Pass the matzo

04/09/09 - University of Rhode Island students crowded around the Seder table yesterday to help celebrate Passover with Hillel. Passover, one of the holiest and most important holidays in Judaism, commemorates God's "passing over" of Israelites' houses during the 10th plague, and the Jews' exodus from slavery in Egypt.

More than 80 students, professors and local families came together for the three-hour meal and ceremony last night.

While the meal only lasted the evening, the preparation started early in the morning when Hillel staff began cooking the traditional foods needed for the ceremony. By early afternoon, students were crowded in the kitchen, listening to The Beach Boys and chopping vegetables for salads.

Many of the foods being prepared had a special symbolic meaning during the Seder ceremony.

"You can sort of taste the holiday," Amy Olson, director of URI Hillel, said.

The foods became not only part of the ceremony, but part of the process of sharing the story of the Israelites' exile.

"A lot of Jewish holidays are 'someone tried to kill us, so let's eat,'" Lisa Friedman, program director for Hillel, joked.

Matzo, one of the most popular foods served during Passover, is a homage to the Jews being unable to take leaven bread with them during their escape to freedom. Matzo is still served, and observing Jews don't eat anything risen for the eight days of Passover, Olson explained.

One traditional dish made of apples and cinnamon called "charoset" is symbolic of the mortar of the bricks Jews were forced to make while they were enslaved. Charoset is served with maror, a bitter horseradish, to show how the bitterness of the Jews' struggle was eventually made sweet.

These foods were presented on a Seder plate, along with a fresh green vegetable, as a symbol of spring.

The symbolism of the meal contributes to the Haggadah, the book that gives the outline for the Seder and details the Exodus story.

"There's hundreds of different versions of the Haggadah," Olson said. "There are a ton of different types of Seders, too, thematically."

For Friedman, the Haggadah is part of her family's own unique Seder tradition.

"We try something new every Passover," she said. Her father often chooses Haggadah books that focus on the story's connection to new themes, like environmentalism. "Even if the Seder is the same, everyone's family does it differently."

For some of the students involved, it was their first experience being away from home during Passover.

"I'm excited, but I won't be having a brisket for the first time," sophomore Jodi Gold, Hillel's student president, said. "I'll have another Seder at home, so it's not completely taken."

While Hillel's Seder followed many of the traditional practices of the ceremony, the group added their own special twist to the evening.

At each of the long tables was a place card of a cartoon lifeguard falling into the water during the parting of the Red Sea.

Scattered on the tablecloths were marshmallows and tiny plastic bugs and lizards symbolizing the plagues of hail and insects in the Torah. During the ceremony, students tossed the marshmallow hail back and forth across the room, "recreating" the plague.

Throughout the evening, music was an integral part of the ceremony. While the majority of the Seder was conducted in English, many of the songs were sung in Hebrew. Students enthusiastically sang along and helped keep the beat with drums, tambourines or by stomping their feet on the floor.

One song integrated the use of scallions, which participants were encouraged to playfully hit one another with.

"It's a custom that comes from Afghanistan," Olson said.

During the Jews' exodus, it was said they complained about the quality of the food in their new holy land. The "whipping" with scallions is symbolic during "the part of the song where we want to remind ourselves not to complain," Olson explained.

Adults and students alike seemed to embrace this new custom, as they leaned across the table to take a swipe at their companions.

The final song of the night asked for different noises to be made for each person or animal mentioned in the chorus. Participants got to bark, meow and hiss, eliciting laughter from the crowd.

"The whole idea behind the Seder is to encourage participation and get people to ask questions," Olson said.

Witnessing all the action was a three-foot tall blow up, depicting an angry cartoon pharaoh, with the message: "Let my people go." Sitting atop the pharaoh's head was a cloth Frisbee shaped like a piece of Matzo.

After the ceremony ended, students stayed around to mingle, discussing their favorite portions of the Seder and tossing around the Matzo Frisbee.

"It's the biggest turn out I've seen in four years. I wish I was home, but this was good in its place," senior Jessica Wolchok said.