Union Haggadah, The

Catalog # SKU1977

Publisher TGS Publishing

Weight 1.00 lbs

Author Name Central Conference Of American Rabbis

$14.95

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Description

The
Union Haggadah

Home Service for the Passover

By
The Central Conference Of American Rabbis

It matters not whether the Passover and the Exodus are stories of a vivid imagination, folk lore of old, mythology, or actual historical fact. Regardless of its origin, nothing defines Judaism, or the Jew more than the tradition of Pesach (Passover) and the Seder Celebrations.

This ancient rite of observance has held world-wide identification of a particular people, unique and distinct from any other race or people. Yet, the faithful observers of Pesach are not of one race, or one color, or one bloodline, or one tribe/family. They are held together as this distinct people by their religion, whether born into that religion or by outsiders adopting the religion. This tradition has held this people together as one people with one G-d, for thousands of years, through suffering, trials, tribulations, and forced relocations throughout history.

This tradition is comparable to the American Thanksgiving, yet it is so much more to the Jew, as a symbol of freedom as millions of Jews celebrate in a particular way, all at the same time, every year, around the world. Without Pesach, there would be no Christian Easter, for all the symbols of Easter are from the Passover.

Yet, there are no strict rules concerning every detail of the Seder celebrations, as each family conforms the holiday to their needs, wants and desires, as long as the rites are performed to honor the Hebrews' Exodus to freedom. From sect to sect in Judaism you find the core rites observed and honored.

Without the Passover observance, without this grand tradition, the Jews might have assimilated into the masses of the world, being cut off from friends and families, and Judaism would be a long forgotten religion, as those of Greece and Rome.

The Jews' firm commitment to Pesach generation after generation has preserved the religion and the Jews as a distinct people. Their deep respect for this time honored observance makes the Jew, 'a Jew.'

BORUCH ATTO ADONOI ELOHENU MELECH HO'OLOM ASHER KIDD'SHONU B'MITZVOSOV V'TZIVONU L'HADLIK NER SHEL YOM TOV.

Excerpt from Preface

Among the ceremonials which nurtured the Jewish idealism of generations, a place of peculiar charm is held by the SEDER, celebrated on the Passover Eve, and repeated on the following night by those who observe the second days of festivals. Literally, the name means THE ORDER of the service. The ritual provided for the service is known as the HAGGADAH, that is, THE NARRATIVE of the Passover. The ceremony grows out of the several injunctions in the Pentateuch for the Israelite TO RELATE to his children the story of the Exodus from Egypt, and to explain to them the meaning of the rites and symbols connected with the celebration of the Passover.

In the Seder are blended, in happy combination, the influences which have contributed so much toward inspiring our people, though scattered throughout the world, with a genuine feeling of kinship. Year after year, the Seder has thrilled them with an appreciation of the glories of their past, imbued them with an heroic power of endurance under the severest trials and persecutions, and quickened within them the enthusiasm of high ideals of freedom.

It has helped to forge "not easily dissoluble links" between the individual and the Jewish people. In his tribute to the poetic beauty of the Seder, Heinrich Heine expressed a sentiment, evidently founded on his personal experience: "It thrills the heart as though one heard the lilt of some sweet lullaby. Even those Jews who have fallen away from the faith of their fathers in the mad pursuit of other joys and other glories are moved to the very depths of their being when by chance they hear again the old Passover melodies once so dear to them."

Excerpt

WHY IS this night different from all other nights? On all other nights, we eat either leavened or unleavened bread. Why, on this night, do we eat only unleavened bread?

2. On all other nights, we eat all kinds of herbs. Why, on this night, do we eat especially bitter herbs?

3. On all other nights, we do not dip herbs in any condiment. Why, on this night, do we dip them in salt water and haroses?

4. On all other nights, we eat without special festivities. Why, on this night, do we hold this Seder service?

The leader answers:

We celebrate to-night because we were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt, and the Lord our God delivered us with a mighty hand. Had not the Holy One, blessed be He, redeemed our fathers from Egypt, we, our children, and our children's children would have remained slaves. Therefore even if all of us were wise and well-versed in the Torah, it would still be our duty from year to year, to tell the story of the deliverance from Egypt. Indeed to dwell at length on it, is accounted praiseworthy.