The Gospel for Holy Week

[Lalaith]

I did not realize Passover was a 7-8 holiday. What does it entail? I only know of the Seder.

(And I didn't mean to stir up controversy over the "Happy Passover" thing. It's why I asked. It didn't seem quite the right thing to say, in one sense, but then I didn't know what else to say, wanting to acknowledge that there are people of other faiths commemorating a different holiday.)

[MithLuin]

We include the reading of the passage through the Red Sea (with its frequent reference to "Pharoah's chariots and charioteers") in the Easter Vigil readings, as well as the hymn from Exodus 15. Deliverance is a fairly joyful thing, I would think, but we include it as a reminder that passing through the waters of baptism is a passage from death into life.

I think that celebrating God's saving actions (whether to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, or all people from sin on the cross) is always appropriate, but that such celebrations are more solemnly joyful than "happy."

[Lurker]

It's the Third Reading Exodus 14:15-31; 15:20,1
Canticle Response is Exodus 15
"Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory."
(T. Barrett Armstrong)

I love the way the lector at our parish read it. It was very moving esp. when everybody was seating in almost complete darkness, you feel like you were there. There were lights at the altar only, so it was difficult to read the passages so you really have to listen. We are fortunate enough to have attended the Easter Vigil which lasted for three hours from 9pm -12 am. (My parents took care of the babies for us.) I pity those parishoners who had to stand the rest of the vigil cause the church was packed. We were there at 7:00 pm so we could get seats and there were already people ahead of us. We were seating there in the dark (I swear!!!) just reflecting and praying.

[Elentári]

We also sang Psalm 114 at out Easter Vigil:


Psalm 114
1 When Israel came out of Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,

2 Judah became God's sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.

3 The sea looked and fled,
the Jordan turned back;

4 the mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.

5 Why was it, O sea, that you fled,
O Jordan, that you turned back,

6 you mountains, that you skipped like rams,
you hills, like lambs?

7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,

8 who turned the rock into a pool,
the hard rock into springs of water.

It is sung solemnly to a plainsong chant, with the cantor doing alternate verses.

[Crucifer]

We did it to a Bairstow Chant, full choir all the way through.
Unaccompanied, as we were in the treasury of the crypt.

[nerdanel]

I did not realize Passover was a 7-8 holiday. What does it entail? I only know of the Seder.

Lali, the seven day requirement is straight from the Torah (Leviticus 23:5):

In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month between the two evenings is the LORD'S Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD; seven days ye shall eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have a holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work. And ye shall bring an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days; in the seventh day is a holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work.

It's called the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. Israelis and Reform Jews in the diaspora celebrate seven days as prescribed by scripture, but more conservative Jews in the diaspora celebrate for an eighth day. Several reasons have been posited for the extra day. I think the most common explanations are either (1) historically, to ensure overlap with the celebration in Jerusalem; and (2) historically, because some Jews had to travel long distances to get to their place of worship, and the sages wanted to make sure everyone had time to arrive.

(And I didn't mean to stir up controversy over the "Happy Passover" thing. It's why I asked. It didn't seem quite the right thing to say, in one sense, but then I didn't know what else to say, wanting to acknowledge that there are people of other faiths commemorating a different holiday.)

I don't think you stirred up controversy. Actually, I feel guilty because a couple of times, you've said something completely innocuous and I've taken it and run with it stream of consciousness. (not recently, and maybe not on this board, but I vaguely remember this happening before) Essentially, you asked about something that had been on my mind all week, and I seized the opportunity to discuss it. I hope it didn't bother you.

And, I think it's pretty awesome that you stopped to acknowledge that we were celebrating Passover at the same time, so thanks for that.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Personally, I'm really pleased with where the discussion has gone, both with the details about Passover, and the continued discussion of people's celebrations of Easter, neither of which I know very much about it. This is very much what this forum is supposed to be about, and I'm proud that we have a membership that can share so openly.

Thank you all.

[Primula Baggins]

This would possibly be a good place to mention that my daughter went to a Seder at the house of her boyfriend's grandparents a few days ago. She came home in awe of the experience (and the food!). We ended up having a long talk about the importance of traditions to groups of people, not least of all to families. She knew the history and context of Passover, but had never seen a Passover celebrated. She loved the singing (everyone had the Hebrew words written phonetically in English in a little booklet), breaking balloons that were each filled with tokens of a different plague, and hunting all over the house for the other half of the matzoh her boyfriend's grandfather wrapped and hid. (There were no small children there, so the teenagers got to play all the children's games.)

She was also almost the only one who ate the gefilte fish, which she thought was funny; in that family, anyway, it's apparently sort of like lutefisk in Norwegian-American families at Christmas: a traditional food that must be served but that few care to eat.

[Lalaith]

It's called the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. Israelis and Reform Jews in the diaspora celebrate seven days as prescribed by scripture, but more conservative Jews in the diaspora celebrate for an eighth day. Several reasons have been posited for the extra day. I think the most common explanations are either (1) historically, to ensure overlap with the celebration in Jerusalem; and (2) historically, because some Jews had to travel long distances to get to their place of worship, and the sages wanted to make sure everyone had time to arrive.

Of course! I did know that; I just forgot they were connected to each other. Duh. I did not know about the extra day issue, though.

I don't think you stirred up controversy. Actually, I feel guilty because a couple of times, you've said something completely innocuous and I've taken it and run with it stream of consciousness. (not recently, and maybe not on this board, but I vaguely remember this happening before) Essentially, you asked about something that had been on my mind all week, and I seized the opportunity to discuss it. I hope it didn't bother you.

And, I think it's pretty awesome that you stopped to acknowledge that we were celebrating Passover at the same time, so thanks for that.

I'm pretty hard to offend (most days!), so no worries. I think your posts are always interesting, even if I don't agree with everything or worry that I've offended you somehow! One thing I love about these boards is the opportunity for discussion and the chance to learn and broaden my horizons.