Passover 2019

Our favorite time of year is here again: Passover!

We kept our usual tradition of slaughtering a lamb in remembrance of the first Passover as well as the sacrifice of Messiah Yeshua.

 It was all hands on deck to watch the event.

 I've spared you the worst of the dressing of the carcass, but it's important to remember what the day is about.

While the lamb roasted, we read the Exodus story with the kids, did the 4 cups and all the other traditional Passover stuff. We even sang some songs!

Gotta say, it may look strange, but it was dang tasty....

Passover 2017

It's time for our favorite feast: Passover! Our tradition is to hold a whole-day celebration and feast, doing activities throughout the day with the kids and talking about Messiah as our Passover Lamb throughout the day.

One of the first things we do is to burn the last of the leaven (yeast) in our homes.

Throughout the day, at various times, we did the traditional Four Cups that are drawn from Exodus 6:6-7: The Cup of Sanctification ("I will bring you out of Egypt"), The Cup of Deliverance ("I will deliver you from slavery"), The Cup of Redemption (I will redeem you with My power") and the Cup of Restoration ("I will take you as My people"). For each one, a father from one of the families gave a short teaching on the meaning of the particular cup and how it relates to Yeshua. It makes for some cool discussion and thought.

Then we get started on food! We had cheese, fruit and veggies to snack on.

Then it was time for the lamb. The families all pitch in to get a lamb for slaughter and eating. This is in no way a sacrifice, but a way of remembering the Exodus and a stark picture of the death of Messiah.

Afterwards, we read the Exodus Story together using the book Let My People Go!, which has different reading parts for different people. This year we broke it up into families, so one family spoke Pharoah's part, one did the people, one did Moses, and one did the Narrator. It turned into a bit of a competition to see who could do their part the loudest. :)

While we were doing that, the lamb was roasting on the grill. It roasts for 3 to 4 hours, whole, covered with olive oil, salt and spices. The smell is amazing! And when it's done, and we've trimmed off the meat, we have a tradition of picking some of the leftover bits from the carcass.

I love that my kids have no illusions about where our food comes from. :)

Then, per the Exodus story, we burn the remains of a fire.

Now it time for the meal! Each year, the families bring side dishes and desserts, all around a particular cultural type, this year being Latino. We had beans and rice, fried plantains, salsas and all kinds of desserts. One family even brought homemade flan. I'm not a fan of flan, but this stuff was fantastic.

Later, we symbolically paint the doorposts like in the Exodus story.

And then it's time for The Prince Of Egypt! The kids all generally watch while the parents sit and socialize and eat dessert. :)

And then it's bedtime. This year, we brought our new (to us) camper to try it out. It actually fits all of us really comfortably and we're very happy to have it. The rest of the families piled into various rooms in the house. In the morning, we each had brought breakfast kugels to share that were very tasty. All-in-all, it was a wonderful time of celebration and fellowship that we love sharing in every year!

Passover 2015

**WARNING: If you are squeamish at all, you may not want to read further. There are pictures of a lamb being slaughtered, skinned and roasted.**

Passover is our favorite holiday each year. It's such a powerful time to remember God's redemption and grace, not only with the Israelites being led out of Egypt, but with the death and resurrection of Messiah. Our Passover is filled with traditions that we just love. :)

The first is that we read and act out the 10 plagues with the kids. We came up with fun little activities with each plague so the kids would have something tangible rather than just the story to hear. This year was a little different because we had the kids actually act out the various roles. Olivia was Pharoah, Gabe was Moses, and Ezra was Aaron.

They got pretty into it with Ezra shouting at her to let his people go and Olivia shouting back that she wouldn't :)

Pharoah's "Boils"

Irene saw the Plague of frogs and decided she wanted some frog legs. So not kosher...

