A dozen story ideas for Lent, Easter and Passover
Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on Feb. 9, leading to Easter on March 27. Passover begins at sundown April 23, and Orthodox Easter is May 1. ReligionLink offers 12 fresh angles on these ancient observances.
LENT / HOLY WEEK
In a world of violence, how do kids see Jesus’ death?
Good Friday: a secular holiday, too?
Hispanics honor solemn traditions
Easter retreats: ancient practices renewed
EASTER
Ministry marathon: Easter dash
Orthodox honor ‘Forgiveness Sunday’
PASSOVER
Working women’s Passover panic
LENT / HOLY WEEK
In a world of violence, how do kids see Jesus’ death?
The news, video games, television and movies are chock-full of violence these days, as are many neighborhoods. Yet so is the story of Jesus’ death. So how does the message of Holy Week play to young minds that, many experts say, have become desensitized to violence?
Last year there was a roaring debate over whether Mel Gibson’s powerful and controversial film The Passion of the Christ was suitable viewing for children and teenagers. The film was rated R, but some pastors hauled youth groups by the busload to watch it. Some parents kept their children away, while others welcomed the opportunity to teach their children – some still in grade school – more about Jesus’ death and the sacrifice that Christians believe he made.
How do churches talk to children about Jesus’ suffering in a world in which they are inundated by images of suffering and death? And how do children grasp an important and complex theological message in this story amid the rest of the violence to which they are exposed?
Talk to pastors, Sunday school teachers, parents and seminary professors about what they have seen. Do they think children in today’s media-saturated world respond any differently to the story of Jesus’ suffering and death than children used to? Do they present the message in any different way? What do they say to children about violence in the Bible?
Interview teenagers or young adults about their early impressions of the Easter story. Do they think the violence they encounter on television – both in “entertainment” and on the news – affects how children respond to the Resurrection? Do they think children are becoming less sensitive to depictions of violence? What difference do they think that makes?
RESOURCES• Read a statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics on the impact of violence on children. It states that the average American child watches as much as 28 hours of television a week and that viewing violence can lead to emotional desensitization, to a perception that the world is a mean and violent place, and to children becoming more violent themselves later in life.
• Read the results of a survey released in September 2004 by the Kaiser Family Foundation showing that a majority of parents of young children said they were very concerned about the amount of sex and violence their children see on television.
• Read the results of a 15-year longitudinal study released in March 2003 by University of Michigan researchers who found that children’s viewing of violent television shows, their identification with aggressive characters and their perception that TV violence is realistic were linked to later aggression as young adults.
• Read an essay by Karen Maudlin, a psychologist specializing in family therapy, on how to talk to children of different ages about Jesus’ crucifixion. It’s posted on Beliefnet.com.
• Read a Feb. 16, 2004, USA Today story about pastors encouraging parents to take their children to see The Passion of the Christ. Also see a March 2004 story from The Tidings, the newspaper of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, about whether Catholic teenagers should see the film and what it might teach them about Jesus’ life and resurrection.
A ‘Passion’ for Easter?
Despite being snubbed by the Oscars, the runaway success of The Passion of the Christ upended the conventional wisdom of Hollywood. It may have also had an enduring effect on Easter services across the country. The blockbuster was made by Mel Gibson, a traditionalist Catholic, but Protestants, and especially evangelicals, were the movie’s biggest fans. Christian leaders and the filmmakers are urging congregations to use the Passion as a ministry tool, especially this Easter. The success of The Passion coincides with the increasing use of media in church services, but widespread use of the movie for Easter events raises new issues: Will such a traditionally Catholic presentation become a kind of evangelical “Stations of the Cross”? Will it replace or add to the Passion depictions that are increasingly being staged in Broadway-style productions in Protestant churches? Will the movie supplant the old-time Passion Plays that have been a staple of Catholic life?
