Thanks for the very clear explanation Nic ¡

I'm interested in jewish religion and having clear, concise explanations for the holydays is very hepful.
verdepasto, Apr 19, 2008 @ 18:21

Hey Verde,

I don't practice my religion, but I'm Jewish and know most of the origins of the Jewish holidays. Here's the short version of most of our holidays:

• Someone wanted to kill the Jews
• The Jews survived
• Let's eat

Bon-ap...(-:
Nir Ofek, Apr 19, 2008 @ 19:50

[quote]Tomorrow (Sat, April 19) begins the Jewish Passover holiday. Happy passover to everyone who celebrates it!



Passover celebrates the fact that according the Jewish tradition, 5000 years ago God punished the enemies of the Jews, and 'passed over' the homes of the jews while delivering the punishment.



And for Jews who practive their religion, Passover ain't easy on the stomach, cos they don't eat any fermented-doughproducts for 7 days (good bye pizza, pasta, bread...). The legend here says that the Jews - after God punished their enemies, took off to the desert. There they were chased by their enemies, so the Jews rushed and didn't have timeto ferment bread.[/quote]



The funny (well, actually it's very sad) thing is that nowadays, you have big problems even finding good fermented bread (i.e. sourdough bread).

About the only place is organic bakeries.

All the other bread from almost all other places is either done with yeast or "quick-fermented", via enzymes and other stuff.

In case you're still wondering why the Jews didn't have a spare hour to make some new bread: a good sourdough needs to ferment for 24 hours.

According to what I read, a "modern" mass-market-ready dough only needs five minutes.

Of course, the difference in taste is as large...



OK, so much for the scientific baking-background of passover (Passah or Pessach, as we call it in Germany).

;-)
rainer_d, Apr 19, 2008 @ 23:30

About Kabala:

There's also some public criticm about Kabala, which - to balance the picture - I'd like to share. I got to say beforehand that I never studied it (nor do I know someone who did), so I'm speaking only from what I heard on public media. 

Here's the key criticm I heard:

While some people indeed find Kabala to be great and fullfilling (like Madonna), some others consider it a cult. Those who put the tag 'cult' on it are usually split into 2 opinions (you can see more in this USA Today article):

• those who say that Kabala is good, but that some of the bodies who teach it are sometimes crooks after your money 
• those who say Kabala as a whole is a sect that encourages belief in super-natural worship (frankly tho I less understand this point, cos a main point of religion is super-natural...)

Anway, as I said in my pre-emptive strikes, I ain't no pro at all on kabala, but just wanted to flag some of the public criticism there is out there about it.

And if you do study it and you get super-natural powers, I'd be grateful if you could make my hair grow back on again...(-;
Nir Ofek, Apr 20, 2008 @ 13:09

On Kabbalah (sp?) -- there was also a very interesting article by Daphne Merkin in last Sunday's New York Times.   Apparently the real thing has nothing to do with red strings or 4 dollar bottles of water....
Translator, Apr 20, 2008 @ 14:00

Hey, Bro!



You sure know how to make religious things interesting... :D



Your posts cracked me up! I needed that in this rainy monday.



Syd.
Syd_Brown, Apr 21, 2008 @ 11:36

Thanks for the Passover wishes, and while the explanation is concise its not entirely accurate.  its not just any "enemies" that were smote.  Passover celebrates the story of the Exodus from Egypt and the release of the Jewish people from their slavery there.  the punishment of the enemies you referred to is really the tenth of ten plagues used by G-d to convince the Pharoah to let the Jews go free (his messengers were Moses and his brother Aaron)  the tenth plague was the slaying of the first born -- the Jews sacrificed a lamb or (pesach -- which is the Hebrew word for the holiday) to let the angel of death known not to slay the first born in that house. 

you were absolutely right about the matzo or unleavened bread -- the Pharoah had a change of heart after letting the Jews leave so they had to make a break for it.  This is also the story of the parting of the Red Sea to let the Jews escape.

For you Christians out there, the ceremonial dinner to commemorate this holiday is what Jesus was doing at the "last supper".

mbgoldst, Apr 21, 2008 @ 13:48

Hi,

Happy Passover to everyone...

Regards,

Reny
kooljby, Apr 21, 2008 @ 14:37