Above all, Passover equals family

David Berkowitz, vice president and ritual committee chair, Lawrence Jewish Community Center, 917 Highland Drive:

Passover is a holiday with great and multiple meaning to most Jews. However, what it most means to me is family. In particular, memories of my childhood in the late ’40s and early ’50s when my parents, my sister and I would go to my paternal grandparents’ home for Seder. Almost all of my father’s family would be there – uncles, aunts, great uncles and aunts, my grandparents and multiple cousins. Quite frequently we would also be joined by my mother’s mother and her only sister as well.

We used the old Reform Haggadah, which was written before World War II, and my grandfather would write a name in the margin to indicate who he wanted to read a particular passage. There are, of course, multiple memories of this yearly event. The most interesting was when, one time, we opened the door for Elijah and found a policeman standing on the porch. This was not as scary an event in Wichita as it would’ve been in Russia. After we had finished eating, my grandfather would begin the services again by saying, “Let us say grace.”

Inevitably, everyone around the table would reply “grace.” I have the old Haggadahs, and my family uses them on the second night of Passover every year. Except for a couple of cousins, all the people who attended these Seders are now dead.

When I see the names in the margins of my childhood family, it almost seems as if they have come back to life, at least for that evening. After we have finished dinner, when I continue the service with the words “let us say grace,” everyone around the table replies, “Grace.”

– Send e-mail to David Berkowitz at bwlaw@sunflower.com.

History, homecoming combine on holiday

Susan Elkins, president, Lawrence Jewish Community Center, 917 Highland Drive:

Passover is most Jewish families’ favorite holiday. People return home from afar to share a celebration of freedom that encompasses every aspect of our lives. It involves our history, connection to our ancestors, commitment to freedom, and rituals and special foods unique to Passover.

The seder, meaning order, is where we tell the story of the Israelites from the birth of Moses to the exodus from Egypt and our miraculous escape across the Sea of Reeds. Children formally ask questions and have special roles to play. We talk about mitzraim – a tight place, where we were slaves. We consider what tight places exist in the world today and in our lives and what we can do to help repair the world. Passover is a time to be grateful and to help the less fortunate. We open the door for Elijah the prophet to welcome in the stranger as we were strangers in the land of Egypt.

We emphasize passing stories and traditions from generation to generation. We tell the Exodus story to our children just as if they had actually gone forth from Egypt. We eat special foods to remind us of our bitter experiences (saltwater for tears, bitter herbs) and our happier ones (parsley and eggs for spring and renewal). We also eat charoset – a mixture of apples, nuts and wine, to remind us of the brick mortar we had to use as slaves – and matzoh, the unleavened bread that didn’t have time to rise as the Israelites fled Egypt.

Jews treasure our families, religious and political freedom, our communities and the world we all inhabit. Passover is a time to renew all those commitments.

– Send e-mail to Susan Elkins at selkins@ku.edu.