Throughout my life, I have often been questioned about the activities of Jews during Easter. In response, I always explain that we do not participate in Easter celebrations; rather, we commemorate Passover.
Passover will start at sundown on Friday, April 22 and end at sundown on Saturday, April 30.
I struggle to actively engage with and meet other Jewish students on campus, as there are very few of us. I find it intriguing that I rarely come across anyone who knows anything about Judaism or has ever met a Jew before. When I first moved into McNerney Hall, someone told me that I was the first Jew they had ever met. This situation has repeated itself many times, which is why I am determined to form a community and uphold Jewish traditions on campus. Despite growing up in the southern part of New York, an area with one of the densest Jewish populations in the U.S., I learned at a young age that my religion was not common, especially in a predominantly Christian country. According to a 2012 Gallup poll, 77 percent of adults in the U.S. Identify as Christian, making Christianity the most common religion in America.
It is amazing how experienced Ferris is at religious ignorance. (I’m not wearing a little funny hat and I don’t know why I’ve been asked why I have larger nose and ears and why I’ve been asked why I have horns). If I’ve been asked if I actually believe the Holocaust was real, I’ve been told that Hitler had great policies and was a great leader. If I’ve been asked if I’ve actually been told that Hitler had great policies and was a great leader. I’ve learned that the term “Jew’d” is used when someone feels shorted or ripped off, it is a verb.
The number of times I have encountered anti-Semitic statements or jokes is countless. This is primarily because those making such remarks or jokes have never consciously come across a Jewish individual before. Upon hearing someone say, “Hey Travis is Jewish,” a person I am acquainted with would respond, prompting the anti-Semite to then say, “Oh, you know I was only kidding, bro.” Bro, I’m certain you know I was just joking. If I desired not to be Jewish, my response would be, “Nah.” To conclude.
Passover is an eight-day festival that commemorates Moses leading the Hebrew people out of slavery under the Pharaoh in ancient Egypt around 1300 B.C. Unlike Easter, which has a correlation with the resurrection of Jesus Christ during Passover, Passover does not occur on the same dates every year. It falls on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan. Easter, on the other hand, is a holiday celebrated by Christians to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which occurs on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the ecclesiastical full moon of the year.
The main elements of a Passover Seder include: the liberation and challenges faced by the enslaved Jews in Egypt, recalling and comprehending the essence of a Seder. Ultimately, I was able to have a meal after three hours, but the longest Seder ceremony I’ve participated in lasted five minutes. On the initial and subsequent evenings of the festival, Jewish individuals observe a Seder ritual and enjoy a dinner for Passover.
Come on! Allow me, Pharaoh, to sing the Passover song and put on skits reenacting the story of Passover in my religious school class. While attending the synagogue for a Passover service, the Rabbi will recite the Hebrew portion from the “Old Testament” Torah and many Jews will also have a Seder, where they reenact the Passover story.
One tradition similar to Easter egg hunts is the search for the Afikoman, which is a half-piece of broken matzah divided into two pieces during the Seder. The children in the household eventually hide the Afikoman somewhere in the house, and the first two children to find either money or candy win the pieces.
In order to avoid any unpleasant situations and make the most of our day, like any typical Sunday, we can simply answer the question: How do Jewish people celebrate Easter?
If you are a Jewish student looking to join the Jewish community at Ferris State University, please feel free to contact Dr. Barry Mehler at mehlerb@nullferris.Edu or join the Jewish Facebook Group for students and faculty in 2016-2015.