Crypto-Jewish Passover Seder

This past Saturday evening, March 24th, our Edot families re-enacted a Crypto-Jewish Passover seder. The details of how Crypto-Jews in Spain observed the rituals of the Passover seder have been gleaned from very detailed Inquisition records. Where they met for their seders (caves, by running rivers, in attics and basements), which songs they sang (Dayeinu, Adon Olam, Ladino version of Chad Gadya, called Un Cavritico), their recollection of the rituals involved in each of the 15 parts of the seder ceremony, even their recipes, were all recorded as witnesses testified against the accused. We all dressed in white, as the Crypto-Jews did, and students played the roles of Moses and the Israelites and even the waves of the Reed Sea, as the story of the Exodus was acted out, as the Crypto-Jews acted it out. Our seder meal was composed of roasted lamb, garbanzo beans prepared in honey with cilantro, huevos haminados (vermillioned eggs), haroset balls, and fresh fruit, similar to a seder meal the Crypto-Jews ate, according to Inquisition records. Edot students prepared special Crypto-Jewish haggadot, in which were included paragraphs they had written in class describing how it felt to always have to hide your true identity, to feel "sandwiched" between Judaism and Christianity, how they interpreted the four major themes of the Passover seder (freedom, slavery, hospitality, and return to Zion), and shared questions they would ask the Prophet Elijah during the "Cup of Elijah" part of the ceremony (Why are we being punished by God?  When will our suffering end?).  Selected students read from their paragraphs during the ceremony.

We completed our evening with a Havdallah service, which was perfectly timed, as we began it at 7:15, just as the sun was setting on a very rainy Shabbat. Hopefully, the students and their families came away from the seder with a clearer understanding of what the rituals involved in the Passover seder are, the origins of some of the rituals, like the Cup of Elijah, and an appreciation of the risks Jews have taken over the centuries to maintain their Jewish identity and beliefs, sometimes in the face of certain death. I will consider this seder a great success if they share what they have learned with friends and family at their own seders.

Passover begins at sundown on April 6th this year.  Chag Pesach Sameach - Happy Passover holiday - to all.

Here are a few photos from the event.