I’ll admit that if you told me freshman year that by the time I graduated I would have attended Hanukkah celebrations, temple for Yom Kippur, and a Seder for Passover, I would have looked at you like you had two heads. When I started at Notre Dame, I knew little more about Judaism than what I’d learned in 4 years of religion classes at a Catholic high school. My decision to attend Notre Dame certainly didn’t seem like it would lead to much greater knowledge about non-Christian religions than I had already acquired. With a student body that is approximately 84% Catholic, I didn’t anticipate that I would have the opportunity to learn much about other religions. Sophomore year that started to change when one of my classmates was Jewish.
What started as a casual acquaintance grew into friendship as the semester progressed. I started to ask questions and have continued to do so ever since then. I will not pretend to be any sort of expert on Judaism, but I have gradually been introduced to the beliefs and practices of Judaism. My first introduction was Hanukah during my junior year, which was probably the Jewish holiday that I knew the most about.
This fall, I went to temple for the first time for Yom Kippur. I honestly cannot think of more than a handful of times that I was more nervous than I was that night. I was determined to follow along and attempt to mumble the Hebrew that I could not really pronounce. Unlike Mass, where I often find myself on autopilot, I was engaged during temple. The service was so beautiful and I was eager to soak up every line. It was a new experience and because it was unfamiliar, everything was fascinating. I had never been to a service that was not Christian and in that moment, I had a whole new appreciation for a different religion.
And then this semester rolled around and I watched as my boyfriend spent hours organizing a Seder for Passover in conjunction with Campus Ministry. To the best of my knowledge, never before has such an event been hosted on campus. On Tuesday, April 15, over 50 people gather in the lounge of CoMo to celebrate Passover. The best part of the whole evening was sitting down with a group of people from many different religious backgrounds to share a meal and learn about a Jewish celebration. In attendance, there were undergrads, grad students, professors, Catholics, Jews, Orthodox Jews, members of the community, Campus Ministry staff, law students and probably many others I did not get an opportunity to meet.
I learned all about the very stringent rules for preparing completely kosher foods. Essentially, for something to be kosher it cannot have touched anything that ever had contact with leavened bread. A kosher for Passover kitchen has to be rigorously scrubbed (think multiple days of cleaning) and then blessed. All pots, pans, dishes, utensils, cups, etc. have to be kosher as well, so it is common to have a set of dishes specifically for such occasions. We used paper plates and plastic cutlery to keep kosher.
A Seder table is always laid with a Seder plate containing: a shank bone (zeroa) from a lamb or roasted chicken bone, charoset which is a mixture of nuts, fruits, wine and spices, bitter herbs (maror) which is usually horseradish, a vegetable (karpas) which is usually parsley or potatoes, and a hardboiled egg (beitzah). There is also a covered plate holding matzah (unleavened bread), a bowl of salt water (representing tears), a wine glass for each person (4 cups of kosher wine are consumed during a Seder), and an extra glass of wine for Elijah the Prophet (remember that Jews do not believe Jesus is the Messiah and they are still waiting for him).
The Seder starts with the lighting of the Yom Tov (Holiday) candles and then the first glass of wine is blessed and drunk. There is then ritual hand washing and you dip the parsley in the salt water and eat it. The parsley symbolizes the humble origins of the Jewish people and the rebirth of spring (which may or may not be coming to stay in South Bend sometime soon). The salt water represents the tears the Jews shed while they were enslaved in Egypt. Matzah is then broken (half is often hid for children to find later, which is an attempt to keep them engaged) and the story of Passover is then told.
Passover remembers the slavery of the Jews in Egypt. It is a way for Jews to remember the suffering of their ancestors and the goodness of God who delivered them from slavery. Passover celebrates the story of Exodus and Moses. There is singing and the ten plagues are recalled by putting a drop of wine on the plate for each plague. Another song is sung and the three symbols of Passover are discussed.
The pesach or shank bone is a reminder of how God passed over the houses of the Israelites when the tenth plague (slaying of the firstborn) passed through Egypt. The matzah represents the Jews’ hurried Exodus from Egypt, when the Israelites left so quickly that their bread did not have time to rise. The maror (bitter herbs) are a reminder of the bitter pain and suffering the Israelites endured as slaves to the Egyptians.
A psalm is recited, another ritual hand washing occurs, there is another blessing, and the matzah is blessed. The horseradish (bitter herbs) are then blessed and eaten and the charoset is eaten in a sandwich between two small pieces of matzah. Then it’s time for dinner!
Dinner was free for all in attendance thanks to funding from Campus Ministry, the Jewish Federation of St. Joseph Valley, and the Jewish Family Service. There was seasoned chicken or apricot sweet and sour chicken, in addition to roasted red potatoes, zucchini and dessert. This was after the matzo ball soup was served (which was absolutely divine). After dinner, the hunt for the matzah took place and the winner received a prize. A prayer is said in thanks after the meal and the third cup of wine is blessed and drank. The fourth (and last) cup of wine is then filled and an extra cup is filled and set aside for Elijah. The door is opened to allow Elijah to enter and a song is sung. Another psalm is read and the fourth cup of wine is drunk.
Because the event was on campus, the “cups” of wine were about the size of a shot, but traditionally full glasses are drunk. It is also traditional to pour wine for your neighbors, while someone else pours your wine. It enhances the community aspect of the meal. A final prayer is said and then we sang a fun song called Had Gadya or One Little Goat. The verses get progressively and the goal is to sing each verse in one breath. It was very amusing to watch people trying to get through eight lines of verse without breathing.
Since this was my first Seder, I really appreciated the fact that every aspect was explained. It was useful to understand not only the symbolism, but also the origins of every aspect of the Seder. I feel so lucky to have been a part of something so special and its really great that Campus Ministry is trying to celebrate more religions. There are hopes that a campus Seder becomes an annual tradition at Notre Dame, which I think would be a great move towards embracing all faiths on campus. We may be a Catholic school, but I know that my experiences with other religions, especially Judaism, have enriched my time at Notre Dame. I heartily recommend taking advantage of opportunities to learn about other faiths while you are here, because it will expand your worldview and give you a greater appreciation for beliefs different from your own.
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