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Preparing for Passover: Interview with Rabbi Sabath on PBS
Contributed by Rabbi Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi

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 The Radical Possibilities of the Rituals of Passover

Rabbi Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi, PhD

For lovers of ritualized meaning-making, Passover is the greatest of all the holidays. Through the performance of these, we can attain all the possibilities of what ritual can mean for an individual and a community. The sheer volume, complexity and intensity of rituals in preparation for and in observance of Passover is unmatched by any other Jewish holiday. For some the intensity of the preparation has made us feel oppressed and/or obsessed; for others, they help us find redemption. This year, as we once again celebrate Pesach alone or in very small groups, we have the time to reflect on what the preparations mean and why it is THE quintessential holiday of our people.

Layered together, all the elements of Passover produce a charged environment ripe for meaning-making. But for what meaning, and for what purpose? The ancient sages, who added layers to the original early Passover celebrations, believed that the rituals themselves were so intense and profound they could enable each of us to feel ourselves as though we were personally part of the exodus from Egypt. Passover returns us to an ancient time and place, and drops us into the climax of the most powerful human drama of redemption.  

That is the power of ritual, according to one of the giants of ritual studies, Mircea Eliade (1907-1986). His most enduring and influential contribution to religious studies is likely his Theory of Eternal Return, which holds that myths and rituals do not simply commemorate heterophonies (appearances of the sacred), but – at least to the minds of the religious – rituals actually enable us to participate again in those experiences. For a traditional religious person – and maybe for the rest of us less traditional folks, too – a ritual-filled life constantly unites us with sacred time, giving our existence value.

In Judaism, as in many religions, a ritual cycle correlates certain parts of the year with mythical events, making each year an eternal repetition of the mythical age.

But Passover is even more than that because it also creates a second “Renewal of the Cosmos.” Preparing for Passover from the moment Purim ends prepares us to simultaneously reestablish a mythic world of the past and at the same time, confirm our yearning for a time of redemption in the future. Beginning with our struggles of slavery in Egypt, we end with redemption, joy and a plan to be in a rebuilt, ideal Jerusalem by next year. By the end of the night, we have ritualized our way into redemption, not only of the past but of the future. From an anthropological perspective ritual can alter the individual in such a way that they want to alter the society in which they live. One of the greatest scholars in the field of ritual, Clifford Geertz (1926-2006), reminds us that “in ritual, the world as lived, and the world as imagined… turn out to be the same world.” Whether or not one covers the kitchen in aluminum foil and changes all the dishes, the conscious celebration of the Seder itself is the most significant factor in the power of Passover for the individual and for the community.

These intense rituals remind us of what world we want to live in, and help us to create it for a moment in the ritual acts. The blessing of investing so much in the preparation and the fullness of ritual during Passover is that we can create that perfect world anew in our souls and increase our desire to create it. More than prayer or study, ritual allows us to begin to become that which we believe we should be. May it be so.

Based on an column first published in the Jerusalem Post:   

 https://www.jpost.com/not-just-news/how-ritual-redeems-us-395235
haggadah Section: Introduction

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