Well, I went to my very first Seder ever yesterday. It was good for me to have a spiritual experience. Right now, things arent' going quite as well as they possibly could in relation to employment and my personal health and finances and all that foofaraw. However, at least I'm not being forced to build pyramids all day. I can't imagine that that pays well or has medical benefits.
I like especially that they have a moment to empathize with the Egyptians for all the suffering God caused them. That's pretty solid of the Jews to include that portion of the ceremony. I think currently we could use a lot of empathy for those who we feel have wronged us.
And now for my sacriligeous thoughts:
Most of the Seder seems to be saying great things about god and what a great deity He is for freeing the Jews from slavery in Egypt, feeding them Manna, drowning their pursuers and leading the Jews to the holy land. Okay, so that's all well and good and God deserves some major props for that, however, if I remember my Exodus correctly, and I may not.
In fact, let me whip out my trusty bible guide and look up the Exodus. Okay, here we go... Yeah, God went seriously schizo on the Jews during the trek to the holy land. He threatened people with death should they not wear underwear in his tent or if they touched Mt. Sinai, made people who worshiped the golden calf kill their families, commanded death upon those who worked on the Sabbath, unleashed plagues and killed people who ate stuff besides manna. Damn. I guess He figured that if He freed these people from slavery, He could just push them around all He wanted.
Again, I guess it's just part of the whole deal to feel thankful for what you get. The whole thing struck me as very forgiving, praising God even after the messed-up stunts he pulled and feeling sympathy for the suffering of the Egyptians.
So it seems like Passover is a great excuse to be thankful for what you've got, forgive those who have wronged you, enjoy some good food and good conversation. I can dig it. That's the fun part about being an agnostic, I get to go check out the cool bits of other people's religions without having to actually go to a church or temple every day. It's like the sampler plate of faith.
And the stereotype was true, Jewish wine is super-sweet. Yum. I usually hate wine, but this stuff was like grape kool-aid. I don't know what evryone's problem is, I thought it was good.