This year, the Jewish holiday of Passover commences at sundown on Friday, April 15. Participation in this important holiday includes family and communal gatherings called “Seders.” In Hebrew, “Seder” means “order,” and at the Seder table the ancient and contemporary rituals presented follow an order.

Preceding and succeeding the Passover banquet dinner are several elaborate traditions, both dramatic and religious.

Young and old around the Seder table take part in the presentation of the Jewish narrative beginning with Abraham and Sarah and centering on the Exodus from Egypt. Through story, song and food, this festival of freedom and deliverance is enacted each and every year. Jews worldwide eagerly look forward to Seder, a nearly theatrical popular event in the Jewish calendar.

Each year, youngsters prepare the chant of the famed Four Questions. This liturgy recited in both Hebrew and English serves as an introduction to the holiday, and sets the course for the evening. Children presenting this prayer begin with the iconic words, “Why is this night different from all other nights?”

The number four appears repeatedly in the Seder’s guidebook – a Hebrew/English text called, “the Haggadah.”

The multiple spiritual themes include the paradigm of four children with differing approaches to their heritage helps define the different personalities within Jewish society. There are four cups of wine to be consumed during the Seder, each cup representing the close of one chapter of the Haggadah’s narrative before the start of the next.

A favorite dramatic moment unfolds when a participant is asked to open the door to imaginatively welcome to the Seder, none other than Elijah the Prophet. Every Seder table setting includes a single goblet of wine for Elijah, untouched because it is left for only Elijah, who represents the coming of the Messiah.

As all eyes go from the opened door to the waiting wine cup, songs of fervent wishes are sung, hopeful that Elijah has arrived at last to announce a time of peace and plenty, a time without war and fear, as per the ancient divine promise.

Throughout the seven to eight-day long holiday of Passover remains the commandment to avoid all leavened foods in order to honor the memory of the Jews’ hugely hasty retreat from Pharoah and slavery.

As the religious storytelling goes, so hurried were the people of Israel rushing the parting Red Sea toward freedom, that no time could be wasted baking breads. Meager ingredients were thrown together and left to dry-bake in the sun en route. Today worldwide to celebrate that precarious provenance of emancipation from Egypt, nothing leavened is to be consumed throughout Passover.

The Seder ends on a happy note. Early on during the festivities, a piece of Matzah (unleavened bread) had already been wrapped and hidden somewhere in the home, and this half piece called, “Afikoman” incites a search. Children are encouraged to participate in the search for the Afikoman. Once found, the participants are rewarded with gifts upon returning the Afikoman to the table.

Customarily, the Passover Seder concludes with the words “L’Shanah Ha Ba B’Yerushalem” (next year in Jerusalem). May we be blessed with the opportunity to visit and celebrate Israel in the coming year.

As peace and freedom are the touchstones of this holiday, and the weekend ahead includes both Easter and Passover, the Jewish community extends Easter wishes to all of our Christian friends.