Inviting the Uninvited

Pesach

by Rabbi Avi Billet


I remember the first time I taught a class about Passover to a group of Jewish adults of very mixed Jewish backgrounds, and I mentioned that the Korban Pesach ritual (Paschal Lamb offering) that was so essential to the holiday of Pesach in Temple times could only be eaten by Jews who believe in God, and that the males of said populace had to b circumcised.

 In fact, so closely is the Korban Pesach related to Bris Milah (circumcision) that they are the only two mitzvot in the Torah that, when not fulfilled, carry with them the punishment of “karet” (Biblically prescribed excision from the Jewish people – a punishment carried out by God).

 I was unprepared for the reaction. “You mean a non-Jew cannot participate in the Seder?”

 One who googles the phrase “how to run a Passover Seder” must put much care into what one clicks, because a number of the top search hits will point to Christian websites dedicated to teaching people of their faith how to run an authentic Seder. So it’s not just Jews who have non-Jewish friends who need to be concerned, but non-Jews themselves! And with even the President of the United States hosting Seders over the past few years, it clearly is an important concern and consideration.

 I assured the questioner that as we don’t have a Temple now and no Korban Pesach, we don’t adhere to such a restriction, because the meat that we eat, while delicious, is not the required lamb that has limitations on who may eat it. And while I don’t know what goes on at too many Seders other than those that I’ve experienced, I hope that all Seders do an adequate job of focusing on the concept of the Israelites’ switch from slavery to freedom, the role God played in bringing that goal about, and a hope that the freedom we speak of metaphorically can be experienced for the Jewish people again when anti-Semitism is eliminated from the world. This is a message that needs to be spread widely and clearly.

 One of the themes of the Seder is the number four. Four questions, four sons, fours cups of wine. I once heard Rabbi Kenneth Hain of Congregation Beth Sholom in Lawrence ask the question, “Why three matzahs? Shouldn’t we have four matzahs?”

 There is a tradition that each matzah represents a different kind of Jew – the Kohen, the Levite, and the Israelite. Rabbi Hain suggested the 4th matzah, the one that doesn’t make it to the table, represents the Jew that is so far removed from Judaism, this Jew doesn’t even make it to the Seder.

 It should come as no surprise that Bris Milah and the Passover Seder are the two most widely practiced Jewish rites. I highly doubt it is because of the karet-connection I mentioned earlier. But it is telling that they share this and so many other connections: the significance of blood, the concept of a covenant, a tribute to Elijah the Prophet, how you can’t do one without the other, etc. These connections give a strong indication that most Jews do make it to a Seder of some kind, and that not too many Jews who affiliate are missing. 

But what do we do about the missing Jew – the 4th matzah?

 First of all, I hope that all those who are bringing non-Jewish guests to their Seders have plenty of seats filled by Jews who might not otherwise attend one. As for those of us who are not inviting non-Jews to our Seder, are we doing our part to fulfill the words of “Ha Lachma Anya” – “let all those who seek come and eat, and all those who need come and do Pesach”? We live in a world when it is increasingly harder to invite people we do not know. We can’t simply invite strangers off the street without an introduction, or without having someone vouch for them. It is a terrible reality of the times in which we live.

 But if there are people we know, people in our offices, or people we have connections with, who might not have a Seder to attend, perhaps we can reach out and invite them for the first Seder, and give them a little taste of how we celebrate and commemorate our collective journey from slavery to freedom.

 Who knows? Perhaps this gesture will be the first positive one the invited may have had in a while. And maybe, next year, we need not be concerned that this person is the 4th matzah, the Jew who doesn’t even make it to the Seder.