I have republished this each year for the past several years at this time and with slight modifications wanted to post it again. One of the key points of Passover is the telling of the story. It is most certainly the greatest story ever told. This act of salvation is the very thing for which YHVH, the God of Israel is known. Repeatedly in the Hebrew Scriptures, we find YHVH described as the God that brought forth the children of Israel out of bondage. It is a story worth telling and now is the appointed time to do so. This note is intended to provide you with some help in telling that story. Of course there are plenty of resources on the internet to assist you, but this is my own contribution to your search. Assemble your family. Invite some friends. Study the passages in this note and tell the story!

This is mainly intended for those who perhaps have never hosted a Passover meal. I do not follow the standard, but to those who know me, this has probably come to be expected. I have participated in Passover meals that went so long the children were bored and the adults were beginning to feel as though the host wanted them to get a taste of the entire 40 years in the wilderness in one L O N G night! One thought that went through my mind as I sat through the longest and most boring Passover was – Didn’t the Bible say that they ate this meal in haste? Why is this night different than any other night? The answer to that question should be a positive one. A learning experience that is both informative and fun. Engaging and joyous. Look. I am not knocking the approach of others, but as a parent and as a teacher I have learned that if the student does not learn, then the lesson has been wasted. My own approach will be aimed at sharing this great story from the Bible. The traditional plate will have a place of prominence at our table, and yet I will strive for the element of surprise. I love the picture in this note of one of my grandsons as he held the piece of unleavened bread. What went through his mind? Probably something quite simple, like…this is one HUGE cracker. Use the meal to teach and to tell, but please don’t forget that the little ones (and many of the big ones) will be looking and listening to learn. You will have a captive audience. Don’t lose them. It is our job to educate and inspire.

The name of the meal is the seder. It is a word that means “order”. The book that lays out the order of the service is called a Hagadah. The roots word means “to tell”. The traditional Haggadah”S” (there are multiple versions available) are meant to share the story in order. Whether you have a Haggadah or not is not essential. You can tell the story quite well if you know the story well. Below I have assembled some of the main points of the story. I may get in trouble with some of the religious authorities out there by saying this, but I personally will not be reading all of these passages. I will carefully select certain passages and tell the story contained within these wonderful verses. So, for those who may want to do the same, familiarize yourself with the story by reading these passages and make a few notes.

We will have unleavened bread and bitter herbs. For the bitter herbs, many use horseradish. Go easy on the horseradish. A little dab will do ya as we say in the south. The bitter herbs represent how the lives of the children of Israel were made bitter through hard bondage. I will have salt water and parsley. When I speak of the tears of the children of Israel (they cried because of the hard bondage) I will have everyone take a piece of the parsley and dip it in the salt water. This will make an impression. The traditional “charoseth” is a mixture of apples diced and mixed with honey and nuts. Recipes on the internet abound. It is supposed to represent the mortar that was used to make bricks. Experiment with this. It is hard to mess up apples, honey and nuts. Plus compared to the horseradish, it will be the favored part of the meal.

Here are some other things that will help make an impression. If the sky is clear where you are, I want you to go outside and look up. See the moon? This is the way it looked when the Children of Israel left Egypt! The full moon gave them light. The sky looked just like this when the children of Israel left Egypt.

Passover is about experiencing the past and future as well. It is about redemption and freedom. The Prophet Jeremiah says that another Exodus is coming for the people of God…an even greater exodus than the one we read about tonight! (see Jeremiah 16:14-15)

I encourage all of you to participate in this as it is perhaps the oldest religious practice that has been kept from the beginning of the history of Israel. So tell the story to your family! If you are alone, read it to yourself. It is an incredible story and one that God tells us to tell!

Read and study the following passages. This is not a comprehensive list of passages, but it should be helpful as you prepare to tell the story. Remember, this is not intended to be presented as an authorized Haggadah. Best case, this is a non-Jew’s guide through telling the story. If you choose to do a more traditional version, there are plenty of resources on the internet that one can find and download for free. What follows were notes that I assembled several years ago for the purpose of sharing the story. A friend recently forwarded me a 30 minute Haggadah that he found on the internet. You may want to search for something like that. Or you may want to go for the “real deal”. Hint. Feed the kids before you go. No offense intended.

The reason we tell the story
Deuteronomy 6:20-25
Exodus 10:2
Exodus 12:24-27

The Prediction and fulfillment of the Slavery and cruelness of Egypt
Genesis 15:13-14
Exodus 1:8-22

The birth of Moses to his flight to Midian
Exodus 2:1-22

A cry to God and the call of Moses
Exodus 2:23-3:22

The son of God / God’s charge to Moses
Exodus 4:21-23

Meeting with Pharaoh
Exodus 5:1-23
Exodus 6:1-13

The beginning of the redemption
Exodus 6:28-7:13

The Plagues and Israel’s Departure from Egypt
Exodus 7:14-12:36

Salvation In the Wilderness
Exodus 12:37-14:31

Other passages related to Passover
Deuteronomy 16:1-8
Leviticus 23:3-8

One should eat unleavened bread from sundown tomorrow for 7 days. This bread is also known as bread of affliction (Deuteronomy 16:3).

Eat some bitter herbs as well (Exodus 12:8).

