April 15, 2022 ยท
On Passover we Jews remember how the Angel of Death passed us over and remember the events which led to our escape from slavery in Egypt and THE COVENANT which God made with us.
The seder (the ceremony) is done at the family dinner table, not in a genuine official synagogue, and The Four Questions are asked by the youngest male child that he may begin to learn his history and that every year the rest of us may be refreshed in our memory. (Just as we used to do here in America with Lincoln's Birthday and Washington Birthday , , , but I digress , , ,)
The first question is "Why is this night different from all other nights?"
Beyond my education to articulate where it goes from there, but I do remember a seder at my learned Cousin Terry's home wherein he articulated a point that was fresh to me:
By making a covenant with us, a contract if you will, for the first time God was conceived of as a God of Reason-- and through him Moses was the Law Giver.
There is deep reference to this in our Capitol building, though a quickie search in this moment does not enable me to find proper reference to it. Perhaps someone here can find proper citation? (Glenn Beck used to do a talk on this, though it appears youtube has sent it down the Memory Hole , , ,)
Anyway, when we speak of America being of Judeo-Christian lineage it seems to me that perhaps the idea that we are to be ruled by reason had its seed here.