What is Pesach for? Gefilte fish or freedom from slavery

A thoughtful post by Rabbi Jeremy Rosen on the increasing expense of being Jewish, especially at Pesach time

http://www.jeremyrosen.com/blog/2008/04/freedom-from-what.html

With the expense of travel and food (although in Israel the latter tends to be cheaper than in England, and sometimes cheaper at Pesach than at other times during the year), what is Pesach really for?

Is it to remember that we were slaves in Egypt, and that we continue daily to be slaves to our desires, emotions and ambitions, or is it a time when no expense should be spared to reunite one's family, scattered all over the world?

Or maybe is it a bit of both?

All I know is that I have plenty of food left over and am glad that I've just been invited to a party, so will be able to donate the gefilte fish and orange cake that somehow just didn't get to be eaten last week.

Comments

[waterdragon52]

As a rather secular and unobservant Jew, Pesach is a time for me to think of the richness, passion and thirst for righteousness that constitute the heritage of all Jews, and also of Jerusalem and Israel.

Irene: if you haven't heard of Barrie Wilson, a professor at York University (Toronto, Canada), you may be interested in the book he's just published: How Jesus Became Christian. Wilson, a professor of philosophy and theology was born an Episcopalian and converted to Judaism. He posits in his book, based on his studies and investigations, that Jesus never rejected Judaism. Instead, he pins the schism that occurred on Paul -- who never actually met Jesus although they were contemporaries -- who was the promoter of Jesus as the mytholocogical Christ figure and not as a wise and popular rabbi who was really more a thorn in the side of the Romans than anyone else.