RESOURCES• The Passion of the Christ home page is advertising a new DVD version that includes film clips and stills designed for use in worship services. The promotion says churches “can use this Church Resource DVD to motivate and empower your congregation through sermon illustrations, power point presentations, bulletin covers/inserts and more.” The release date is Feb.1, 2005, with delivery promised in time for Holy Week. The $24.95 price includes a certificate good for one licensed showing of the full-screen version of The Passion.
• ThePassionOutreach.com offers promotional products and ideas for using the movie in ministry. The suggestions include theater buyouts, prayer walks based on the movie, and a “Passion Easter Service” using themes from the movie.
• Several homily sites, such as SermonCentral.com, are advertising sermons based on the movie, and evangelizing organizations such as Youth for Christ have resource guides and elaborate curriculums for churches and ministries to tailor the “Passion” for evangelistic purposes.
• The North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention also has a Passion web site to help congregations incorporate the movie into their ministry.
For more background and interview sources see these previous ReligionLink tips:
• “‘Passion’ plays out locally” (Feb. 17, 2004)
• “Screen saviors: beyond ‘Passion’” (Sept. 29, 2003)
• “The triumphs and tensions of faith-based marketing” (March 29, 2004)
Good Friday: a secular holiday, too?
In 2001 the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a ruling that said Christmas could be a federal holiday because it had secular as well as religious purposes. But what about Good Friday? It’s observed as a holiday in 12 states, in which state government offices and public schools close for the day. In a handful of other states, only government offices are closed on Good Friday, or the day is an optional holiday.
Church-state separationists and some non-Christians have criticized making a government holiday out of the day Christians commemorate Jesus’ death on the cross. Legal challenges have been filed to mixed results. The 9th, 6th and 4th U.S. Circuit Courts have upheld laws that make Good Friday a holiday for either schools or state employees, saying that because Easter has become increasingly secularized, the Friday before Easter has become a traditional day to start preparations for days off that benefit people of all religions. However, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court ruled that such laws were unconstitutional in closing schools, but not for giving state employees a day off if the government could give a legitimate secular reason for doing so. In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to review the 4th U.S. Circuit Court ruling, allowing the conflicting rulings from the various Circuit Courts to stand.
Is Good Friday a holiday for schools or state employees or both in your state? If not, is there a movement to make it a holiday? Who is involved? What are their motivations? If your state does make the day a holiday, is there opposition? From whom?
RESOURCES• Read an American Atheists commentary on a Jan. 19, 2000, decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to allow a Maryland statute to stand. The statute requires public schools to close on Good Friday. It lists the states that have Good Friday holidays and relevant court cases.
• A segment on the web site About.com looks at the legal questions surrounding making Good Friday a state holiday.
• Religioustolerance.com offer a snapshot of the court decisions involving Good Friday holidays.
• Read a Dec. 21, 2000, Associated Press story posted by the Cincinnati Enquirer about a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that Christmas can continue to be a legal holiday, as it has been since 1870, because it has a secular purpose.
• Read the Becket Fund’s page on Ganulin v. United States, in which a Cincinnati lawyer filed suit to argue that Christmas should not be designated a federal holiday because doing so is a government endorsement of Christianity.
• Barry Lynn is executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, a lobbying group based in Washington, D.C. Contact 202-466-3234.
• Melissa Rogers is a visiting professor of religion and public policy at the Divinity School at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. She wrote the article “Traditions of Church-State Separation: Some Ways They Have Protected Religion and Advanced Religious Freedom and How They are Threatened Today” for the journal University of Virginia Journal of Law and Politics (2002). Contact 336-758-5121, rogersm@wfu.edu.
• Philip Hamburger is a law professor at the University of Chicago. He wrote the book Separation of Church and State (Harvard University Press, 2002). Contact 773-834-4162, philip_hamburger@law.uchicago.edu.
