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Photo by Lluvia Gamez

Sara Mason, who is studying to become a rabbi, leads Seder dinner at Hillel on Monday night. Passover began Monday evening.

Photo

Photo by Lluvia Gamez

Melvin Benhamou, a student at the UCLA extension, performs the ceremonial first washing of hands at the first Seder dinner of Passover at Hillel Monday evening.

Photo

Photo by Lluvia Gamez

A community member dips a finger into wine for each of the 10 Biblical plagues during Hillel’s Seder dinner Monday evening. About 100 UCLA students and community members attended the Seder, which marked the first night of the weeklong Passover holiday.

Passover

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Passover commemorates Jews’ struggle for freedom from Egyptian slavery during the time of Moses. The holiday lasts seven days and includes special meals and prayer services.

• According to tradition, when the Egyptian pharaoh refused to free the Jews from slavery, God brought the 10 plagues to Egypt.

• Passover refers to the 10th plague, during which the Angel of Death, who had come to take the first-born son from each Egyptian family, “passed over” Jewish households and did not kill their first-born sons because they had smeared lamb’s blood on their doors.

• Observers have a special meal, called a Seder, on the first night of Passover, during which they commemorate Jewish persecution and eventual freedom in Egypt.

• The Seder also includes special prayers, customs and stories.

• Passover began Monday at sundown, and lasts for seven days.

• During Passover, observers do not eat risen bread to symbolize the Jews’ flight from Egypt, when they did not have time to let bread rise before fleeing. In addition, observant Jews do not eat any of the five major grains, and some avoid other foods such as rice and corn.

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SOURCE: www.chabad.org

As sundown approached on Monday evening, Jewish students and community members filtered into an auditorium at Hillel to begin the week-long celebration of Passover.

Students gathered at Hillel on Monday for the first Seder dinner, and can continue to observe the holiday there if they choose.

During Passover, Jews observe strict dietary requirements and other traditions. Hillel will be selling Passover lunch and dinner through next Tuesday, and kosher meals will be catered by Bistro Baguette Cafe. Connie Foster, director of UCLA Dining Services, said the Hill will also provide matzah and matzah ball soup during Passover in various dinning halls. Kosher sandwiches are also available at Bruin Cafe.

Passover celebrates the Jews’ exodus from Egypt. The first Seder dinner marks the beginning of Passover, followed by a week of celebration. Seder dinner is a time for family and friends to gather.

Sara Mason, who led Monday’s Seder dinner, is studying to become a rabbi. She is a third-year at Hebrew Union College, a religious institute with a branch in Los Angeles, and works specifically with reform students at UCLA Hillel.

“Passover is a celebration of freedom. Jews remember times throughout history when we weren’t free, specifically in Egypt,” Mason said. “At modern Seders we also take time to reflect on people who aren’t free in the world today.”

Mason explained that while Seder dinner is usually a private event enjoyed by families in their homes, Seder dinners at Hillel are a time for students and members of the community to celebrate together. Mason stressed the importance of sharing old traditions with each other, while also embracing new ones.

“I have always celebrated Passover with my family,” said Lauren Gerenraich, a first-year theater student. “It’s weird not celebrating at home, but it is nice that Hillel provides a place for us to come together.”

The first Seder dinner consists of a cumulation of rituals and customs. Green leafy vegetables and salt water are served and eaten together. The vegetable symbolizes rebirth and freedom and the salt water symbolizes tears that have been cried.

The breaking of the middle matzah is another ritual enjoyed at Seder dinner. Traditionally the Seder leader or the parents of the family break the middle piece of matzah. The larger piece becomes the afikomen and is hidden. After the dinner, children search for the afikomen and a reward is given to whoever finds it. The broken matzah symbolizes the human condition of being incomplete.

“When I was younger my parents let the kids hide the afikomen,” said Reuth Nir, a first-year undeclared student. Nir said she remembers hiding the afikomen in places where her parents could never find it. She said it was a fun tradition she enjoyed while growing up.

At Hillel’s Seder on Monday evening, guests discussed the different traditions they have. Gerenraich shared that the children in her family put on a play each year and re-enact the Passover story.

The 10 plagues are recognized at Seder dinner by spilling 10 drops of wine. At Monday night’s dinner, Hillel guests also recognized modern forms of slavery, pain and plagues when spilling the 10 drops. During a discussion, guests identified apathy in the face of evil, torture of the helpless, and mockery of the old and weak as modern forms of these issues.

After completing the numerous rituals, reciting prayers, and giving thanks to God, dinner is served. During dinner the children search for the afikomen, and when it is found everyone eats a piece.

During the week of Passover Jews empty their kitchens of bread and yeast and instead eat matzah as a tribute to the Jew’s flight from Egyptian slavery.

“When the Jews were leaving Egypt they didn’t have time to let bread rise,” Mason said.