This seder took place in an youth camp for incarcerated boys. All boys wanted to learn more about The Last Supper. We had restrictions on what could be brought into the camp so we subsituted many things.
PLEASE NOTE: Passover begins at sundown Monday and lasts nine days. It celebrates the Jews' escape from slavery in Egypt.The meal, which can stretch over a few hours, is filled with symbolism.
The word Seder means order A Seder plate of the suffering of man in slavery. There is an order and a reason for each item on the Seder plate.
The first is the shank bone, which recalls a slaughtered animal. At the first Passover, God commanded Moses to have the people slaughter an animal and use its blood to put on the door into the home. This was so the angel of death would pass over the house during the last of the 10 plagues God sent down on Egypt.
We used a twisted pretzel to represent the shank bone.
The next item on the plate is charoset, a mixture of chopped apples, walnuts, wine and brown sugar. It represents the mortar the Jews used as slaves in Egypt to make bricks for the Pharaoh's palaces.
We used a granola bar to represent the brick and mortar.
Horseradish represents the bitterness of slavery. Greenery, usually parsley but sometimes celery or lettuce, is a reminder of the coming of spring.
We used green mint sour candy for the bitter herbs,
The final item on the plate is a roasted egg, which symbolizes the continuation of the life cycle.
We had a dozen chocolate covered marshmallow eggs.
On the table with the Seder plate is a wine goblet for the prophet Elijah and a cup of salt water. The greens from the Seder plate are dipped in the water and eaten; the salt water is a reminder of the tears shed by slaves.
The matzo was spit into thirds. Two pieces represent Jesus his body that was broken for us. The third piece was set aside and one of the ladies provided cross-stitch bookmarks in a shape of a cross for the teens Bibles as presents.
Four cups of wine are drunk, representing sanctification, deliverance, redemption and restoration. Juice can be substituted,
We used small paper cups and filled them with punch. We raised our glasses to toast four times.
We had a lot of punch so the boys drank punch to their hearts content. Had it been wine I am sure they would have been punch drunk!
A great time was had by all.
Amen