Mary, mirror of many mothers
Many Christians have a hard time imagining what Jesus’ mother, Mary, endured as he suffered, died and was buried on that first Good Friday. Her stoic acceptance seems almost beyond the humanly possible. But perhaps some modern-day parents – for example, those whose own sons or daughters are in harm’s way in Iraq or Afghanistan – feel a special kinship with her because of it. Talk to some of these parents about how their faith helps them accept and cope with their fears for their child. Does Mary’s example inspire them? Do Catholics, who are known for their devotion to Mary, relate differently to her on this than Protestants do?
RESOURCES• Scott Hahn is a professor of theology and Scripture at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio, and the founder and director of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. A former Protestant minister who converted to Catholicism, his books include Hail, Holy Queen: The Mother of God in the Word of God (Doubleday, 2001), which examines the Marian doctrines and the importance of Mary in the Christian faith. Contact 740-283-1016, office@scotthahn.com.
• Cheri Fuller is a Christian speaker and author whose son, Lt. Chris Fuller, is a Navy doctor who has been deployed to Iraq. She encourages people to organize prayer groups in their homes or churches to lift up service members and their families, and she is launching a web site for military families that will provide spiritual and other resources. Contact 405-973-5273, cheri@cherifuller.com.
• MilitaryWivesandMoms.org is an online resource for those with spouses or offspring in the military. It includes message boards for requesting or offering prayers. Contact the organizers by email on the site.
• Beverly Roberts Gaventa is Helen H.P. Manson Professor of New Testament literature and exegesis at Princeton Theological Seminary. She wrote Mary: Glimpses of the Mother of Jesus (Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 1999) and co-edited Blessed One: Protestant Perspectives on Mary (Westminster John Knox Press, 2002). Contact Beverly.Gaventa@ptsem.edu.
Hispanics honor solemn traditions
Ethnic groups bring their own traditions to religious holidays in the United States, but as they assimilate into mainstream American culture, the old traditions often fade away. That would also be true of the traditions both Catholic and Protestant Hispanics bring to Easter if new waves of immigrants from Latin America didn’t make sure the old ways continue in their new country. For Hispanics, Semana Santa, or Holy Week, leading up to Pasqua, or Easter, is a solemn event. In fact, the three days before Easter – Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday – are more central to Hispanic Catholics than Easter Sunday itself. Good Friday in particular is observed as a day of mourning. It includes the Pesame, which is a condolence Mass for Mary; the Stations of the Cross, in which Jesus’ ordeal is re-created; and the Siete Palabras, or the Seven Words, in which Christ’s final words are recited. In many families, music and television are barred on that day.
How do Easter traditions for new Hispanic immigrants differ from those of Hispanics who have been in the United States for generations? How do churches accommodate new immigrant Hispanics’ Easter traditions? How do Hispanic Easter traditions play out in your community?
RESOURCES• Read an April 11, 2004, Arizona Daily Star article on Hispanic Easter traditions.
• A March 16, 2001, article in The Leaven, the newspaper for the Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kan., looks at Hispanic traditions for Lent and Holy Week.
• Timothy Matovina is an associate professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame. He is an expert in theology and culture, specializing in U.S. Catholic and U.S. Latino theology and religion. Contact 574-631-3841, Matovina.1@nd.edu.
• Ana Maria Diaz-Stevens is a professor of church and society at the Union Theological Seminary in New York. She is an expert on the impact of Hispanic culture on the Catholic Church. Contact 212-280-1362, dstevens@uts.columbia.edu.
• Peter Casarella is an associate professor at the School of Theology and Religious Studies at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He wrote the book El Cuerpo de Cristo: The Hispanic Presence in the U.S. Catholic Church (Crossroad Publishing, 1998). Contact 202-319-5683, casarelp@cua.edu.
