Area Jews Join in Celebration of Passover

As the sun set on Monday, more than 25,000 Jews in Ventura County joined the worldwide celebration of Passover--a holiday commemorating the deliverance of the ancient Hebrews from slavery.

“Passover begins the eve of the full moon of the spring month,” said Rabbi Shimon Paskow of Temple Etzchaim in Thousand Oaks. “Sabbaths always begin with sundown because it says in the Bible that there was darkness and then there was light.”

Passover is celebrated through a feast called the Seder, where families share meals and read from the Hagaddah, a book containing the Exodus story, Psalms of praise and numerous Jewish benedictions.

“It’s an opportunity for us to get together with family, to celebrate and to retell our history,” Paskow said. “We involve everyone, but particularly the children. . . . We tell them the story of Passover and then encourage them to ask the question of why this night is different from all other nights.”

The four parts to this pivotal question focus on the different parts of the meal. The answers tell their history, Paskow said.

Celebrants eat bitter herbs to serve as a reminder of the bitterness of slavery. A mixture of ground apples, nuts and wine or grape juice is a reminder of the mortar the Hebrews used to make bricks for the pyramids.

Celebrants dip their food into a small bowl of saltwater, which represents the tears of the oppressed. And matzo, unleavened bread, is eaten to symbolize the haste of the Jews’ departure from Egypt.

“After 400 years of slavery, we looked to Moses to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt,” said Rabbi Michael Berk of Temple Beth Torah in Ventura. “The central story of the Jewish people is the Exodus out of Egypt. As we remember this saving act, we look forward to the next saving act--which is the redemption of the whole world when the Messiah comes.”

It is critical from the Jewish perspective that the Passover story be told again and again, Berk said.

“The Seder is set up so children will walk in and say, ‘What’s going on here?’ And then the parents can tell the children the story,” he said.

Judaism focuses on creating a positive place to live, Berk said.

“The point is to not be deceived or distressed because things may look lousy, because they’re going to get better and you must commit yourself to a good way of life,” Berk said. “Every act you do of decency and kindness is an act of tukkun--of repairing the world. When we have gone through enough repairing, theoretically, that is when the Messiah will come.”

The first night of Passover has traditionally been a time for family.

Tonight, several synagogues across the county will hold a second night Seder. On the last or eighth day of Passover, celebrants attend the Yizkor, a religious service where they remember and pay respects to those who have died.