The Passover ritual by Jews and Buddhists.

I have always been very curious about the Jewish religion. I am not only curious but fascinated as well. The raise to awareness is simple. They celebrate Hannukah at around the same time we celebrate Christmas. They also celebrate Passover around the time we are commemorating Holy Week. So, there is that awareness and the story is told during Holy Week as well regarding their flight from Egypt.

The story of the passover is a story about slavery and freedom. It can be said that it is something that we need to remember. It is also something that we can compare to our spiritual growth as well. We all go through hardships before we can grow. Sometimes it takes a painful one, and sometimes it does not. But we all need to grow and we have these experiences that we could use to remind us. I believe the ritual is called Haggadah which retells the story of the Passover. Moreover, the prayer books usually contain traditional prayers and many quotes from Rabbis as well. It delves to enable one’s devotion and helps to find a deeper meaning in one’s Judaisms most beloved tradition.

This particular book is called Haggadah for Jews & Buddhists. Actually, an e-book is being offered as well in PDF version. All you have to do is visit this site to check it out: www.ModernHaggadah.com

Read the review of the book from Amazon.com below:

Even though I grew up in an agnostic Jewish family, the Passover seder was an important event every year. Passover was the only Jewish holiday we ever celebrated.

So it was with some trepidation that I approached the Haggadah for Jews & Buddhists. While Buddhist meditation practice is very important to me, I am not all that adventurous when it comes to Passover.

But as I read through the Jewish/Buddhist hagaddah, an attempt to express the universal theme of Passover to traditional Jews, Buddhists and people of diverse spiritual leanings, my trepidation melted away and I found myself intrigued by the idea of trying something new.

Right from start, this hagaddah, written by Elizabeth Pearce-Glassheim, speaks to the symbolic power of the holiday as it describes the enslavement of the Jews and their journey to freedom as a metaphor for consciousness and our own striving for release from attachment and toward spiritual growth.

While this hagaddah is structurally the same as Reform-style seders and includes all the familiar sections, it’s the language and interpretation that makes all the difference.

I jumped ahead to the Four Questions, probably the most important part of the seder for the way that it perpetuates the Jewish tradition of questions and dialogue.

In this section, the authors speaks directly to the traditionalist, the humanist or secular Jew, the Buddhist, and non-Jewish friends, a thought-provoking attempt to explain the universal meanings of Passover to a diverse group of people.

As I read it, I recognized that my Buddhist self has everything to do with my secular Judaism.

Now the really big question: Do I want to integrate these two traditions and conduct a Jewish/Buddhist seder?

I think it’s worth a try. If I can communicate Passover’s message of freedom while conveying my interest in self-discovery and spiritual growth to my children, I say why not?

Whatever happens, it should, at the very least, provoke a great conversation over our gefilte fish. –Louise Crawford

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