The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-03-27
THE PASSOVER.
Observances In ProviGence---Orthodox
VIII Eat Unleavened Bread.

Observ ances In Provi6ence---Orthodox
Will Eat Unleavened Bread.
The Jewish Easter will begin.tomorrow
at sundown In Providence and everywhere
else, for this is the season OF their feast
OF Passover-an observance that Is sacred
ly kept during eight days among the
more orthodox Jews and for one week
among the progressive Hebrews. The
manner OF keeping the season, unleav-
ened bread not being the only article OF
food eaten.
The Passover is one of the chief Jewish
feasts and is of such antiquity that the
date OF its origin, although constan.
source OF study aud discussion among
Old Testament critics, is still unknown.
The particular Hebrew month and day,
however, which mark the beginning of
the feast, correspond to our date of March
20, that day in the Jewish mind begin
ming at sunset of the day pi evious, thus
bringing the first festival hour tomor-
row.
To find authority by which the time
for this feast OF Passover is established,
we have but TO turn to Leviticus %. Aud
the origin of the celebration is accounted
for in the twelfth chapter of Exodus, as
follows:
And the Lord spake unto Moses and
Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying: This
month shall be unto you the begi ming
of months; 1t shall be the first month Of
the year TO you.
Speak We unto all the congregation OF
Israel. saying, in the tenth day of this
month they shall take to them every man
a lamb, according to the house OF their
fathers, a lamb for q house, and IL the
household be too little for the lamb, let
him and his neighbor next house unto
l.fa talr 80 he Io~ -
the souls; every man according to his
eating shall make your count for the
lamb.
Your lamb shall be without blem ish,
q male OF the first year; ye shall take 1t
out from the sheep, or from the goats;
and We shall keep 1t up until the four
teenth day OF the month, aud the whole
assembly Of the congregation shall kill IL
in the evening, and they shall take off
the blood, and strike it on the two side
posts and on the upper posts and on the
upper doorpost Of the houses wherein they
shall eat 1t, and they shall eat the flesh
In that night, roast with lire, and un-
leavened bread, and with bitter herbs
they shall eat IL.
Eat not OF it raw or sodden at all with
water, but roast with fire, his head with
his legs, and with the purtenance thereof,
and ye shall let nothing of IL remain
until the morning. and that which re-
maineth OF it until the morning, ye shall
burn with fire. And thus shall We eat it,
with your Ioins girded, your shoes on
your feet and your staff in your hand; and
We shall eat it in haste; it is the Lords
Passover.
For will pass through the land of
Egypt this night, and will smite all the
first born in the land of Egypt, both man
and heast; and against all the gods of
Egypt will execute judgment; l am
the Lord.
And the blood shall he to you for a
token upon the houses where We are; and
when see the blood i will pass over you,
and the plague shall not be upon you to
destroy you when l smite the land of
Egypt. And this day shall be unto you
for memorial, and ye shall keep 1t a
feast TO the Lord throughout your gen.
erations; ye shall keep It feat by an
ordinance forever.
Seven days We shall eat uuleavened
bread; even the first day ye shall put
away leavep out OF your houses for who
ever eateth leavened bread, from the first
day until the seventh day, that soul shall
be cut off from Israel. And in the first
day there shall be holy convocation,
and In the seventh day there shall be a
holy convocation to you; no manner Of
work shall be done, in them, save that
which every man must eat, that only may
be done of you. And ye shall observe the
feast of unieavened bread for in this self
same day have 1 brought your armies out
of the land of Egypt. therefore shall ye
observe this day in your generation by an
ordinances forever.
In the first month, on the 18th day Of
the month, at even, We shaft eat un-
leavened bread, until the one and twen-
tieth day OF the month, at even.
Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all
your ha5itations shall ye eat unleavened
bread.
Tomorrow evening as the season OF the
feast approaches every truly Jewish FAM
lily in this city will cluster about the ta-
bic upon which Is placed only the unleav-
ened brend or matzoths, a kind of thin
wafer composed of flour and water. This
household gathering includes the SER
wants as well as the mem bers OF the fam
lily proper, and every voice joins in the
impressive service beginning with the
words:
"Because we were slaves to Pharoah in
Egypt and God took US out from them
with a mighty hand and an outstretched
arm"
For nearly an hour this chorus of rit-
ual is cont inued, then the paterfamilias
utters blessing over the matzoths.
tastes, eats of the waters, together with
some horseradish root in conmemoration
of Hillel. the Israellte sage who subsisted
upon bitter herbs as long as the temple
existed. Then follows the family supper,
during which four glasses of wine are re-
quired to be drunk by those participa-
ting, a custom based upon certain express
sions in the Jewish Scriptures concerning
the redemption Of the Hebrew race. The
singing of psalms and hymns, together
with other symbolical ceremonies, COM
piete this feast OF deliversnce. Perhaps
the most unique and striking feature of
all is the one indicative OF the implicit
Jewish faith In a Messiah yet To come.
Elijah IL, they believe, TO be the prophet
of this advent, and go for him the door
OF the horss is left ajar and his place at
table stands ready with a glass OF wine
Tiled to the br.m.
In the Jewish synagogues'there will be
servicessheld during the first two days OF
Passover ana also during the last two,
but the other days are not so observed.
OF course-the manner.o observance varies
with the views OF each particular congre-
CATION, but I'm every instance the uDleav-
ened bread forms.the principal article OF
food. Rice is the only cereal allowed, and
that when the unIeavenpd bread epems