WHAT are the 4 questions in ‘Passover Seder”? Passover Seder is a ritual feast held in the homes of Jewish people as part of the Passover celebration. They celebrate this for a week every year. This year it was celebrated in March. What is the ‘Passover’? About 3,300 years ago, the Jews were slaves in Egypt. For 400 years they were enslaved! The Jews are still the chosen people of the one true God, the God of Moses and Israel, my God. The mystery is that the one true God is a Trinity of Three, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God the Son, Jesus, became incarnate through the Blessed Virgin Mary and died on the cross for us, that we may have salvation and have eternal life with Him.
God appointed Moses as his spokesman to ask Pharaoh, to let his people free but Pharaoh refused. God sent ten plagues to afflict the Egyptians to persuade Pharaoh. The 10 plagues: 1. Water turned to blood killing all the fish in the Nile to mock the Egyptian god of the Nile, Hapi; 2. Frogs coming out from everywhere to mock Egyptian goddess Heket who had the head of a frog; 3. Dust turned to lice in all of Egypt to mock the Egyptian god Geb, god of earth dust; 4. Flies that pestered only Egyptians to mock the Egyptian god Kephri; 5. Death of all Egyptian cattle and livestock to mock the Egyptian god Hathor; 6. Boils and sores on all Egyptians to mock the Egyptian goddess of medicine, Isis; 7. Hail fire from the sky to mock the Egyptian god Nut, goddess of the sky; 8. Swarms of locusts from the sky to mock the Egyptian God Seth, god of storms; 9. Three days of darkness to mock the Egyptian god Ra, the sun god; 10. Death to all first born sons of Egyptians, including the first born of Pharaoh to mock Pharaoh himself who claims to be all powerful but powerless to save his own son.
The Passover involves the 10th plague. On the 9th plague, Pharaoh agreed to let the Jews go but demanded that they leave their livestock behind since all Egyptian cattle and livestock had died due to the 5th plague. But because Pharaoh was still full of pride and believed he was more powerful than the one true God and thought that he could still negotiate with God after God had shown His power in the first 9 plagues proving that all 9 Egyptians Gods were fake, and He alone is God, God told Moses to tell Pharaoh that there was no negotiations, no conditions for the release of His people. So, if Pharaoh did not agree to release the Jews unconditionally, all of the first born sons of the Egyptians would die. God told Moses to tell the Jews that they should mark their doors with the blood of a spring lamb so that the angel of death would ‘Passover’ their houses. The next day all of the first born sons of the Egyptians died including the first born of Pharaoh.
Since then every year, the Jews celebrate the ‘Passover’ with a Passover ritual feast in their homes. The children ask 4 questions in the Passover Seder:
On all other nights
1. We eat bread (leavened or raised) or matza (flat or unleavened), on this night we only eat matza: Answer: Because we were in such a hurry to leave Egypt we could not wait for the bread to rise.
2. We eat all kinds of vegetables and herbs, but on this night we have to eat bitter herbs. Answer: To remind us of the bitterness of slavery.
3. We don’t dip our vegetables in salt water, but on this night we dip them twice. Answer: To remind of our tears in slavery.
4. We eat reclining. Answer: Resting on one elbow enjoying the night with relatives and friends reminds us of freedom.
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