"Why is this night different from all other nights?"

On Monday night, Jews all over the world will gather in their homes to celebrate the first night of the most important Jewish holiday, Passover (Pesach in Hebrew, pronounced "pay-sahkh"). The holiday commemorates the Exodus--the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. Those of you who attended Sunday school or who have seen Cecil B. DeMille's unintentionally campy classic are probably familiar with the story, complete with a burning bush, a leader with a speech impediment, ten nasty plagues, and a rousing rendition of "Pharaoh Don't Surf."

Passover lasts for eight days. Before Passover begins, observant Jews clean their houses of all leavened foodstuffs, called khametz, and refrain from eating any khametz during the holiday. To get their bread fix, they substitute an unleavened, cracker-like bread called matzah, which essentially tastes like cardboard with a little salt mixed in. The reason that observant Jews eat matzah is to commemorate the fact that the newly liberated Israelites had to pack up and leave Egypt so quickly that they didn't have time to let their bread rise. Hence, matzah is commonly referred to as "The Bread of Affliction," although some Jews will tell you that it has that name because of the wicked case of constipation that one can come down with from eating too much matzah.

The first (and usually second) night of Passover is celebrated with a ritual dinner called the Seder ("say-der"). The Passover Seder involves the participants reciting blessings, singing songs, eating special ceremonial foods (including matzah), and telling the story of the Exodus. Oh, and there's the drinking of four cups (yes, four cups) of kosher wine (Can you imagine four cups of Manischewitz? Talk about hangover city...).

To follow the order of the Seder, each participant is given a booklet called the Haggadah (plural Haggadot), from which the participants recite the parts of the Seder ritual. Experts in Jewish history believe that most of the Haggadah was written by the rabbis of the Middle Ages. One of the most well-known parts of the Seder, detailed in the Haggadah, is called the Four Questions. The Four Questions begin the Maggid, the retelling of the story of the Exodus. The youngest person at the table recites the Four Questions, which starts with a passage called the Ma Nish-tana: "Why is this night different from all other nights?" The Ma Nish-tana is posed to trigger a discussion of the special rituals of the Seder, such as the reason for eating matzah instead of regular leavened bread.

Okay, enough with the educational stuff. What does this discussion of the Passover Haggadah have to do with words? Well, while all Haggadot have the same basic elements, the wonderful thing about the Haggadah is that no two Haggadot are alike. Some are very traditional and adhere very strictly to the Seder ritual as it has been passed down through the generations. Others are very new agey, complete with all sorts of allusions to nature and spirituality. Still others are quite secular, with more of a humanist theme than a religious theme. There are vegetarian-themed Haggadot, punk Haggadot, feminist Haggadot, leftist Haggadot, and Haggadot filled with literary references. Run a Google search and you will find dozens of Haggadot for downloading. There are even Haggadot that are like open source computer codes, where users from all over the world add to and improve the Haggadah each year. And coffee-maker Maxwell House has been printing a Haggadah since 1934.

But, despite their differences, all Haggadot hearken back to the central themes of any Passover Seder: the celebration of freedom and the desire for freedom for all of humankind. This year, I'm sure that many Passover Seders will have special sections devoted the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. Here in Indiana, I believe that many Seders will have a portion devoted to urging others to become dedicated to the defeat of SJR-7 so that our state constitution will not become a weapon of discrimination.

In closing, if you're not Jewish but happen to get invited to a Seder, I strongly urge you to accept the invitation. There's more than enough in the ritual to be embraced by everyone, Jew and non-Jew alike, especially the call to supporting the cause of freedom.

Sources:

• Judaism 101
• Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, Jewish Literacy (2001).

Socalled - "2nd Cup: Bless The Wine", from The Socalled Seder: A Hip Hop Haggadah.

Matzah!