Here is the story of Passover, the Jewish spring festival of freedom. Traditionally this story, or haggadah, is read during the Seder supper. If you and your family would like to hold your own Seder, let me know and I can send you the outline and instructions which accompany this story in Holidays and Holy Days. The story alone, found in Exodus in the Bible, makes good material for reading aloud anytime.

Long, long ago, Jewish people came to Egypt to live because there was a famine in their own land. Many years passed, and all was well until the Egyptian king, called the Pharaoh, decided that there were too many Jews in Egypt and they were becoming too powerful. He said, "If war breaks out, they may join the enemy and fight against us, and they will become the masters of our country."

So he forced the Jews to become slaves. They had to pull huge stones in the hot sun and make bricks out of clay to build cities for the Pharaoh. They were not allowed to rest. Sometimes the Egyptian masters beat the slaves to make them work harder.

But still Pharaoh was afraid the Jewish people would become too strong, so he ordered, "Throw every Jewish baby boy into the Nile river to die!" A Jewish woman had given birth to a little boy, but she could not bear for him to be killed. She hid him for three months. When she knew she couldn't keep him out of sight any longer, she thought of a plan to try to save him.

She got a basket and made it watertight. Then she laid him in it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile River, where the Pharaoh's daughter often came to bathe. The older sister of the baby stood at a distance to see what would happen.

Pharaoh's daughter heard a crying noise and noticed the basket. She ordered her
servant girl to bring it to her. When she opened the basket and saw the child, she said, "It is a little Jewish boy!" Her heart was filled with pity "I shall adopt this baby," she said. Just then the baby's sister ran forward, saying, "I know a woman who can nurse the baby for you!" Pharaoh's daughter said, "Bring the woman to me!" The sister brought the baby's mother. Pharaoh's daughter told her "I will pay you to nurse the baby. His name shall be Moses."

Moses grew up in the palace, but he knew he was Jewish and he hated to see the way Jewish slaves were treated. One day when he was grown up, he became so angry at an Egyptian man for hitting a slave, that he killed the Egyptian. Then he had to flee the country or be put to death for the killing.

He escaped to the land of Midian. One day, according to the Bible story, when he was tending sheep on a mountain, he saw a bush that was in flames, but was not being burnt up. Then the voice of God spoke to him out of the bush, commanding him to go to Pharaoh and say, "Let my people go free!" Moses said, "I would not be good at doing that. I do not speak clearly. Please send someone else." But God said, "I will help you and I will send your brother Aaron to help you."

Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

So Moses went to Pharaoh and asked him to let the Jewish slaves leave, but Pharaoh's heart was cold as ice. He answered, "No!" Then God made ten terrible things happen to the Egyptians. He sent ten plagues. For the first plague, God made the river Nile turn to blood. Moses said, "Let my people go!" but Pharaoh said, "No!" Next, frogs covered the land, and the gnats crawled over everyone. Moses said, "Let my people go!" but Pharaoh said, "No!"

Then God sent swarms of/lies for the next plague. After that, disease struck all the cattle, camels, and sheep of the Egyptians. Then the Egyptians broke out in sores all over their bodies. Then God rained down hail so heavy that it shattered trees and killed cattle and people. Still Pharaoh said, "No!" The next plague was clouds of locusts that ate up all the crops. Then came the plague of darkness. It was pitch black for three days and nights. Still, Pharaoh would not free the Jewish slaves.

Then God said to Moses, "One last plague I will bring upon Pharaoh. After that, he will let you go. At midnight I will make the firstborn child of all the Egyptians die. Each Jewish family must kill a lamb or goat and smear the blood around the door of their houses. The plague of death will pass over the houses marked with blood.

Moses warned Pharaoh but he wouldn't listen. Midnight came and God killed every first-born child in Egypt, from Pharaoh's child to the first-born of the captive in the dungeon, and the first-born of the cattle, as well. A cry of terrible grief arose all over the land. While it was still dark, Pharaoh called Moses and said, "Take your people and go!"

When Pharaoh said "Go!," the people grabbed up their bread dough without waiting to add leavening to make it rise, and they hurried off. As they journeyed through the wilderness, God guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. In the meantime, however, Pharaoh changed his mind again about letting them go. He ordered his chariots and his soldiers on horseback to chase after them.

The Jews were camped by the Red Sea when they sighted the Pharaoh and his troops thundering towards them. They were terrified, but God said to Moses, "Stretch out your staff over the sea." Moses did this and the water parted, making a path. The people could pass right through the sea on dry land.

The Egyptians charged after them, but God made the water rush back with a great roar over the solders. Every one of the Egyptians drowned!

So that is the story of how the Jews escaped from slavery to freedom so long, long ago. There are some Jews who believe that it really happened exactly that way. There are others who believe that parts of the story are true and parts are not. They say the story was changed and added to as it was told over and over through the centuries. There are some Jews who say that they cannot believe in the kind of God who would kill the first-born child of every Egyptian family, or break the laws of nature to save certain people. They point out that there are many different ideas about God in the Bible.

No matter what you believe about the story, Passover is a time to remember how wonderful it is to be free. Passover is also a time to think of all the people in the world who are not free, and also those who are hungry and poor. Hungry and poor people are not truly free, because they do not have a fair chance in life. Passover reminds us all that we must do everything we can to make the world a fairer place for all people.

The SEDER PLATE

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Last updated August 11, 2002 by clf@uua.org