Seder Dinner...

On November 2 we had a Seder dinner, even though it's not time for Seder. They just like us to have the full experience of the culture :). So, we had a Seder!

We all sat around in a very nicely set up Oasis, and we all participated in some way. Everyone had a copy of the book they read of out, the Haggadah, and we all followed along. About 12 of us got to read out of it. We all signed up before, and I was one that signed up to be a narrator. Other people performed musically, and we all had a good evening. We did start at 5:30 and didn't get out until 9:30 though... Seders are LONG. But it's okay, it was rather enjoyable and cultural :).

I will explain with my pictures, okay? Wonderful!

This is the Haggadah of Passover...how could you guess, right? :)

And, it opens like a true Hebrew book, from the right to the left. Arabic books read the same way, since both languages read from rgith to left. I think that's cool.

The pages which I read from...

This was my part to read. It was about the Exodus and why they recite the Haggadah every year.

This was the table of Narrators, and that is Ophir, in the white shirt on the left.

Ophir conducted the Seder, of course. And we all had microphones, those who sang and did reading.

This is Marissa and Me :) We were both Narrators.

These are the peculiarities in the Seder meal. There is bitter herbs, the greens, a boiled egg, and some sort of apple something that I forget the name to. Also, the meat is a Turkey neck, symbolizing the sacrifice of a Lamb that would happen on Passover, but they no longer have a temple and therefore no longer perform sacrifices.

This is salt water, which symbolizes the tears of the Children of Israel as they left Egypt. There's also unleavened bread, which is basically like a cracker, that symbolizes what the children of Israel ate in their rush to leave Egypt.

Anyway, those are the symbolic foods and everything, and people sang and it was really interesting. I don't really know how to describe it more fully, except to say that it is a strange ritual. Ophir addressed this and said that when the Rabbis who wrote this wanted it to be peculiar, so that when families would sit around and have the Seder dinner, the children would wonder about what on earth their family was doing, ask about it, and therefore create an opportunity to teach of the history of the Children of Israel. Interesting, right? And, fairly valid.

Also, one last attachment to my evening...This was the night that Reed sent me flowers! They came during dinner, so the security guards called me upstairs to get them. They were so beautiful! I will add some pictures for you all to see :)

I had a big smile on my face, I'm sure you can all imagine :)

...all night long haha...

Thank you Reed! The flowers are beautiful! And they are still alive and doing wonderfully!

Anyway, that was my day! The rest of my week wasn't too eventful because we had finals, but alas! Now they are over, and I can update you on even more things! I hope you enjoyed!