The kids also cut Hebrew letters out of a big matzoh box and glued them to sticks like signs. The letters are Pei, Samech, and Chet, which together spell Pesach, the Hebrew name for Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The next day was preparation day. It's our tradition (4th year now...:) to gather with 3 other families and go through the whole process of selecting, slaughtering, skinning and roasting the lamb, just as described in Exodus 12. This year was a little different for us, personally, because we've become so involved with our wonderful church community of Valley of Blessing. We got lots of questions about why we weren't coming to their event, but when we described our tradition, everyone completely understood. Doing it this way is such a powerful way to connect with the Word of God. 

I also got asked by a couple of people,"Is that a sacrifice?" and the answer is No. It's an act of remembrance. It's also an act of obedience since God says that this shall be a feast to be celebrated forever. Are we obligated? No, because we aren't Jewish. But if our Messiah did it and we want to be more like Him, shouldn't we celebrate as He would have? 

Everyone gathered to watch, including the kids. This isn't the first time they've seen this, but they 

It doesn't look so great here, but after 3 hours of roasting, the smell was mouth-watering...

The day is also about fellowship. We always have a wonderful time celebrating with our friends. The kids, of course, love it because they get to hang out and play for hours and have a sleepover. :)

Throughout the day, we take a few minutes at different times to do the Four Cups, a tradition of the Passover Seder. The Four Cups are the cups of Sanctifcation, Deliverance, Redemption, and Restoration and comes from Exodus 6:6-7: "Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians."

 This year, to add to the tradition, each family decorated their own Passover Cups to use during the blessings.

The kids each made their own so they could keep them for next year. :)

We all gathered around before dinner to read the Passover story to the kids. The book we use is very interactive and we all enjoy shouting, "A Plague!A Plague!A Plague!" :)

Not only is there a feast when we eat the lamb, but also at breakfast the next morning! :)

It's not only about Passover, though. This is also the time when Yeshua was walking to His ultimate act of mercy. He became the Passover lamb for us all. To commemorate the day, the kiddos made little "tombs" out of flower pots and stones. 

They placed a cross beside the tomb and left the tomb empty! 

That's because Yeshua, our Passover Lamb, is risen.

Unit Study on Sheep

To go along with Passover and the season of Spring, our literature based unit study selections recently were Charlie Needs a Cloak by Tomie dePaola , Mountain Born by Elizabeth Yates, Weaving a Rainbow by George Ella Lyon, and The Little Lamb by Phoebe Dunn. The kids really enjoyed these books and activities. Mountain Born was a family read aloud that lasted the whole time. I highly recommend it--even for adults. It is about a boy who grows and learns the joys and life of a shepherd. We learned about sheep, saw the lamb for Passover, learned about the process of turning their wool into yarn, we dyed some natural wool yarn, read about Yeshua being our Shepherd, and wrote and memorized part of Psalm 23. Charlie Needs a Cloak had some humor to it, either with the little mouse that could be found on each page or how the sheep were behaving. There were lots of laughs from the kids. It is a simple book but certainly worth the read. This was Ezra's favorite. Weaving the Rainbow had lovely watercolor pictures that Olivia really enjoyed. The Little Lamb is based on a true story of a girl that bottle feeds and raises a lamb until it grows too big and begins to cause trouble. The story includes photographs for illustrations. This was Gabe's favorite and he asked me to read it more than once a day. :)

  

Passover 2014

In what has become our tradition, we gathered together with 3 other families for a Passover meal and celebration at our friends' farm in Pleasant Garden. Each year we've done this, we've ordered a yearling lamb from a local farm and done the slaughter ourselves. It's really a very emotionally powerful thing for us and really brings home the sacrifice that was made both during the Exodus and by Yeshua, our Passover lamb. We then follow the biblical proscription for how it is to be prepared: no bone broken, roasted over a fire, eaten as part of a big meal with unleavened bread and then the leftovers burned, none saved until the next day. As part of our celebration, we also follow some of the traditions of the Passover Seder with the reciting of the Four Cups, the telling of the Exodus story and the eating of bitter herbs (the bitterness of bondage) and greens with salt water (the tears from the pain of slavery). We also look at how our Messiah became our Passover lamb by His blood causing Death to pass over us and how he delivered us from the bondage of sin.

