Easter
season seems like a distant memory as time-travel moves the universe at an
accelerating pace. First, I immersed
myself in a whirl-wind week of social activity, and then I have been busy
preparing for my return to the states for a month, beginning May 6th
and returning to Cuenca on June 9th.
I’ve also taken time trying to organize a great deal of paper work I’ve
accumulated since arriving in Cuenca back in March of 2011, along with all the
other sundry things of life that takes up ones day-to-day activities. As a result, I haven’t posted as much, and my
last post started out as a personal email in which I couldn’t stop writing, and
finally decided to make the email a post.
However, there was an event during Holy Week that I attended, and did
not find the time to share, and although it is out of place chronologically with my other posts, I very much would like to share it with you today.
I was quite
surprised without any prompting from me at the dozens of readers who recently read
my post from last year entitled, http://cuencaperspectivesbyjim.blogspot.com/2011/04/passion-of-christ.html. Last year I lived for two weeks in the heart
of El Centro, and was overwhelmed by the numbers of people, church services, processions
and activities that took place in Cuenca during Holy Week, which began with
Palm Sunday and ended with Easter Sunday.
On Good Friday, I had even made the traditional visit to seven churches
that so many Cuecano Catholic devotees fulfill on that day of the year.
This year I was looking for a new spiritual experience for
Holy Week. A Seder Dinner was advertised
in “Gringo Tree”. I had not attended a
Seder since the 1980’s. I thought that
would be a nice, intimate way of memorializing the Holy Week. Credit for the organization of the Seder went
to Claudia Coplan, and the Seder was held in Emanuela Levin’s home in the
Palermo. The Seder meal is done in
remembrance of the Passover, which was the Jewish celebration each year of the
freedom of the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery.
The Passover is a reminder according to Biblical teaching of the final
plague against the Egyptians as the Angel of the Lord passed over the slaying
of the first-borns of the household, where the blood of the lamb had been
brushed over the door posts of the homes whose occupants obeyed the injunction
of the Lord.
Now the surprise was that I had no idea this was a Jewish Seder. The advertisement in “Gringo Tree” just said “Seder”. I assumed wrongly that Seder was a term used
by Christians in commemoration of the Lord’s Supper. Remember, Jesus and his twelve apostles were
Jews, and kept the Jewish law and holy days.
What Christians call the “Last Supper”, was basically Jesus and the apostles celebrating Passover. I assumed that
Jews simply called the holy day Passover.
So after I arrived, it became clear that the Seder was intended as a
Jewish event. However, I was welcomed
and treated with respect. There was also
a lady of Irish-Catholic background in attendance whose spouse was Jewish, a
young Ecuadorian male with a very pretty little daughter, whose attractive wife
was Jewish, and a gentleman who was half-Jewish.
We went through the ritual of the Seder, which was very much
like the Christian Seders, I had attended decades ago. The primary difference in Christian Seders is
the addition of some prayers that tie the Passover to the Christian heritage
and Jesus Christ. Also, some Christian evangelical
groups will substitute grape juice in place of the wine. We all took turns praying and reading from
the book that was provided, which I will have more to share with you at the end
of this post.
Deke Castleman’s mother had baked matza bread, and it
arrived just in time for the Seder. The bread
was delicious, and I can’t help but wonder if there isn’t a connection there
between that matza bread and Deke’s love of Pizza and its crust. Matza bread is the unleavened bread, for when
the time came for the Hebrews to pick up and leave Egypt, in the rush of
departure there was no time to allow the bread to rise. Matza bread was also on hand at our dinner
from Israel itself; but in a taste-test, Deke’s mother’s matza had it beat by a
mile. After the rituals were performed
and the readings were completed, we shared a dinner together beyond the items
that were used in the ritual Seder. The
evening was very meaningful for me, not only as a student of history, world
cultures, and religious studies; but also on a spiritual level as well. This is a Seder I will remember for a very
long time.
I don’t know what beliefs were brought to the dinner by the
Jews in attendance. Obviously, there
were no Hassidic Jews in attendance, and probably no one who might be identified as an
Orthodox Jew. These attendees appeared
to be more of a liberal persuasion where their Judaism was freed from the
highly ritualistic practice, for example, of various dishes having to be used and washed for
various items, and someone had commented how when they were children the elders
were involved in prolonged readings and prayer sessions that did not apply to
this abridged edition of Seder. This appeared to be a faith practiced without the many legalisms of traditional Judaism. Among those in attendance, some may
have attended out of deep faith; and others may have attended to simply share
memories of childhood rituals and religious beliefs that may not have any
significant impact on their lives today; or they may have attended simply to be
part of the Jewish community in Cuenca, and to share a solidarity with their
brethren over all that the Jewish people had to endure over the many past
centuries, and continue to endure in the world today.
I had the opportunity to make some new acquaintances, and
hopefully some new friendships as well.
In fact, I knew three of the people in attendance from other social
engagements prior to the Seder. The Jewish
people in attendance were by no means all the Jews in Cuenca. With time, we will probably discover a
significant growth in a vibrant Jewish community in Cuenca.
Below is a text that better explains the Seder, and is taken
from Wikipedia:
The Passover
Seder (Hebrew: סֵדֶר [ˈsedeʁ], "order, arrangement"; Yiddish: Seyder)
is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning
of the Jewish holiday of Passover.
It is conducted on the evenings of the 14th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, and on the 15th by traditionally observant
Jews living outside Israel. This corresponds to late March or April in the Gregorian calendar.
The
Seder is a ritual performed by a community or by multiple generations of a
family, involving a retelling of the story of the liberation of the Israelites from slaveryin ancient Egypt. This story is in the Book of Exodus (Shemot)
in the Hebrew Bible. The Seder itself is based on the Biblical verse commanding Jews
to retell the story of the Exodus from Egypt: "You shall tell your child on that day, saying,
'It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.'"
(Exodus 13:8) Traditionally, families and friends gather in the evening to read
the text of the Haggadah, an ancient work derived from the Mishnah (Pesahim 10).[1][2] The
Haggadah contains the narrative of the Israelite exodus from Egypt, special
blessings and rituals, commentaries from the Talmud,
and special Passover songs.
Seder customs include drinking four cups of wine, eating matza,
partaking of symbolic foods placed on the Passover Seder Plate, and reclining in
celebration of freedom.[3] The
Seder is performed in much the same way by Jews all over the world.
Below is a
link that describes in detail the Seder Dinner and the symbolism of each of the foods used in the Seder, along with some beautiful
illustrations:
Since I first posted this post, Claudia Coplan graciously sent me a couple of photos from our Seder Dinner evening, and I am sharing them with you below:
Once again, the link immediately above the photos helps to explain the symbolism of each of the items you see in the photos.
Jim, you write beautifully. I love how you express yourself. Yes, the Seder was a special event and I am so glad that you were there. Just want to comment that Deke Castleman's mother did not BAKE the matzoh! She bought it at a store. You can buy it at many grocery stores in the U.S. We thought that we might be able to buy it in Cuenca at Super Maxi, but couldn't find it here. Gracias! Claudia
ReplyDeleteClaudia thanks for your kind words. Without intending to do so, you are one more pressure point for me to start writing my novel. I apologize for getting the info wrong on Deke's mother who had bought and sent the matzho bread and did not bake it. Her consideration of our needs at 85 years of age was most appreciated by us. The Matzoh did arrive just in time for the Seder, that sure sounds like manna from heaven to me. Thanks also, Claudia, for the photos.
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