Easter retreats: ancient practices renewed
For many Christians, the Lenten tradition of turning inward is accomplished by retreating from ordinary life in a contemplative or meditative setting. For journalists, it’s a chance to engage people of faith in interviews about how they keep their religious commitments alive within lives overwhelmed by demands and activities. How have past retreats deepened or awakened participants’ faith? Why are they going this year? Check community listings and contact churches to learn about retreats in your area. Many non-Christian religions, including Judaism, schedule retreats to take advantage of spring school breaks, so don’t limit inquiries to Christians. Some retreats are urban and some rural. Some people travel to retreats and others take advantage of a retreat house or gathering place near home or church. Some retreats are silent, others involve community prayer and still others stress the individual’s restoration and relationship with God.
Ask participants how retreats have deepened or awakened participants’ faith. What do people going this year expect to gain? What changes do religious leaders see in people who attend retreats? Scholars can explain the history of contemplative prayer and silent retreats. How do people say they balance retreat and engagement in daily life?
RESOURCESHere are examples of the variety of approaches to the Easter retreat:
• Contemplative Outreach offers a Centering Prayer Retreat in Northern California Easter weekend. Contemplative Outreach is a spiritual network of individuals and small faith communities committed to living the contemplative dimension of the Gospel in everyday life through the practice of Centering Prayer. Find local Contemplative Outreach chapters.
• The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Orange County in Southern California sponsor an annual Easter retreat at a mountain retreat center.
• “Unplugged” is the theme of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia’s Easter retreat for clergy, lay professionals and their families.
• The Episcopalian Christ Church Cathedral in Indianapolis celebrates its “Journey in Faith” Easter Retreat the week after Easter right inside the church. Contact Arizeder Urreiztieta, communications director, 317-636-4577 ext. 608, arizederu@cccindy.org.
• The Christine Center, a retreat center in central Wisconsin honoring traditions of mystical spirituality, meditation and contemplation, hosts a weekend retreat at Easter, including daily spiritual rituals, spiritual guidance, and an Easter service and celebration. Contact 715-267-7507.
• The Abode of the Message near New Lebanon, N.Y., in the Berkshire Mountains, offers a retreat on Easter weekend. The abode is the home of Pir Zia Inayat Khan, grandson and successor of Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, founder of the mystical Sufi Order (of Islam) in the West. (Read Pir Zia Inayat Khan’s “The Paradox of Universal Sufism” to learn more about the mystical tradition.) Call 518-794-8095.
• Suzanne G. Farnham is founder and program director of the Baltimore-based Listening Hearts Ministries, which designs and leads retreats for religious organizations and congregations around the country. Farnham is co-author of Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community (Morehouse Publishing, 1991) and she wrote Retreat Designs and Meditation Exercises (Morehouse Publishing, 1994), books widely used by groups of many denominations in religious retreats. Contact: 410-366-1851, listening@verizon.net.
• JoAnn Heaney-Hunter is an associate professor of theology and religious studies at St. John’s University in Jamaica, N.Y. She is particularly knowledgeable about couples’ retreats and about Christian practice in marriage and families. Ask her about how retreats may relieve stress and strengthen religious practice for individuals in families or marriages. Contact 718-990-5428, heaneyhj@stjohns.edu.
Alone and together
At this time of year, Christians and Jews divide their observances between communal practices – Lenten soup suppers, Passover seders and worship services – and solitary practices, such as fasting, study and prayer. What are the benefits or limits of solo and communal worship and practice, if only one is done? How do they enhance each other? Is it possible to fully honor Lent and Passover by worshipping only alone or only in a group? Which do people find it harder to make time for – community or individual devotions? Are churches and synagogues adopting new practices or adapting old ones in efforts to tailor them to their members’ busy lives?
RESOURCES• Vanessa Ochs is the author of The Book of Jewish Sacred Practices: CLAL’s Guide to Everyday and Holiday Rituals and Blessings (Jewish Lights, 2001). She is an associate professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va. Contact 434-924-6722, Vochs@virginia.edu.