Along with the traditional elements is a whole lot of fellowship. The kids (17 of them!) love to find things to do, whether it's chasing chickens and guinea hens, swinging on the swings, exploring the farm, canoeing on the pond or trying to catch fish in a net. We adults pass the time doing much of the same, though without as much running and screaming and often with some kind of adult beverage at hand.

Sadly, this year, we weren't able to make it down in time for the slaughter due to some minor illness with the boys that morning, but fortunately, they were well enough right after lunch for us to go down and join in the festivities. Fortunately, we didn't miss out on the roasting of the lamb. Our mechanism for turning the spit can be temperamental and often takes several tries to get arranged properly. Even then, it has to be checked often or we'll find it (as we did once) with the chain completely twisted up and bound into a large metal ball. However, it's certainly no chore standing watch over a wonderful-smelling roast lamb. The best part, in my opinion, is the carving of the meat. It's just such a heavenly smell and the taste is out of this world. Along with the lamb, we all bring multiple side dishes and have ourselves a true feast.

After the meal, the kids move to another room to watch the Prince of Egypt while the adults clean up and spend more time cleaning up, drinking wine and talking. Oh! and eating dessert. Mmmmm. Once the movie is done, we all retire to our respective sleeping arrangements and settle in for the night. Our tradition is to not leave the house after sunset, just as the Israelites stayed indoors to avoid being struck down by the Angel of Death.

Morning came and with it another bountiful meal. Everyone brought some version of kugel, which is a casserole, either sweet or savory. Ours was a sweet cinnamon kugel with eggs and egg noodles. Other families brought kugels made with matzo or potatoes. They were all wonderful. The rest of the time was spent much as the day previously: in fellowship and relaxation. In the past, we've rushed out the door right after breakfast in an attempt to be kind to our hosts and give them a break from the madness, but we were assured that all were welcome to stay as long as we liked, so we did and were glad for it. Time spent in fellowship with friends is always time well spent. We took advantage of the time to go canoeing ourselves. Rebecca and I took a turn around the pond and then I passed my paddle to Gabe and Ezra for their turn.

Shortly after lunch, it was time to pack up and go, but we'd had a wonderful time. 

At home, we have a few traditions of our own. We do the Four Cups, just like at the big celebration, but we do it in a less distracting environment so the kids will know what's going on and what each cup represents both from an Exodus perspective and from a Messianic perspective. We read the Exodus story and act out each of the 10 plagues, which is both fun and educational for the kids. (My favorite is the hail! :)) We also go through and clean out all the leaven (yeast) from our home in preparation for Pesach (Feast of Unleavened Bread), which goes on for the seven days following Passover. The kids love the searching around to find the pieces I've hidden in various places. Last year, I forgot how many and where I hid all the bits of bread I had hidden, so I suspect we never found the last one or two. This year, however, I used the cheap packets of yeast you get from the grocery store and so I knew exactly how many there were and if we didn't find one, I wasn't worried about a mouse or other critter coming to find it. On the third day after the Passover, we celebrate the Resurrection of our Messiah with resurrection cookies and reading about the things that happened that fateful morning so long ago. 

This year, on the last day of Pesach, we celebrated the Meal of Messiah, which is a mirror to the Passover meal, but where Passover looks at what has happened in the past, the Meal of Messiah looks ahead to when the Messiah will return in glory, take us as His bride and establish the New Jerusalem and bring about unparalleled peace and blessing. We had a great time doing this meal together and will surely make it part of our celebration each year from now on.

We hope that these traditions we are establishing will continue for many years to come and that our children will continue to be blessed and grow in their understanding of God's Torah.