PASSOVER a Montreal Haggadah Supplement the Richness of Passover
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PASSOVER A Montreal Haggadah supplement The Richness of Passover The Pessach Haggadah is the Jewish Why is the Pessach night different? book with the greatest number of variations Because, on that night, together with our loved and editions. While keeping the traditional text, ones, we embark on a wonderful trip across different communities have created their own the centuries to feel the joy of liberation; to supplements to the haggadah, that enrich and feel renewed and connected with a millenary embellish. tradition full of fl avours and colours. This makes sense: after all, the Passover We hope to inspire you – on this special Seder is not meant to be a mechanical repetition night – to think about our community and your of things past, but a re-enactment of the libera- place in it and to discuss the role your Jewish tion. It expresses a personal experience in which identity plays in your life, not just this special we relate to the foundational story of the Exodus. night, but at all times. Because community is a We need to make the story personal because, “in part of our being all the time. every generation, every person needs to feel as if We encourage you to share this supple- he himself came out of Egypt.” ment with others during the Seder and we In this spirit, FEDERATION CJA is sincerely hope to have contributed our part to happy to present to you this supplement to make your Passover more special, more mean- the Haggadah to enrich your family’s Passover ingful and more unique. celebration. We want to bring to your Seder table a collection of thoughts and ideas that refl ect central values of Pessach, as well as the rich history and diversity of our community. The key number in the seder is 4. Jack Hasen Andrés Spokoiny Four questions, four cups, four sons. Thus, we President Executive Director structured this supplement in 4 groups of 4. FEDERATION CJA FEDERATION CJA Pessach is the oldest continuous celebration in human history. So we wanted to bring to you four sedarim that occurred at key moments in Jewish history. Pessach is loaded with important values, so we wanted to dwell on four of the central values of Pessach. Passover is rich with customs, so we bring you four customs of Pes- sach practiced in communities around the world and in Montreal. And – of course – Pessach is about eating, so we bring you a selection of delicious Pessach recipes. 1 4 SEDERS We have celebrated Pessach continuously for over 3,400 years. Pessach has accompanied the Jewish people across history, marking key moments in our collective experience. Here are some examples of how Pessach was celebrated at diff erent times in Jewish History. Spain XVth century Warsaw Ghetto 1943 Conversos or Marranos were Sephardic The fi rst evening of the uprising in the Jews on the Iberian Peninsula forced to adopt Warsaw ghetto coincided with the fi rst night of Christianity under threat of expulsion during the Passover. One of the Jewish fi ghters was wan- Middle Ages. But many continued to practice dering about in search of fl ashlights when he Judaism secretly, thus preserving their Jewish came upon the home of Rabbi Maisel. “When identity. When obliged to take their children I entered the room, I suddenly realized that to the baptismal font, on returning home they this was the night of the fi rst Seder. The room washed the place which had been sprinkled looked as if it had been hit by a hurricane. with water. They ate no pork, celebrated Bedding was everywhere, chairs lay over- Passover, and gave oil to the synagogue. turned, the fl oor was strewn with household In the city of Seville an inquisitor said objects, the window panes were all gone. It to the regent, “My Lord, if you wish to know had all happened during the day, before the how the Marranos keep the Sabbath, let us inhabitants of the room returned from the ascend the tower.” When they had reached bunker. the top, the former said to the latter, “Lift up “Amidst this destruction, the table in your eyes and look. That house is the home the centre of the room looked incongruous with of a Marrano; there is one which belongs to glasses fi lled with wine, with the family seated another; and there are many more. You will not around, the rabbi reading the Haggadah. His see smoke rising from any of them, in spite of reading was punctuated by explosions and the the severe cold; for they have no fi re because rattling of machine guns; the faces of the family it is the Sabbath.” Pretending that leavened around the table were lit by the red light from bread did not agree with him, one Marrano ate the burning buildings, nearby. unleavened