• Lawrence Hoffman is a rabbi and a professor of liturgy at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, N.Y. He has written and edited The Art of Public Prayer: Not for Clergy Only (Skylight Paths, 1999), which has been used by both Christian and Jewish congregations to plan liturgy. Contact 212-824-2234, lhoffman@huc.edu.
• Ruth Haley Barton is co-founder of The Transforming Center, an organization in Warrenville, Ill., that helps develop church leaders. She teaches separate workshops on encountering God alone and in community. She is the author of Invitation to Solitude and Silence: Experiencing God’s Transforming Presence (Intervarsity Press, 2004). Contact 630-665-3383, rhbarton@thetransformingcenter.org.
• Richard Wagner is the author of the Christian web site Digitalwalk and the author of Christian Prayer for Dummies (For Dummies, 2002), which includes chapters on praying alone and praying in groups. Contact rich@digitalwalk.net.
EASTER
Ministry marathon: Easter dash
Consider the growth of multisite megachurches, where one church adds satellite campuses in nearby cities and pastors run from one to another on Sunday morning. Add the influx of holiday worshippers and extra Easter services, and many pastors will be running around like the Easter Bunny on the big day. The decline in the number of clergy in some denominations, particularly in rural areas, also creates clergy crunch time, with ministers dashing from one church to another.
Many clergy are already overworked, but feel an added obligation to perform well at services crowded with people who don’t regularly attend church. The growing desire for worship services to be highly orchestrated and emotionally charged “events” means that the people who lead them feel a need to be at their best, clergy consultants say.
RESOURCES• The Dallas-based Leadership Network has a Multi-Site Churches Leadership group that was created for churches that meet at multiple locations. These multisite, churches have many of the attributes of the large church along with some distinctive benefits and challenges. The director of the program is Greg Ligon. Contact 214-969-5950, greg.ligon@leadnet.org.
• The “Pulpit & Pew” research project at Duke Divinity School is a leading resource for studies and experts on clergy issues. Contact 919-660-3423, pulpitandpew@div.duke.edu.
• The Hartford Institute for Religion Research at the Hartford Seminary is an excellent resource and includes a database of more than 800 megachurches in the United States. Contact Scott Thumma, professor of the sociology of religion at Hartford Seminary, 860-509-9571, sthumma@hartsem.edu.
• The Alban Institute in Herndon, Va., provides data and expert commentators on congregational and clergy dynamics. The institute is led by James P. Wind. Contact 703-964-2700.
• See this November 2004 Fort Worth Star-Telegram story (free registration required) about Fellowship Church, a Grapevine, Texas, megachurch that is opening two satellite campuses.
• See this Sept. 8, 2004, ReligionLink tip on megachurches for sources.
Easter in emergent churches
The emergent, or postmodern, church is marked by creative worship forms and a disregard for denominational authority. They like to “do it themselves,” and many of their innovations – like praise music and small group ministry – are later adopted by more traditional churches. Emergent churches commonly attract the young and the previously “unchurched,” people typically unfamiliar with the traditional forms of Lenten and Easter worship. How do emerging churches celebrate Easter and Lent? How quickly do their ways of “doing” the church holidays spread to other, more traditional churches?
RESOURCES• Emergingchurch.org has a list of emerging church congregations in the United States.
• Dan Kimball is pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, Calif. and author of The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for a New Generation (Zondervan, 2003). Contact via the church, 831-429-1058.
• Diana Butler Bass is director of the Project on Congregations of Intentional Practice, a group that tracks new practices within mainline Protestant denominations, and author of The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church (Alban Institute, 2004). Contact 703-461-1730, dbass@vts.edu.
• David J. Lose is a Lutheran pastor and an assistant professor of homiletics and leadership at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. He is author of Confessing Jesus Christ: Preaching in a Postmodern World (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2003). Contact 651-641-3455, dlose@luthersem.edu.
