A Passover Amendment

I am reliably informed by Cllr. Andrew Johnson - who is an archaeologist, amongst many other attributes - that the Passover dinner commemorates the Jews fleeing from bondage in Egypt, 3,500 years ago, rather than the 3,000 that I had written in my previous posting last night.

According to Andrew, most scholars date the Exodus to about mid-15th Century BCE.

The Jerusalem Post newspaper, has a fascinating article on this HERE.

I have never been good at Maths!!

Why is this night different from all other nights?

To Harlow Synagogue this evening, for a second night communal Passover dinner with eighty others. Vanda and I were invited as a guest of Cllrs Josh & Muriel Jolles and we all had a delightful night. Exactly 3,000 years ago, the Jews were escaping slavery in Egypt, and Passover (or Pesach in Hebrew), is a time when Jewish people come together and have a dinner 'a seder night', to remember what happened so long ago. Before eating, Rabbi Irit Shillor, recounted the tales of the Jews in Egypt in both ancient Hebrew and English. We all ate Crackers called Matzahs, which is basically bread in which the yeast has not been allowed to rise. The reason for this is that when the Jews fled Egypt, they didn't have time to bake proper bread, so it was unleavened.

After the stories and the prayers, we all got down to the essential part of the evening, which was of course the food! Everyone had brought a special dish (Vanda & I, a giant cheddar). Muriel Jolles had made some state of the art poached salmon and vegetables, so we all feasted a plenty. Our cheddar was so big that we sent it around all the tables, and I was delighted that at least half was eaten by everyone present.

After the food was finished, we all sang about biblical stories in Egypt, based on modern tunes of famous songs. It was such great fun - especially to see Vanda singing heartily!

We came home feeling so contented and lucky that we had been able to participate in such an important, but happy occasion.

P.S. The pictures show everyone at the table, Vanda, myself and Rabbi Irit and the Jolles. There is also a picture of Ruth Brooks (one of the organisers at the synagogue), and her young daughter Hannah. I took a picture of them both because many of you will know that she, and some fellow Harlow residents from Milwards, are soon to do a sponsored walk up Ben Nevis in Scotland, to raise money for Breast Cancer. After the 2001 election, I visited Ben Nevis but stayed firmly at the bottom of the mountain. It truly is a place of outstanding beauty -but a mammoth feat to climb.