Analysis Of The Seder Plate In Passover Tradition

1284 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Customs and traditions of judaism

While living in the Bay Area, I have a valuable opportunity to experience many interesting food cultures. Doing my report on cultural traditions, I am inspired to enrich my knowledge in the culture that I have little knowledge of. Through the interview presentations, personal experiences shared by students, and several suggestions of indicative foods by the instructor, I have gained interests in different food habits and food symbolisms. After doing small research on each topic to decide what I am really interested in, I chose to learn more about the Seder plate in Passover tradition. The meanings of the celebration as well as the symbolic foods intertwine with the Jewish history of more than 210 years of slavery in Egypt. Though I have learnt about the cruelty of slavery, I have never known about any celebrated festival to commemorate on the journey to freedom from bondage. I am curious in understanding how symbolic foods that are emphasized in this festival represent the experiences that the Israelites faced and their passage to freedom.
Passover (also known as Pesach in Hebrew) is one of the most sacred festival in the Jewish calendar and the longest continuing ritual in the human history. Since 1300 B.C, Jews celebrate this tradition to commemorate the national freedom of the Children of Israel and recalls stories behind the Israelites' departure from the land of Egypt. Spring time signifies the season of Passover, which begins at the sunset marking the fifteenth day of Nisan, the first month in Jewish calendar. In modern calendar, that is between April and May. The story of Passover is written in the Book of Exodus, the second book of Hebrew Bible. Over 3000 years ago, Pharoah, the King of Egypt, enslaved Jews and tortur...

... middle of paper ...

...e tradition. Hopefully, the younger generations will continue to celebrate the sacred celebration to maintain their heritage in the future.
Besides the historical meaning behind this tradition, the Seder plate in Passover celebration not only teaches the younger generation to recall the past painful experiences from slavery, but also emphasizes on the positive sides of their successful journey and their joyful moments. Each of the symbolic foods of the Passover Seder Plate has an interesting meaning, and together, they created complex layered meaning of the tradition. Family and friends come together to reflect upon history, sympathize the tragedies, and celebrate the triumphs of their ancestors. It is extraordinary that all Jews around the world strongly symbolize their ancestors’ experiences and spread it as the foundation of national identity.

Show More
Related

  • Comparing American Slavery and the Holocaust

    1005 Words  | 3 Pages

    The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the American Slavery and the Holocaust, in terms of which one was more malevolent than the other. Research indicates that “the “competition” between African-American and Jews has served to trivialize the malevolence which both has suffered” (Newton, 1999). According to L. Thomas “A separate issue that contributes to the tension between blacks and Jews refer to to the role that Jews played in the American Slave trade.”

    Read More

  • Celia A Slave Thesis

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    The challenges and difficulties slaves faced at the time of Celia’s trial left white Americans viewing them with little entitlements. Celia’s trial brought a new perspective into society in a time where slaves, especially females, were without hope. Her story was a beneficial challenge to the institution of slavery because it reached the thoughts of many involved in the controversy during the 1850s and left an effect on the standards of

    Read More

  • Smooth Plantation Book Report

    325 Words  | 1 Pages

    Summary: Plimoth Plantation, in conjunction with the Wampanoag Nation got together and re-enacted the three-day meeting between the early colonists and the Wampanoag Nation, which began the tradition of Thanksgiving. This book takes a more realistic look at the Thanksgiving story from the perspective of the pilgrims and the Native American tribe Wampanoag. The stunning photographs taken during the re-enactment are a good visual aid in debunking the misinformation surrounding the holiday. While the book talks about the true origin of Thanksgiving, it also talks about Plimoth Plantation and Wampanoag of today and how they are educating visitors on what life was really like in 1621.

