April 19 - Reflection for Passover - 'Chag Kasher v'Semeach'

Jews around the world made last-minute preparations for the festival of Passover, cleaning houses, cars and offices, cooking furiously and getting ready for a week without eating leavened bread.

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Reflection for Passover

Passover Prayer

Long ago, at this season, on such a night as this,a people - our people - set out on a journey.

All but crushed by their enslavement, they yet recalled the far-off memory of a happier past.

And heard the voice of their ancestral God, bidding them summon up the courage to be free.

Boldly, they went forth from Egypt, crossed the Sea, and headed through the desert for the Promised Land.

What they experienced, they remembered, and told their children, and they to theirs.

From generation to generation, the story was retold, and we are here to tell it yet again.

We too give thanks for Israel's liberation; we too remember what it means to be a slave.

And so we pray for all who are still fettered, still denied their human rights.

Let all God's children sit at his table, drink the wine of deliverance, and eat the bread of freedom:

Freedom from bondage

And freedom from oppression,

Freedom from hunger

And freedom from want,

Freedom from hatred

And freedom from fear,

Freedom to think

And freedom to speak,

Freedom to learn

And freedom to love,

Freedom to hope

And freedom to rejoice;

Soon in our days,

Amen.

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How to Greet a Jew During Passover

Basic: "Happy Passover"!

Advanced:

- "Chag Kasher v'Sameach!" (Wishing you a Happy and Kosher Holiday)

- Between first and last days of Passover

"Moadim L'Simcha" (Seasons of Joy)

- "Zissin Pesach" (Yiddish for Happy Passover)

Special thanks to: Rabbi Justus N. Baird

Director, Center for Multifaith Education, Auburn Theological Seminary, NY

Reflection received from Kirkridge Retreat Center,Bangor, PA. 18013

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Passover is a Jewish and Samaritan holy day and festival commemorating God sparing the Israelites when he killed the first born of Egypt, and is the seven day Feast of the Unleavened Bread (it lasts eight days in the diaspora) commemorating the Exodus from Egypt and the liberation of the Israelites from slavery.

To my Jewish friends - Shalom