Why don’t Christians celebrate Passover

   Passover is a wonderful festival of faith! The celebration includes great food, lots of company (invite everyone!), and a fantastic story. The evening spent commemorating the events surrounding the Exodus from Egypt are informative, entertaining and quite fulfilling. For the Jewish people this is an event that binds our families together. For Christians this is the background story of to the life of Jesus. (see more in my book Spring: Connecting With God).
   Often when I talk to Christians about the Passover I am met with a blank response. Most Christians know that Passover is a Jewish holiday, but they have no idea what it is (although sometimes they know it relates to the Exodus from Egypt). I am amazed at how many people I talk do not know the Last Supper of Jesus was a Passover meal. The vast majority of church members have never participated in a Passover Seder, and are therefore totally ignorant of this important foundation of their faith.
   The lack of information provided to most Christians by the church regarding the Passover is sad, because the story told at this Jewish celebration is at the heart of the entire Bible. In my book, Spring: Connecting With God, I relate with some detail how the gospels related Jesus’ participation in the Passover during every year of his life, including each of the three years of his ministry. It is clear from the New Testament that Jesus and his disciples wanted the church to include the Passover Seder, along with it’s Jewish and Christian symbols as part of the annual calendar.

   The early church developed a weekly meal, similar to the Passover Seder, which it called the Agape (or Love) Feast. This meal, which was often held before worship services included stories of faith and the Lord’s Supper (Communion, Eucharist). But the meal did not last, because Christians forgot a central commandment of their faith, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” or in the words of the Apostle John, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. ... Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4)
   Paul, Luke, Jude and Peter very early in the church’s history relate that there are problems in the Agape (or Love) feast. (1 Corinthians 11:17–34; 2 Peter 2:12-14; Jude 1:12) These problems were similar to those that divide people today. In Corinth the wealthy people did not like to associate with the poor. In Jerusalem, the people who lived in the land were prejudiced against those that came from surrounding Greek territories (Acts 6:1-7). In Antioch of Syria, racism became a major problem in the congregation. (Acts 11:19-27) Jewish believers were causing divisions against the Gentiles (Acts 15:1), and Gentile believers developed a resistance to the Jews.
    Ignatius, an early bishop who led the church at Antioch forbid Jewish practices, including the Passover, in Antioch and beyond. He wrote in his letters to the Philippians and to the Tarsians, “If any one celebrates the passover along with the Jews, or receives the emblems of their feast, he is a partaker with those that killed the Lord and His apostles.” Ignatius did this to increase the power of the early Gentile church. Ignatius helped to build the political power structure within early Christianity. Other early church fathers followed in the practices of antisemitism in order to gain power, leaving behind fears and prejudicial beliefs toward Biblical Jewish practices that remain to this day.
   The Apostle Paul wrote, “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Cor 5:7-8) Paul, who grew up in a Jewish home, always maintained the Jewish traditions, even visiting the Temple in Jerusalem. He understood and taught the Jewish - Christian connection.
   In our modern era, it is sad to loose the Jewish foundations of the Christian faith, because the loss makes the church shallower … and less like Jesus. We need to learn the lesson of the Wise Son, who desires to know everything about the Passover and his faith. We should ask questions, as the eldest child at the Passover Seder, in order to learn. We should learn the meanings of the food and how they relate to the Spring harvest, the Exodus from Egypt, and the life and ministry of Jesus. In a world of refugees, we need to hear these words, “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” (Ex 22:21; Lev 19:33-34; Deut 10:19; Ps 146:9)

   Every Christian congregation should celebrate the Passover on a regular basis. There are many good leaders who can guide the church (contact me at KosherCopy@gmail.com if you live in the eastern US), or you can use my book “A Christian Passover in the Jewish Tradition” to put together your own Passover Seder.

Philadelphia and a Jewish Cemetery

Recent news of vandalism in Jewish cemeteries, bomb threats at Jewish schools and spray painting signs called my attention to family. These events have hit too close to home. Signs at my daughter's school were spray painted and tombstones were overturned in the cemetery around the corner from where my family is buried.

David & Amelia Wolf Levine

I have never understood people who feel they must tear up things that are not theirs (and do not matter to them). I am repulsed by those who prey on little children (schools) or people weaker than themselves, and the insanity that drives perpetrators to make these attacks anonymously . I am completely confused when individuals target burial grounds in order to wound people they do not even know. If such people would put their minds into action they would realize that in all probability their lives at some point benefited by the philanthropy or gifts of the very Jewish people they have targeted.

My Grandparents

Although I never met David Levine, I would like to learn more about him. I am named after him. In Jewish life it is bad luck to be named after a living relative; David Levine died about a year before I was born. I did know his daughters, especially Adele, my grandmother. I spent many happy weekends at her home in Miami Beach.

David & Amelia Levine. Her sister Rachel Spitz is on next row

A few years ago I was in Philadelphia, thought about my ancestors who lived there and visited their graves. These family members were important to my past, and although I did not know the people buried in Philadelphia, they contributed to my life.

David Levine and Philip Wolf

I am named after my great grandfather, David Levine. David immigrated to the United States at the age of fifteen in 1875. His brother was supposed to meet him at the boat, but failed to appear. My great grandfather entered this country without family connections, and probably without knowing the English language. But he survived.

David & Amelia Levine in Atlantic City

I do not know what his early years were like, either in Kalvarija or in Philadelphia. His parents might have been bakers, because he tested bread to make sure it was fresh. In the United States he worked in the garment industry. In 1880 he is listed as a clothier living in Girardville, Pennsylvania. In 1886 he married Amelia Wolf, the daughter of a clothier. And by 1892 he was operating a clothing store in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania.

Magazine listing names of my relatives

David Levine, his brother-in-law Abe Zable, his father-in-law Adolf Wolf, and many members of the Wolf family owned clothing stores. Early circulars, magazines and trade journals list his name and show he was a leader in the industry. David was also a leader in his community, holding civic offices and giving money to worthwhile causes. He was also active in Jewish life, attending Synagogue on a regular basis in the communities where he lived.

Tobias Simon clothing store in McKeesport, PA

A few years ago, on my visit to Philadelphia, I visited Adath Jeshurun Cemetery to find his grave. In the process I met the caretaker for the cemetery. The man shared that the graveyard is full. Funding is down, so the caretaker (at that time) gave much of his time as a gift of love (rather than being paid). This makes my heart break when I think it could have been his cemetery vandalized.

Amelia Levine's Parents - Adolph & Pauline Wolf

On my visit I found not only David and Amelia Levine, but also a host of other family members from the Wolf and Spitz lines of the family.  It was a tour of my family’s heritage and a lesson that immigrants can thrive in the United States, and contribute to our country. In fact immigrants who are working hard to survive are the very people who have made our country great.