    Read More

  • Cultural Experience In Star Trek: The Voyage Home

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    I hope that as time passes, the culture associated with this ritual will be happily remembered through stories and pictures, but I understand why the small villages and the people who live their still feel the need to reach back to their heritage and commemorate their past.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay About Thanksgiving

    1319 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thanksgiving is a holiday in the United States, which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November every year. Although the way holidays are celebrated over time, thanksgiving has always been a holiday feast. However, Thanksgiving is more than just eating food together with your family. For instance, some families do charity work for the poor people and create a Thanksgiving dinner for them, other family’s watch sport in addition to the food that they eat together. One part that is common at almost every Thanksgiving dinner is the type of food that is served. Families in the United States have celebrated Thanksgiving for hundreds of years, but the way it is celebrated has slightly changed from the first Thanksgiving. To be able to explain

    Read More

  • Theme of Tradition in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

    1319 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ithdraw from the tradition because they do not know any other way. Can you imagine what life would be if there were no Christmas or Thanksgiving? For many cultures, tradition is the basis for their history. One example to this being the Hawaiian culture whose history was destroyed when they were forced to stop their ancient dances which told stories of their past. Adversely, tradition has played negative roles in society as well with the battle between the Muslims and Christians in many middle-eastern countries. Tradition plays many roles in today's society. Our goal should be to grasp the idea of what they really mean. We must not isolate ourselves to what we think we know, but instead allow ourselves to comprehend.

    Read More

  • The Real Events of Thanksgiving Should Be Taught on the Holiday

    746 Words  | 2 Pages

    Here in the United States of America on the forth Thursday in November each year we, as a nation and as individual families, celebrate Thanksgiving. For most Americans we bring out our best dishes and have an enormous meal with turkey, dressing, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie. Families gather together, we eat until we are stuffed, we play games and watch football, but why? Have we lost the true meaning behind the beginning our nation? We have our tradition but somehow we have lost them important meaning of the treacherous start of a nation. Like various other cultures that have a celebration of thanks the Jews have a Passover celebration with rich family meal inundated with tradition and meaning. They have not forgotten why they celebrate. The hardship that they endured and the pivotal point in the transformation of their freedom to a better life is vividly remembered with Passover each year and passed down from generation to generation. If we reincorporate the true story of thanksgiving into our celebrations, we should be able to ensure a change in ourselves and our families to come together and become a stronger nation.

    Read More

  • The Role of Food in Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet in the Western Front and Elie Wiesel’s Night

    1314 Words  | 3 Pages

    Food is essential to basic life. It provides people with the energy to think, speak, walk, talk, and breathe. In preparation for the Jews deportation from the ghettos of Transylvania, “the (Jewish) women were busy cooking eggs, roasting meat, and baking cakes”(Wiesel, 13). The Jewish families realized how crucial food was to their lives even before they were faced with the daily condition of famine and death in the concentration camps. The need for food was increased dramatically with the introduction of the famine-like conditions of the camps. Wiesel admitted that, although he was incredibly hungry, he had refused to eat the plate of thick soup they served to the prisoners on the first day of camp because of his nature of being a “spoiled child”. But his attitude changed rapidly as he began to realize that his life span was going to be cut short if he continued to refuse to eat the food they served him. “By the third day, I (Elie Wiesel) was eating any kind of soup hungrily” (Wiesel, 40). His desire to live superseded his social characteristic of being “pampered”. Remarque also uses his characters to show to how a balanced diet promotes a person’s good health. Paul Bäumer uses food to encourage Franz Kemmerich, his sick friend, “eat decently and you’ll soon be well again…Eating is the main thing” (Remarque, 30). Paul Bäumer feels that good food can heal all afflictions. The bread supply of the soldiers in All Quiet on the Western Front was severely threatened when the rats became more and more numerous.