Only those that are circumcised may eat the meal. Don’t forget to be circumcised of heart as well. This applies to both males and females. (Deuteronomy 10:12-16, 30:1-6, Jeremiah 4:1-4)

I pray that every shackle will be broken from your life so that you are free to serve the Living God.

Shalom and Chag Sameach!

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“On the tenth day of the seventh month is Yom Kippur – a Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:26).” According to the Bible, this tenth day of the seventh month, which begins on the evening of the ninth and lasts until the evening of tenth, shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest on which we should “afflict” ourselves (Leviticus 23:32). This day is considered the most holy day on the ancient Hebrew calendar – a Holy of Holies! But what should we do on this day to set it apart? What does it mean when it says to afflict our souls?

The primary texts that concern this holy day are found in the Torah (Leviticus 16 and Leviticus 23:26-32). Leviticus 16 contains an ancient ceremony performed by Israel’s High Priest. The central theme of the ceremony and of the day is “atonement”. “For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the YHVH from all your sins. It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever (Leviticus 16:30-31).”

The word “atonement” is a translation of a Hebrew word that comes from a root composed of the letters (Kaph, Peh, Resh). The word “atonement” occurs 14 times in Leviticus 16 alone. The basic meaning of this word is “to cover”. So this is literally a day of covering. What is it that is being covered on this day? The covering associated with Yom Kippur refers to the sins of the people. The ceremonies that brought about this “covering” involved two identical goats; one that was killed and one that was led away into the wilderness l’azazel (often translated as the “scapegoat”).

The detailed rituals and sacrifices described in the Torah for Yom Kippur were principally carried out by Aaron, but there remains a point that was then and is now to be performed by all – citizens as well as the alien residing with you (Leviticus 16:29 and Leviticus 23:30) – to “afflict” the soul. The Hebrew here is anah (aleph, nun, heh – ana’) and means, “to be bowed down, afflicted” according to Brown Driver Briggs Hebrew Lexicon.

Some translations render this as “deny yourself”. The word occurs twice in Leviticus 16 and three times in Leviticus 23 (Leviticus 16:29, 31; 23:27, 29, 32). This means that this word occurs five times in the two passages that deal with Yom Kippur.

Given this information, a key theme that emerges at this time is “self-denial”. In the Bible, this word is associated with what we would call “fasting”. Examples are found in Ezra 8:21-23 and Psalm 35:11-14.

During this time of year we should be focused on returning to God through repentance. If we are to effect a change in our walk, we must turn to God and His ways with all of our heart and soul. This repentance can include fasting and mourning as we read in several passages, but it is not merely the participation in a fast or in the refraining of certain activities that will put one in right standing with God. The heart has to be right! I would encourage you all to read Isaiah 57:14 – 58:14. A careful reading of this passage indicates that a true fast involves a focus on the needs of others as well as a denial of self. When we learn to place the needs of others above our own needs, we will begin to walk in the ways of righteousness.

ESV Isaiah 57:14 And it shall be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people’s way.” 15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. 16 For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before me, and the breath of life that I made. 17 Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart. 18 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, 19 creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the LORD, “and I will heal him. 20 But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. 21 There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.” 58:1 “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. 3 ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. 4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD? 6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. 11 And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in. 13 “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; 14 then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Beginning at sundown this evening, traditional Jews begin their fast for Yom Kippur. Karaites begin the fast on Sunday evening. Whatever day you celebrate the fast, consider well the true meaning of anah. The ceremonial aspects of the day are not currently practiced, but the heart of the matter is still required. Remember that this is an eternal statute! We can still perform the weightier portion of this day. Deny yourself! Afflict your soul! If we return to HaShem, He will return to us. May your sins be forgiven! May they be cast into the depths of the sea! “For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins. It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever (Leviticus 16:30-31).”

Attribution: “Image courtesy of FreeBibleIllustrations.com“

The book of Maccabees records that “many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food. They chose to die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die. Very great wrath came upon Israel.” In the midst of these trying times a priestly family rose to the occasion. From a garrison in Modein, a man named Mattathias and his five sons mourned over the situation. They were approached by the officers of Antiochus with an offer of riches for violating the covenant of their fathers. Not only did they refuse to profane the covenant of their fathers, but they led a rebellion that ultimately defeated the armies of insolence.

Three years to the day that the altar was defiled, the altar was re-dedicated. It was then determined that every year on this date that for eight days, beginning on the 25th of the 9th month a time of joy and gladness should be observed. Since that time, the re-dedication of the altar has been commemorated in the eight-day festival known as Hanukkah.

In our own day, during this season, we should make an extra effort to stand for the holy covenant and to stand against pagan practices and those influences that oppose the Torah. Around the world, Torah oriented people will be kindling the lights in keeping with the tradition of Hanukkah. I pray that you have a blessed season of renewal to the covenant – a re-dedication of your life to the Torah. It should also be pointed out that today marks the ONLY date on the Hebrew calendar that is specifically attached to a blessing. The promised blessing is found in the prophetic book known as Haggai (2:10-23). There we read the following words; “From this day on I will bless you.”

You are invited to join the congregation of Roots of Faith for a Hanukkah party at Temple Sinai. We would love to see you in person, but you are also welcome to attend via the internet (www.rootsoffaith.org/streaming-video).

I pray a special blessing on all who read these words, and as always – thanks for your continued interest in Roots of Faith. Shalom!