the music of Tavener
and drinking a final cup of tea before bed;
are you yet in the garden?

Have the soldiers come
with torches and with clubs;
have you been kissed by treacherous lips
that, only hours earlier, were singing the hallel?

Why Is This Night Different From All Other Nights?

I know that actual Passover was a few nights ago on Tuesday.  But in keeping with Holy Week traditions we're having ours tonight.

I've been cooking and getting things ready all day, and I still need to change before we begin, but I wanted to share a couple of photos .

Also, if you're interested, last year I shared the Haggadah that I have been tinkering with over the years.  I put it together based on several different sources and have continually adjusted it over the 15 or so years that I've been doing this. Feel free to download it and to adjust it to your own use.  (Also, please feel free to point out any errors that I might have made.)


You might notice that our Maror (bitter herbs) looks a little ... festive this year.  I went to seven (7!) different stores looking for horseradish root - and no one had any.  So we substituted regular radishes.  Oh well... Next year in Jerusalem!

The Bread of Affliction

Because it is impossible to find matzoh in any of the stores in my little community (or in any within an hour's drive) I have, this year, made home made matzoh for our upcoming Passover dinner.

The cookbook I'm using (The New York Times Passover Cookbook) declares that the "laws governing the baking of matzoh for for Passover are so stringent that doing so at home is virtually impossible..." (page 95).

- Granted - I don't know very much about modern Kosher laws, but this seems like a far cry from the first Passover when the Israelite people baked their humble bread over hurried cook fires.

And they shall eat the meat on that night, roasted over the fire, and matzos, with bitter herbs, shall they eat it. - Exodus 12:8

Look! This is the bread of affliction, the humble and simple bread which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt.  Let those who are hungry join us at this Seder, and let them partake of what we have to share.

A Passover Haggadah for Christian Use

This is a Passover guide for Christian use that I have been compiling and refining over the past several years.  I share it with you.


A Passover Haggadah for Christian Use