“Why is tonight different from all other nights?”
If you were raised Jewish, you know the answer to this line, which is recited by the youngest person at the table during holiday meals. If you’re not, April 14 is different because sundown marks the beginning of Passover this year.
Oregon Hillel and the UO Jewish Student Union are expecting over 100 students to celebrate the centuries-old holiday in the most traditional ways — food, drinks (well, grape juice) and a celebration of Jewish community and heritage.
One of the biggest and most popular Jewish holidays of the year, Passover is an eight day holiday for people to remember their history and spend time with their family. However, taking more than a week out of a university schedule to go home isn’t ideal for students’ GPAs. That’s where Oregon Hillel comes in.
“I know lots of people who live close enough to Eugene to go home for Passover, but many students can’t. My family has lots of traditions that I’m sad to miss out on,” said Hallie Rosner, the co-president of the UO Jewish Student Foundation.
Oregon Hillel works in partnership with the Jewish Student Foundation. They pride themselves on being a home away from home to Jewish students, especially during such a major holiday. During Passover, Oregon Hillel provides two seders (ceremonial dinners) as well as kosher lunches and dinners on the remaining six days.
“With Judaism, with every great celebration, we have to temper it a little bit with the memory that we had some pretty hard times to get to this celebratory mark,” said Amanda Weiss, the director of students at Oregon Hillel. Historically, the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt for more than 400 years.
In these seders, a huge part of the ceremony revolves around food and its symbolism in regards to the Torah. Here are some of the most important dishes:
Karpas: A green vegetable, usually parsley — but sometimes celery — dipped in salt water. While the vegetable is a reminder of the beginning of spring, the salt water represents tears shed by the enslaved.
Maror and Chazeret: These two are bitter herbs that serve as a reminder of the bitterness of slavery in Egypt. The “bitter herb” is usually horseradish or romaine lettuce.
Charoset: A ground-up mixture of fruits, nuts and wine, the “sandy” combination represents the mortar used by Jewish slaves to build the pyramids.
Zeroa: The zeroa is usually a roasted lamb bone (though beets are the vegetarian equivalent) to represent the sacrificed lamb, which is traditionally eaten later that night or week.
Beitzah: A hard-boiled egg that represents the idea of spring and rebirth.
Matza: A unleavened bread that is an integral part of the seder meal and the rest of the week of Passover, connected to the bread baked and eaten during the Jewish exodus. Throughout the entire week, those who celebrate aren’t allowed to touch leavened bread.
“The idea is that you’re supposed to clean out your entire house of anything chametz, or leavening. People talk about how we also have our own chametz, our personal ‘puff,’ like ego, pride, jealousy, even ambition. As we rid our house of chametz, we also rid ourselves of chametz,” said Weiss.
Weiss and Oregon Hillel invite all students, Jewish and non-Jewish, to attend their Passover Seder.
The First Night Seder will be held on Monday, April 14 at Global Scholars Hall in the Great Room beginning at 6:30 p.m., and the Second Night Seder will be Tuesday, April 15 at Oregon Hillel beginning at 6 p.m.
Reservations can be purchased for $18 in advance and $20 at the door.