    Read More

  • History Of Thanksgiving Essay

    957 Words  | 2 Pages

    The History of ThanksgivingTopic: The History of ThanksgivingQuestion: What is the origin of Thanksgiving?Thesis: The History of Thanksgiving goes far back to 1621 when the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared a harvest feast, which was the first Thanksgiving meal.September of 1620, a ship known as the Mayflower left Plymouth, England transporting over 100 passengers. These passengers were religious separatists and were seeking refuge in a new territory. Originally, they were headed to the Hudson River in New York, but due to erratic weather such as severe thunderstorms, they ended up in Plymouth Harbor, Massachusetts.1 They were greeted by the local Wampanoag Indian tribe, who befriended the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock and brought them corn and turkey for the first Thanksgiving.2 They also offered them a bountiful harvest of Indian breads, seeds, etc. Throughout the course of time, the Pilgrims had their first successful harvest which then led to a three day

    Read More

  • Essay On Orthodox Judaism

    930 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...fter Rosh Hashanah by fasting and praying all day. Yom Kippur is the holiest day in the Jewish year. Every Saturday of the week is called Shabbat and is described as the day that God used as a day to rest after creating the world. There are also three traditional “Pilgrimage festivals”. Passover and season of rejoicing are both eight-day fruit harvested festival that celebrate Israelites success while Festival of weeks is a wheat-harvest festival that commemorates God’s revelation of the Torah on Mount Sinai. In the modern state of Israel a few other national Holidays are acknowledged to commemorate a historical event. These holidays include Jerusalem day, Independence Day, Memorial Day, and day of the Shoah. Day of the Shoah or Yom Hashoah is remembrance of the six million Jews killed during the Holocaust. 50-70% of the victims of the Holocaust were Orthodox Jews.

    Read More

  • Love the Film, Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers

    631 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since before I took this class I had always been attracted to movies or cooking shows. The way food is prepared and the passion that many of the chefs put into their delicious creations. Many of the recipes are part of the person’s culture and they continue to cook these recipes to commemorate an important part of their history. A good example of this is the film Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers, garlic being the center of every recipe but it’s of great importance to the different cultures that represented in this film.

    Read More

  • Bitter Herbs In Het Bittre Kruid By Marga Minco

    1295 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the Jewish community, bitter herbs are a traditional food present during the season of Passover. The herbs have a symbolic meaning and are eaten to commemorate the Israelites who were enslaved in Egypt during the exodus (Passover). Bitter Herbs is the English translation of the Dutch novel Het Bittre Kruid by Marga Minco, translated by Roy Edwards. The novel gives accounts of German occupation in the Netherlands during World War II through the eyes of a young girl. Minco published the book in 1957, 12 years after the war ended. This paper will give an analysis of Bitter Herbs by discussing the impact on the reader through the author’s perspective, its prose style, and its many themes and symbols.

    Read More

  • The Effects Of Food On American Culture

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    Food is profoundly in American’s culture it is like a social essential necessity. America has a mixture of different ethnicities and although they may have their own food everyone eats similar foods and if one does not it will set a social barrier. Food can be for gift giving, simple generosity or even in exchange for something. Usually, food is shared and many tend to sit together at a specific mealtime it may vary from friends, parents, children or visitors or, strangers, new people. In an occasion like this it somehow becomes a symbol of love as they all come together into an eating event. Aside from just love, there ...

    Read More

  • Examples Of Sociological Observation

    1810 Words  | 4 Pages

    There were people with faces that showed how that they were clueless on what to eat but when they saw people of the same culture through their dressing, they had the expression of happiness written all over them. It felt like they had found a sense of home just by discovering their culture food and those of the same culture. They immediately got their food and went to sit in the section where their culture was present. Women and Men in official clothing chose to dine at the Chinese and Italian section probably because the stand was of a more decorous setting than the other

    Read More

  • Essay On Religion And Religion

    1388 Words  | 3 Pages

    There’s this incredible project in Pittsburgh called Conflict Kitchen — they have this space that, every few months, they close down and re-open as a new restaurant, serving the food of a country that the US is in conflict with. Right now, it’s Iranian food, and in the past they’ve had Cuban food, Palestinian food, North Korean food. It’s this beautiful and delicious way of teaching people without proselytising — they’re not lecturing people, they’re just getting to them in the most direct, most fundamental way, which is through something that tastes great.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of The Seder Plate In Passover Tradition

Open Document