A lamb, unleavened bread, and wine comprise a 15th-century Passover meal in a panel of the “Last Supper Triptych,” circa 1464-1467, by Flemish painter Dieric Bouts in Saint Peter’s Church in Leuven, Belgium

PESACH

 As I write, millions of Jews all over the world are celebrating Pesach/Passover, the oldest festival in the Hebrew calendar. Whenever Pesach is mentioned the topic of “Hametz” arises. The accepted Orthodox definition of hametz is a food product that is made from one of five types of grain, and has been combined with water and left to stand for longer than eighteen minutes. As we know, observant Jews meticulously remove and burn every trace of leavened food products found in their homes. On a household scale this isn’t really a problem, however when it comes to public and national institutions where huge quantities are involved, a waste-not-want-not policy is adopted. The problem of obviating the possession of hametz during the week of Pesach was solved by symbolically selling the nation’s hametz to a non-Jew. For many years now, Jabber Hussein, a Muslim Arab who lives in Abu Gosh voluntarily signs an agreement with Israel’s chief rabbis whereby he buys all the public hametz in the country. He writes a cheque for $27,000, a deposit for the purchase. His money is returned after the holiday.

During April this year Pesach, Ramadan and Easter occur in close proximity.

It’s estimated that 2.2 million Israelis will be heading to destinations overseas, about 18% more travellers than last year. Possibly the convergence of the three festivals this year and the fact that overseas travel was more restricted a year ago explains this Exodus 2023.

At least one place that I know of “beat the gun” in adopting the new “Hametz Law.”

A hospital guard confiscated a packet of wafers from a pregnant woman as she was being admitted to the Laniado Medical Centre in Netanya on Sunday, five days before Pesach. As far as I know, this was the first implementation of the government’s new “Hametz Law” passed by the Knesset last week.

The law bans hametz in hospitals during the week of Passover, during which observant Jews eschew such products, and leaves it to hospital directors to “use their own judgment in how to notify visitors and staff” either by posting their policies on their website or with signs at entrances, but it does not explicitly allow security guards to search patients’ or visitors’ bags to enforce the policy.

This news snippet aroused a certain déjà vu. So, paging down through old posts I came across another Hametz law that didn’t gain much traction.

“For some people Passover/Pesach week is a gastronomic ordeal.

In Israel, unless you are an unabashed sinner and have stocked up on leavened food products to tide you over till the bakers knead again, you will have to grin and bear it. However, the enforcement of the Matzot Law 2008 is very lax and if you are prepared to go the extra mile, you might find a minimart that sells “Hametz.” In our neck of the woods that extra mile stretches to Nazareth, a short drive from Ein Harod. Ironically supermarkets in Nazareth stock matzot all the year round. It appears the Arabs have acquired a taste for the “bread of our affliction.”

Incidentally, our Arab neighbours across the road told me that matzot are still stocked in supermarkets in our region and elsewhere. 

At this juncture it’s pertinent to mention the Passover narrative as told in Deuteronomy and efforts made by archaeologists to align it with “facts on the ground.” Archaeologist Professor Israel Finkelstein’s book "The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts" raised quite a storm when it was published twenty two years ago. Finkelstein and others claim the exodus never occurred. Just the same he sees no contradiction between holding a proper Pesach Seder and telling the story of the exodus from Egypt, and his personal opinion.

In recent years refinements in radio carbon dating along with tree-ring analysis have aided archaeologists in suggesting an alternative to the traditional Exodus narrative.

Leading Israeli radiocarbon expert, Weizmann Institute of Science Prof. Elisabetta Boaretto says the use of allied technologies has resulted in more accurate dating of artefacts and archaeological sites.

“If they are right, the difference of a decade or two could change the answer to the questions of “who built this, who destroyed it, and who was here,” she says.

Last night, together my family and members of my kibbutz and their guests, I celebrated Pesach at our kibbutz Seder

Passover/Pesach was the first festival to be revived in its seasonal context, as it is both the Spring Festival and the Festival of Freedom. The kibbutz Haggadah – the Haggadah compiled at kibbutz Yagur was the prototype. It was based on the theme of the Exodus from Egypt, but included events of a similar nature pertinent to modern Jewish history and kibbutz life, as well as appropriate passages from modern Hebrew literature. The Seder was held in public and became an elaborate function, with music and dancing, for members, children, and guests.

 

Chag Pesach Sameach.

 

Beni,

 

6^th of April, 2023.

liberation from Egyptian slavery, but it continued evolving after the Neo-Babylonians conquered Jerusalem