First Passover

PASSOVER SEDER
Off to the side, you will see a picture of my new husband and me.  We will be celebrating our first Passover together and wondered what to do because we do not have any children at home.  Additionally, we were concerned about how long the traditional service takes and how many glasses of wine we are supposed to drink.  We decided to shorten the service to suit us, and to make it entirely positive.

Today I cleaned house.  I also emptied the house of Hametz in a non-traditional way.  When we moved here, we didn't know where to put the freezer, so we stuck it on the back porch.  It looks ugly there, but this morning, I realized it was there so I didn't have to feed all the bread to our chickens!  Ha!  (It's not correct, I know, but I'm a convert, so I'm cutting myself a little slack!)

Before dinner we will scatter a tiny bit of bread around for our dogs to find, which they will no doubt do with as much glee as children do. 

This morning I made some gluten free Matzah by blending three overripe bananas with some walnuts and pouring it in square-ish shapes on a dehydrator tray.  I marinated lamb in fresh squeezed grapefruit, basil, olive oil, garlic and onion flakes. 

I don't have a tablecloth, but I do have a nice piece of burgandy velvet, so it will suffice!

I put three pieces of Matzah on a platter a friend gave us at our wedding last month!  I will cover the Matzah with a cloth that was my grandmother's.  Another friend gave us a Passover platter, on which I will place a lamb bone and a few pieces of meat; dandelion and rosemary from our garden, chopped fine; a paste of apples, golden raisins and walnuts; a boiled egg, Miner’s lettuce from our hill; and a peeled orange. Nearby I will place a bowl of salt water. I will open a bottle of red wine and have 3 glasses on the table, one for Elijah.

Below is a script of sorts I wrote out for our reference.  The man of the house is supposed to lead the service, but I figure that may be tiresome and also, I want to participate more.  So I have him saying the blessings and me giving commentary.  If you use this script in your home, D. is the man and L. is the woman. 
We will start with Kiddush (Kadeish), pouring about 1/3 glass of wine, D. saying the blessing.

D. washes his hands, then dips miner’s lettuce in salt water and we both eat it.

D. uncovers and breaks ½ of middle piece of matzah and places it aside for later (afikomen).

L. opens the window and says, motioning to the remaining matzah:

This is the bread of poverty, which our ancestors ate in Egypt. All who are hungry, let them come in and eat. All who are needy, let them come in and celebrate the Passover. Now we are here; next year may we be in the land of Israel! Now we are slaves; next year may we be free!


D. says:

In every generation a man is bound to regard himself as though he personally had gone forth from Egypt, because it is said, and thou shalt tell thy son “it is because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.” We were slaves unto Pharaoh in Egypt and the Lord our God took us out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. If the Holy One, blessed be He, had not taken our forefathers out of Egypt, then we, and our children, and our children’s children would still be slaves unto Pharaoh in Egypt.

D. re-covers the Matzah.

L. says:

This night is different from all other nights. We eat unleavened bread because our people fled Egypt in haste and thus had not time to allow their bread to rise.  We eat bitter herbs to remind us of the bitterness of slavery in Egypt. We dip in salt water to remember our tears and in haroset to remember the sweetness of freedom. Tonight our home is our Temple.


D. reads from Psalm 114:
When Israel went forth from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of strange speech,
Judah became His holy one, Israel, His dominion.
The sea saw them and fled.


D. pours second 1/3 glass of wine. We both wash hands. D. recites Hamotzi with the following ending:
“who sanctified us by His commandment concerning the eating of Matzah”

We each eat Matzah.

D. then recites Hamotzi, with the ending:
“who sanctified us by His commandment concerning the eating of bitter herbs.”

We each then eat a bite of bitter herbs with a bite of haroset.

D. then says:

Thus did Hillel, when the Temple was in existence:
He would combine some of the pashal lamb and some Matzah and some bitter herbs and eat them together to fulfill the Biblical command: “They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.”


Then we combine Matzah, bitter herbs and a bit of lamb and eat like a sandwich. We finish with a bit of orange, which symbolizes the bringing of marginalized people into Judaism.

Then we eat our dinner, splitting the egg in half and pouring the 1/3 glass of wine. L. says, as she splits the afiklomen in two for our “dessert”: “When we break the bread of poverty and share it with a prayer, it becomes bread of the Lord.”

D. reads from Psalm 116:

I love the Lord, for He hears my voice, my pleas
For He turns His ear to me whenever I call
The bonds of death encompassed me
The torments of Sheol overtook me.
I came upon trouble and sorrow
And I invoked the name of the Lord…
You have delivered me from death
My eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
I shall walk before the Lord in the lands of the living.

And from Psalm 136:

Praise the Lord, for He is good,
His steadfast love is eternal…
Who split apart the Sea of Reeds
And made Israel pass through it.
His steadfast love is eternal.
D. pours a sip more wine each. L. places the third glass on the window for Elijah. We clink glasses and say: “Next year in Jerusalem!”