Dear Father,
I was invited by a Catholic friend to a Seder Meal. He says that this meal will help me to learn more about Passover. Is this meal something traditional that got lost after Vatican II? Is it something that Catholics should attend?
-Moira
Dear Moira,
The Seder is the annual meal that commemorates the Passover. The Passover is an age-old feast that belongs to the Jewish people. The first Passover meal took place the night before Moses led the Israelite people through the parted waters of the Red Sea to escape their slavery in Egypt. The Seder meal began after the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
The name “Passover” refers to God’s passing over the Israelites with the plague that killed all the firstborn of the Egyptians. The houses of the Israelites were marked with the blood of a lamb to signify their presence to be protected from the destroying angel. The word seder means “order.” It refers to the ordered structure that unfolds during the Seder.
The Seder involves a complex ritual of instructions and prayers that involves each participant. The Exodus event is unfolded through the foods and the scripted dialogue during the Seder meal.
Passover is a week-long Jewish holiday. The Seder is celebrated on the first night of Passover, though outside of Israel, there are two nights of Seder.
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The special foods of the Seder remind Jewish families of the events of the first Passover. They include an egg symbolizing both Springtime and mourning; maror,(a mixture of bitter herbs) symbolizing the bitterness of slavery; haroset (a mixture of apples, nuts, raisins, spices, and wine) symbolizing the mortar that the Israelites were forced to mix for buildings for the Egyptians; karpas (a green vegetable symbolizing springtime green; and matzah, the unleavened bread that the Israelites used; and four cups of wine, which are drunk at particular points in the meal with special symbolism.
Christians have their own special celebration of deliverance, not only from Egypt, but from the tyranny of the devil. Christ instituted the Holy Eucharist at his Last Supper at Passover. The Mass is the once-and-for-all sacrificial meal that memorializes the ultimate passover, the Lamb of God, whose blood covers every Christian.
For this reason, the celebration of the Seder meal fell out of use by Christians in the earliest centuries after Christ’s resurrection. In recent times, some have considered investigating the Seder meal to learn more about the kinds of things Christ would have experienced when he celebrated Passover meals prior to the Last Supper.
Jewish people are torn when it comes to thinking about Christians celebrating seder meals. For one thing, it’s not a true Seder when non-Jews, and particularly Christians, celebrate the meal. By definition, the Passover Seder is for Jews.
Some in the Jewish community see the Christian seders as a cultural appropriation, taking something that does not belong to Christians. This is a most valid point. Christians distort the Jewish Seder by making something that it is not. It can appear that Christians treat the Seder as a museum piece. Imagine a non-Christian pretending to celebrate the Holy Mass. Catholics would be righteously indignant.
Another argument against Christian seders is that Jewish history and suffering can seem to be trivialized. The Seder is a religious rite that should not be co-opted into other creedal rituals. For instance, combining the Mass and the Seder, as has been done in some places, obscures the meaning of each rite and makes them playthings.
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On the other hand, many Jews are edified when Christians want to learn about the Seder. Christians have often been invited to synagogues to experience what a Seder might be like. Catholics must always be aware, however, that the Seder can never be a substitute for the Mass, even though it may offer theological insights. A better alternative would be to read books like Brant Pitre’s Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secrets of the Last Supper.
It is not wrong to accept an invitation to a Jewish Seder meal with the understanding that, as a Catholic, one can learn about Jewish culture and religion. Respectful participation is the key. We should always have a profound reverence for our spiritual forebears, the Jewish people, and their religion. May we deepen our own love for Christ’s passover and the gift of the Holy Eucharist.