The Passover and the Seder Meal

WALTWe are learning to describe the key themes and events of the first Passover; identify the key features and symbols of the Seder Meal; pinpoint examples of the main themes in our own lives.

WILFI’m looking for you to develop skills of empathy (SEAL); accurately label a Seder Plate complete with symbols and link the Passover story to the Seder Meal.

What is this?

Conscience

The Pharoah refused to let the Israelites go. You are his conscience – what was going through his mind?

Good Evil

How is the Passover remembered?

The final plague was the death of the first born. God told Moses that the Israelites should mark their doorposts with lamb's blood so that God could 'pass over' their houses and spare them from this plague. This is why the festival is called Passover.

Eventually Pharaoh gave in and told Moses and the Israelites to go at once. They left in such a rush that their bread did not have time to rise. This is why, during Passover, Jewish people eat unleavened bread called Matzah. It looks a bit like crisp bread. Some families clean their houses thoroughly to remove all crumbs of leaven and change their cutlery and plates in order to reinforce the message of Passover.

How is the Passover remembered?

The festival lasts eight days outside Israel with the first and last two days being days on which services are held at the synagogue. On the evening before the first two days, a special service called a Seder ('Order') takes place over a meal around a table in a home.

The Seder plate on the table consists of: • A lamb bone; • A roasted egg; • Parsley to dip in salt water;• Bitter herbs made from horseradish; • Charoset (a paste of chopped apples, walnuts and wine);• Lettuce (which God commanded to be eaten with the

lamb).

Z'ro'a - A Roasted Bone (roasted chicken wing or leg bone) to remind us of the Pesach offerings that would be brought in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

Beitzah - A Roasted Hardboiled Egg to remind them of their mourning at the destruction of the Holy Temple.

Charoset - a mixture of ground apples, nuts, ginger, cinnamon, and red sweet wine. The look and feel of mortar symbolizes the bricks and mortar which they were forced to use when they were slaves in Egypt.

Karpas - A vegetable, which is dipped into salt water and eaten. To remind them of the sweat and tears they shed as slaves, they place a bowl of the salt water near the Seder plate.

Maror Chazeret Two types of bitter herbs (vegetables).

They take three whole Matzot and place them one above the other, either in a napkin/matza cover or in a special compartment under the Seder plate. One of the reasons for the number three is the three sections of Jewry - Kohain, Levi, and Yisroel.

ARBAKOSOT:THE FOURCUPSOF WINE

The four cups of wine represent the four promises given by God to the Children of Israel: "...and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm........and I will take you to me for a people..." (Ex 6:6, 7)

TaskThe Seder plate on the table consists of:

• A lamb bone; • A roasted egg; • Parsley to dip in salt water;• Bitter herbs made from horseradish; • Charoset (a paste of chopped apples, walnuts and wine);• Lettuce (which God commanded to be eaten with the lamb).

1. Cut out the Seder Plate and stick it into your exercise book. Match up the label with the ingredient.

2. How can each of the ingredients be a symbol in your own life?

3. What do you think the star in the middle of the Seder Plate means?

Plenary

“Gimme Five”

You have 3 minutes to write down five things you have learned today.

What do you know?

WALTWe are learning to describe the key themes and events of the first Passover; identify the key features and symbols of the Seder Meal; pinpoint examples of the main themes in our own lives.

WILFI’m looking for you to develop skills of empathy (SEAL); accurately label a Seder Plate complete with symbols and link the Passover story to the Seder Meal.