What is a Jewish Passover Seder? A Jewish Passover Seder (SAY-der) is not so much a service as a feast--a relaxed, joyous, celebratory feast.
With the use of foods such as matzah, horseradish, parsley and salt water, not to mention the delicious apple-raisin-nut-cinnamon-grape juice combination called charoses (ha-ROE-ses), the Seder re-tells the story of the Exodus from Egyptian bondage.
This 2-3 hour event is the original multi-sensory educational experience you won't soon forget! We provide the leadership, promotional materials, menu, recipes, and Haggadah. You provide the place, the people, and the food. God provides the Spirit and a heck of a good time!
Host a BridgeWorks Passover Seder meal if you desire:
a deeper understanding of the religion of Jesus
a fuller experience of Holy Week
the opportunity to reflect personally on bondage and freedom
the chance to experience God as deliverer
outreach and community-building opportunities
Calendar Quandaries When is Passover? Passover and Easter usually fall right around the same time, making it especially fitting to have a Passover Seder during Holy Week. But in 2008, Easter fell on March 23 while Passover didn't begin until the evening of April 19. Why the 4-week difference?
Here's a brief explanation of a complicated formula. The Jewish calendar is lunar while the standard Gregorian calendar is solar.* Each of the 12 months of the Jewish calendar has 29-30 days and begins on the new moon. (Celebrating the New Moon or Rosh Chodesh is an ancient practice mandated and mentioned throughout the Hebrew Bible-see for example Ezra 3:4-5 and Isaiah 66:23). Every so often, a leap month (Adar II) is added to re-calibrate the lunar calendar with the cycles of the sun. 2008 is one such year. That's why Passover and Easter occur almost exactly 4 weeks apart that year.
A Passover Recipe: Iraqi Charoses
From “Keeping Passover: Everything You Need to Know to Bring the Ancient Tradition to Life and to Create Your Own Passover Celebration,” by Ira Steingroot.
The Rabbis enjoin us to celebrate the Passover as if we ourselves had been freed from Egyptian bondage. This recipe helps us to remember those who are still in bondage today.
¼ cup pine nuts
3 ounces raisins
grated apple
1 tablespoon sugar
2 hard-boiled egg yolks
cinnamon and allspice to taste
½ cup ground almonds
juice and rind of lemon
Mix and chill.
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*The Jewish calendar is actually a lunisolar calendar. It's based primarily on the cycles of the moon but incorporates a periodic leap month to coincide with the cycles of the sun. The Islamic calendar is truly lunar in that it has neither leap months nor days. That's why the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and its accompanying daytime fast occurs at a different time each year.