• John Berryhill is the executive director of the Emerging Church Network, an Austin, Texas-based consultancy firm that fosters emerging church leaders in the United States. Contact johnb@emergingchurchnetwork.com/.
Orthodox honor ‘Forgiveness Sunday’
In the Orthodox Church, Lent is a rich season of special liturgies, colorful services and seasonal hymns that build toward the Holy Week, then Pascha (Easter) itself. One of the most evocative and representative traditions to write about is Forgiveness Sunday, with its special liturgy on the eve of the Lenten fast. Besides the traditional forgiveness liturgy, some churches offer a moving forgiveness ritual after Sunday vespers. The service varies, but often includes the chance for worshippers to ask forgiveness and to offer it to each other. It’s an opportunity to enter Lent cleansed and in a receptive frame of mind. Although the Orthodox Lenten fast can be quite austere, the emphasis is less on sacrifice than on forgiveness, repentance and the internal transformation of Christians striving to reach new lives inspired by the life and resurrection of Jesus.
This year, Orthodox Easter – which must always occur after Passover is finished – is May 1, five weeks later than Western Easter. Forgiveness Sunday is March 13. The formula for calculating the date of Orthodox Easter was devised at the First Council of Nicea, in the fourth century. In 2005, Lent begins Monday, March 14 (Orthodox don’t observe Ash Wednesday).
Forgiveness Sunday is also called “Cheese Fair Sunday,” because it’s the last chance to eat dairy products before Lent begins and animal products are eschewed. The first day of Lent often is called “Clean Monday.”
Orthodoxy comprises a family of national churches deriving from the original patriarchies of Alexandria, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch (Lebanon) and Rome. After the Great Schism (1054 CE), Orthodox churches and Rome split. Three main (and many smaller) Orthodox traditions predominate in the United States. Contact information and web sites where local parishes can be located are listed below.
RESOURCES• Primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is Archbishop Demetrios, in New York. Contact Nikki Stephanopoulos, press officer, 212-570-3530, Nikki@goarch.org. Find local parishes.
• Primate of the Orthodox Church in America (historically Russian) is Metropolitan Herman, located in Syosset, N.Y. Contact Father John Matusiak, communications director, 630-668-3071, jjm@oca.org, or find other sources for reporters. Find local parishes.
• Primate of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in North America (historically Arab) is Metropolitan Philip, in Englewood, N.J. Contact Father George Kevorkian, hierarchical assistant to Metropolitan Philip, 201-871-1355. Find a local parish.
• Read “An Orthodox Easter,” an April 9, 2004, description of Greek Orthodox Easter services published in the Wall Street Journal online opinion pages and written by Eastern Orthodox theologian David Hart.
• For Western Christians, Shrove Tuesday (Feb. 8, 2005), the day before Ash Wednesday, also focuses on forgiveness. It, too, is the last day before Lent begins, a day to indulge in soon-to-be-abstained-from foods. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the verb shrive (past tense is shrove) involves giving or obtaining absolution and confession.
• Kyriacos C. Markides is a professor of sociology at the University of Maine and author of The Mountain of Silence: a Search for Orthodox Spirituality (Doubleday/Random House, 2001). Contact 207-581-2390, markides@maine.edu.
• For more sources, see an April 21, 2003, ReligionLink tip on the physical, emotional and spiritual benefits of forgiveness.
PASSOVER
Working women’s Passover panic
For many Jews, the celebration of Passover (Pesach, beginning at sundown April 23) is a wonderful thing. They love the traditions, the food, the retelling of the story of the Jews’ freedom from slavery. Passover is one of the most popular Jewish holidays, and it’s typically celebrated with friends and family of all ages gathering around a Seder – home-cooked, of course. But some working women acknowledge that doing Passover “right” involves weeks of exhausting work – emptying the cupboards of every scrap of leavened food (called chametz), cleaning meticulously, hauling out special dishes, preparing the traditional foods. One woman told of being so tired from the preparation that she fell asleep at the Seder table. These working women want to make Passover special for their families, but they also want it to be a time of real spiritual freedom, not of kitchen enslavement.
