SCV comes together to celebrate Passover
Ahead of Easter and Passover, The Signal reached out to local congregations in an effort to seek their reflections on the holiday from various local churches.
Rabbi Mark Blazer, from Temple Beth Ami, shared the following:
Passover (Pesach), which begins the evening of March 30, celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. The name Passover is taken from the Exodus story: During the 10th and ultimate plague inflicted on Pharaoh to break his will, God passed over the Israelites and struck down only the Egyptian firstborn. That night, Pharaoh finally agreed to let the Israelites go; and ever since then, we gather together on that night at our Seder meal to commemorate that time, and to contemplate the meaning of freedom.
The central meaning of Passover is liberation, and hence, it is also called zeman heiruteinu — the season of our liberation. We understand liberation, politically — the move from slavery to freedom, as well as through spiritual transformation — the transition from the idolatry of our ancestors to the religious liberation eventually experienced through the Exodus and the giving of Law at Sinai.
At the root of both these liberation experiences is God. In Judaism’s view, slavery draws legitimacy from idolatry; democracy is ultimately grounded in the God-given dignity of every human being. Totalitarianism, the total worship of any human creation is the idolatry of our time. The God who created and loves us gives us freedom as our right and denies absolute authority to all human governments and systems.