Rabbi Barry Weinstein

The highlight of Passover is the Passover Seder. This festive meal celebrates the miracle of the rescue of the Hebrew slaves from Pharaoh thousands of years ago.

For Christians, Easter celebrates the miracle of the resurrection of Jesus also very long ago.

Still, both holidays are so very important to both Christians and Jews alike.

Each of these annual festivals occur in the spring.  I believe this is no accident, for both Passover and Easter celebrate renewal for their respective religions.

On the Seder table we have parsley as a symbol of springtime.

For Christians the theme of Resurrection is the ultimate renewal.

Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.  This full moon is the precise date of Passover.

Thus, this year Passover began last evening at sunset, the eve of the full moon of 15 Nissan in the Jewish calendar.

Together with Renewal, each holiday celebrates a very deep message of hope. As spring draws near, we once again are blessed with a sense of hopefulness that the winter is ending, and bright days of sunshine are approaching.  

This year our springtime is especially filled with hopefulness that very soon these long months of Pandemic are coming to a close.

Both Easter and Passover are holidays of redemption, marked by the historical events for followers of each of these great religious traditions.

According to some scholars,” the Last Supper could well have been an embryonic seder, and Jesus is fated to become the Paschal lamb. Indeed, the new Catechism of the Catholic Church calls Easter ‘The Christian Passover’ (no. 1170). (Jewish Theological Seminary).

Even more, as Jews we have remembrance of Passover two times daily in our evening and our morning prayers.

For the Catholic and Protestant communities the weekly Sacrament of Communion, remembering the Last Supper, is a manifestation of the  Grace of God.

We always conclude our Passover Seder with the words “Next year in Jerusalem!“  

This is the beautiful message of hope once again within the Passover holiday.  

Easter for Christians brings the hopefulness of life eternal through the Resurrected Jesus.

For us Jews each and every day is a message of God’s eternal love for us and for all people.  

We start each day with these words: “I offer thanks to You, ever-living Sovereign, That you have restored my soul to me in mercy: How great is Your trust.“ (Mishkan T’filah – A Reform Siddur, Central Conference of American Rabbis)

In this same sense, Judaism affirms eternal life with our foundational belief that upon our death our souls return to their Creator, to God.

Again this year my family and I zoomed our Passover Seder to our congregation and friends due not only to Pandemic but to the ongoing restoration of our beautiful temple following the 2020 hurricanes.

Passover and Easter are wonderful occasions for family gatherings. Even in these days of pandemic, many of our Seder meals will be streamed, and I imagine many Easter dinners will also be virtual gatherings.  Still, each holiday is a special time for family reunions.

On a continuing message of hope, I so look forward to next year when we shall again host our Passover Seder “in person“ so that many friends in the larger community will join us!

May this Passover and Easter bring the blessings of faith and hope to us all, as we continue to repair and rebuild our beautiful Lake Charles city  and region.

Happy Passover and a Joyous Easter to all!Passover graphicMGNonline