Why Passover is a big deal, even for non-observant Jews

What does being a Jew mean to me, a secular Jew? The celebration of Passover – a m
ajor religious holiday celebrated by observant and non-observant Jews around the
world – is a great way to help you understand.
This particular celebration is the “let my people go” holiday – the Exodus from Egypt.
Essentially, the Pharoah enslaved the ancient Israelites. Moses led the Jews ou
t of slavery. In the process, God subjected the Egyptians to plagues of locusts,
boils, darkness, etc. The final, and most convincing plague was the slaying of
the first-born. The Angel of Death “passed over” the houses of the Jews – that’s where
the name of the holiday comes from. The Israelites fled, Moses parted the Red S
ea and they all began the process of becoming Jews. .
Last night, the first night of Passover, Jews all over the world sat down to a P
assover Seder. What makes this holiday uniquely Jewish is that pretty much every
family reads the Haggadah – the story of the Jewish liberation from Egypt.
And that’s where it gets interesting. Ostensibly, the Haggadah is the story of the
flight from Egypt. But what it really is is a discussion. The most famous porti
on of the Hagaddah, for instance – always sung by the youngest child to great appl
ause by grandparents – is the Four Questions, Mah Nishtana.
Here are the first two:
“Why is this night different from every other night? Every other night we can eat
bread and Matzah. Tonight we can only eat Matzah.
Why is this night different from every other night? Every other night, we can ea
t any vegetable we want to. Tonight we have to eat the Maror, the bitter vegetab
le.”
The point is, we celebrate the Exodus by arguing and discussing its importance.
Why do the things we do every year? Why eat the Matzah, anyway? Why were we in E
gypt in the first place? How do you make a good kugel? For that matter, what is
kugel, anyway? Will there be an edible Passover dessert this year?
We don’t go to a place of worship to experience being a Jew. The word “Haggadah” means
“the telling” No Holy Rabbi issues an edict on what we are to think and understand.
Story telling is a communal process.
We tell the story to each other – this is who we are, this is where we come from,
and this is how and why we suffered.
We sit down together over a meal and figure it out amongst ourselves. We do it e
very year.