English

A LAST SUPPER SEDER: A NEW RITUAL AND HAGGADAH FOR CHRISTIANS BASED ON THE PASSOVER SEDER AND THE LAST SUPPER

The conjunction of Passover and Easter creates a unique religious opportunity for both Jewish and Christian communities. That the two holidays are related is undeniable. What that actually means for Christians and Jews is very complicated. There was a time when Easter was a holiday during which attacks against Jewish communities was encouraged by religious and municipal authorities. I have vivid memories of my grandmother, who came from the Ukraine, describing pogroms that took place each year on Easter. One of her brothers was murdered during one such event, his dismembered body deposited in a bag on the family’s doorstep. For Christians, Jesus’ celebration of the Last Supper, widely (though not universally) regarded as a Passover Seder, is a religious event of foundational importance to the development of Christianity. Many ministers (mistakenly) believe that celebrating a Passover Seder with a modern Jewish or Messianic Haggadah is a way of recreating or drawing closer to the Last Supper. For this reason, in the weeks leading up to Easter it is not unusual for American congregational rabbis to receive calls from local Christian clergy asking for assistance in leading a Passover

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