bread throughout the year, in order “As I was leaving, the rabbi cordially that he might be able to partake of it at Pass- bade me farewell and wished me success. over without being suspected. He was old and broken, he told me, but we, the young people, must not give up, and God ˜ from New World Encyclopedia would help us.” ˜ from The Holocaust by Martin Gilbert 2 4 SEDERS Jerusalem 1948 Montreal 1986 April 23, 1948 marked the 3,388th During the 1970s and 1980s, Montreal’s observance of humankind’s oldest continuously Jewish community was at the forefront of observed religious ceremony. There were approx- protesting for the release of Soviet Jews, who imately 100,000 Jews celebrating Passover in were neither permitted to openly follow their Jerusalem that year. Yet, for them, the symbol of faith nor to leave the Soviet Union. Judaism, the western wall of Solomon’s Temple, seemed “as distant and unreachable as it was for “About 200 Jews participated yesterday the most dispersed of their brethren. For the fi rst in a ‘freedom seder’ demonstration outside the time since Saladin, no rabbi, no Jew, had bowed Soviet Consulate in Montreal. before the stones of the Wailing Wall. Masters of “Leaders of a number of Jewish organi- every access to the site, the Arabs of Jerusalem zations mounted a fl atbed truck to participate had refused passage to even a symbolic group in a ritual meal patterned on the seder, a meal of rabbis. that forms part of Passover celebrations. “The Jews closest to the wall, trapped in “The ritual was rewritten to emphasize the Old City’s Jewish Quarter, celebrated their the demand that the Soviet Union approve seder in two shifts, one for the Ashkenazim and applications of at least 10,000 Jews to emigrate one for the Sephardim, so that all the Haganah to Israel.” soldiers on guard duty could join one or the other.” ˜ from The Gazette, April 28, 1986 ˜ from O Jerusalem, by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre 3 4 VALUES Pessach is a holiday loaded with values and meaning, of which we have selected four. We encourage you to think about the central value that you and your family consider during this wonderful holiday. Community Education Pessach marks the beginning of the Jewish The central element of the seder is, “and you people as a community. Since the Exodus, will tell your children.” Transmitting values from living in community has been one of the central one generation to the other is a basic tenet of tenets of Judaism. As Hillel the wise said, “Do our culture, and especially of the Seder. Here’s not separate from the community and do not an historical example of this value. disengage from it.” Here’s an example of how this value played out in Montreal. In 1391, the Jews of Spain suffered their version of what, to a later generation would Bachelors were invited to a meeting be known as Kristallnacht – synagogues were on July 23, 1863 to consider the desirability of set on fi re, Jewish businesses were looted and creating an association to assist needy Jews in many Jews were killed. From then, until they Montreal. At the time, destitute immigrants were were expelled in 1492, Jews were constantly arriving from Eastern Europe. Also, poor Jews pressured to convert to Christianity. Some who were long established in the city needed succumbed, while practicing Judaism in secret. coal or Passover food, but were too proud to Many became victims of the Inquisition and ask for help. Furthermore, it was suggested were burned at the stake. In 1432, a gathering that the proposed organization be “the means of Jews was convened at Valladolid. It ordained of making the Jewish young men of Montreal a series of taxes in order to raise funds for pub- better known to each other.” The men in atten- lic education: dance responded enthusiastically. That night “We also ordain that every community they created the Jewish community’s fi rst social of 15 householders (or more) shall be obliged service organization, the Young Men’s Hebrew to maintain a qualifi ed elementary teacher to Benevolent Society. instruct their children in Scripture. They shall provide him with suffi cient income for a living in ˜ from From the Ghetto to the Main: accordance with the number of his dependents. The Story of the Jews of Montreal by Joe King The parents shall be obliged to send their children to that teacher, and each shall pay him in accordance with his means. If this revenue Nearly 150 years later, the spirit of communal from the parents should prove inadequate, the assistance and mutual support lives on in the community shall be obliged to supplement it social and cultural services under the umbrella with an amount necessary for his livelihood in of FEDERATION CJA.