Talk to Jewish women about how they approach Passover – whether they follow all the rules, whether they cut corners, whether they look forward to it with anticipation or dread. Is preparing for Pesach considered “women’s work,” or does everyone in the family help out? What do single people do? Do younger women approach Passover in the same way their mothers and grandmothers did, or are attitudes changing? And how important is perfection anyway – how clean does the house really need to be?
Talk to people at synagogues and Jewish seminaries about the spiritual significance of Passover and ways that busy Jews can try to balance the stress with a sense of freedom that Passover commemorates. Is there a way to turn the physical work into something spiritual?
Find experienced Seder-givers who can provide tips for doing some of the work ahead (make the matzo balls and freeze them) or breaking it down into manageable steps. Look for observant families who work as a team and have discovered joy in passing down the traditions and in the annual spring cleaning. And what about a potluck Seder?
Particularly in bigger cities, check out restaurants that offer Passover Seders or caterers that will deliver traditional Seder foods. Some delis or grocery stores offer take-out Seder food – brisket or gefilte fish to go?
RESOURCES• Read an article from the Spring 2003 issue of Jewish Woman magazine titled “Too Much on Your Plate,” in which working women talk about the stress of preparing for Passover and what they do to make it more manageable and spiritually significant.
• Read results from the 2000 National Jewish Population Survey, which found that most American Jews – whether they are affiliated with a synagogue or not – either hold or attend a Passover Seder.
• Read an essay by Judith Hauptman titled “Pesah: A Liberating Experience for Women,” which explains how in the classical rabbinical texts, the rabbis struggled with the question of the role of women in celebrating Pesah (as she spells it). Hauptman writes that “the painstaking conversion of the kitchen from leaven-filled to leaven-free status has turned the Festival of Freedom into an intense period of domestic labor rather than a celebration of personal and national liberation. That was not the intention of the halakhah.” Hauptman is a Talmud professor at Jewish Theological Seminary of America and the author of Rereading the Rabbis: A Woman’s Voice (Westview Press, 1998).
Jews wander on Passover
While many Jews prefer to be among family and friends in their own homes during Passover, the more adventurous want their chopped liver poolside. “Pesach in Acapulco!” the WanderingJew.Net web site promises. Why be stuck inside when you could be sunning on a hammock on a kosher cruise?
TotallyJewishTravel.com advertises Passover vacations in more than 100 locales, including the Caribbean, Israel, Mexico, Australia and Argentina. If you want to stick closer to home, there’s the “Magical Passover” program in Orlando. For observant Jews, there’s nothing un-kosher about traveling to a hotel where the food is Glatt Kosher. MatzaFunTours even offers the kosher “South Beach” option for those skipping the noodle kugel.
The cost of such 10-night excursions ranges from $2,500, not including airfare, to $7,000, depending on the quality of the hotel. The reasons for taking a Passover break vary. It’s a popular option for the newly widowed. Some people want to avoid the elaborate process of cleaning and preparing their houses for Passover. Many families designate Passover as their annual family vacation, sometimes traveling in groups of 20 or more. In the words of one tour agent: “It’s not just Passover. It’s MatzaFun!”
RESOURCES• Jerry Abramson’s MatzaFunTours in Cherry Hill, N.J., says it has hosted Passover Seder vacations with numerous activities for almost two decades. Contact Abramson at 856-979-7193, info@matzafun.com.
• The Wandering Jew.net, part of Ontario Travel Bureau, is an agency that books more than 50 Passover events, including Seder cruises. For a good description of the industry, contact Laurie Neuman van Esschoten, 909-984-2761, laurie@ontariotravelbureau.com.
• TotallyJewishTravel.com sells advertising space for Passover events in more than 40 U.S. locations and on five continents. It’s a good place to look for an overview.
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