A HAPPY PASSOVER.
It is the eve of the Passover feast, the birthday of Israel's
nationality. All is bustle and excitement in the Jewish quarter of Kief.
Kitchen utensils and furniture have been removed from the houses and are
piled up in the streets. Dust rises in clouds, water flows in torrents
through the muddy gutters. Children, banished from the vacant rooms, are
romping and playing, shouting and crying in the lanes. Feather beds and
blankets, clothing and linen are being aired. Within the houses
scourers and scrubbers are cleaning, dusting and white-washing. The
great national house-cleaning is in progress. From closet and cupboard,
dishes and cooking utensils are brought out for their eight days'
service.
To-morrow is _Pesach_ (Passover). An entire nation await with passionate
longing the arrival of this festival and accord it a hospitable welcome.
The man of wealth lavishly displays on this day his gold and silver, his
finely wrought utensils and crystal dishes. The poor man has labored day
and night to save enough to give the guest a worthy reception. The
stranger and the homeless are made welcome at every table, that they,
too, may enjoy, free from care and sorrow, the advent of the _Pesach_.
What yearning, what hopes, what anticipations usher in this feast of
feasts! Winter, with its manifold hardships, is past. Nature awakes from
her frigid lethargy, and the balmy air gives promise of renewed life and
happiness.
The preparations are at length complete. Every nook and corner is
scrupulously clean; all _chometz_ (leaven) has been banished from the
house; even the children have carefully emptied their pockets of stray
crumbs. The round and tempting _matzoth_ (Passover bread) have been
baked--the guest is at the door!
In the dining-room of Hirsch Bensef sat a goodly circle of friends at
the _seder_ (services conducted on the eve of Passover). The lamps shone
brightly, and the lights in the silver candelabra threw their sheen upon
the sumptuously set table, with its white embroidered cloth and its
artistic dishes and goblets. At the head of the table stood a sofa
covered with rich hangings and soft pillows, a veritable throne, upon
which sat the king of the family, clad in snow-white attire. In the
midst of richly-robed guests, surrounded by an almost oriental luxury,
the master of the house had donned his shroud. It is a custom akin to
that of the ancient Egyptians, who brought the mummies of their
ancestors to the festive board, that in the excess of carnal enjoyment
they might not forget the grim reaper, Death. Upon the table stood a
plate of _mitzvoth_ (a thicker kind of _matzoth_ prepared specially for
the _seder_), covered with a napkin, and upon this were placed a number
of tiny silver dishes containing an egg, horseradish, the bone of a
lamb, lettuce and a mixture of raisins and spices--all symbolical of
ancient rites. Before each guest there stood a silver wine cup, to be
refilled three times in the course of the evening. In the centre of the
table stood the goblet of wine for _Elijahu Hanovi_ (the Prophet
Elijah), the hero of a thousand legends, and the fondly expected
forerunner of the redemption of Israel and the coming of the Messiah. By
each plate was a copy of _Hagada_, the order of service for the evening.
It is a book of facts and fancies, containing a recital of Israel's
trials in Egypt; of its deliverance from the house of bondage; of its
wanderings in the desert, and the sayings of Israel's wise men--a
mixture of Bible stories, myths and prayers.
Contentment, peace and joy were plainly written upon the faces of the
participants. The terrors of persecution were forgotten in the
recollection of the miraculous deliverance of the Jews from their
Egyptian task-masters. Reb Hirsch Bensef having pronounced a short
blessing over the wine, pointed solemnly to the plate of unleavened
bread before him.
"See," he said, "this is the bread your fathers ate in _Mizraim_. He
that hungers let him partake of it, he that is in need let him eat and
be satisfied."
As though in response to the hospitable invitation, there came a soft
rap at the door. Mendel opened it and the bright light revealed a man
and a woman, whose haggard faces and tattered garments presented the
very picture of misery.
"Father! Mother!" Mendel cried, joyfully. "God be praised!" and he threw
himself into the arms of his father.
With a single impulse the entire company arose and welcomed the
unexpected guests. Mordecai and his wife had travelled on foot from
Togarog to Kief, and, after terrible hardships, had arrived in time for
the Passover. Great was the pleasure at their unlooked-for appearance,
and as they hastened to tell the story of their sorrows and wanderings,
sincere was the joy at their providential escape and the safe
termination of their journey. All Israel is one family, and had the
wanderers been in nowise related to Bensef, their reception would have
been equally cordial and sincere.
A short time sufficed to remove the last traces of their terrible
journey and to clothe them in the best that the wardrobe of their hosts
afforded. Two more plates were set, two more goblets of wine were served
and the ceremonies were continued.
So excited was Mendel over the arrival of his parents that he could
scarcely compose himself sufficiently to follow the _seder_ and ask the
conventional question concerning the significance of the _Pesach_
festival. In reply, the head of the house recited from his _Hagada_ how
the Lord punished Pharaoh for his obduracy, how the children of Israel
were eventually led from captivity, how the Red Sea was divided that
the chosen people might traverse its bed while the Egyptian perished
miserably, and how the Lord conducted his people safely through the
wilderness to the promised land. Then followed praise and thanksgiving,
the _Hagadas_ were pushed aside and feasting followed, continuing far
into the night.
The woes and adventures of Mordecai and his wife elicited the hearty
sympathy of their hearers, and the enjoyment of the evening was greatly
enhanced by the knowledge that the dear ones were, for the present at
least, safe from persecution.
The quiet dignity which had distinguished Mendel since he had become a
student vanished. He became a child again, embracing and caressing his
parents, weeping at their sorrows, laughing over their deliverance, and
asking a thousand questions without waiting for replies.
It was decided that for the present the fugitives should remain with
Bensef as his guests.
At the conclusion of the meal, the _Hagadas_ were again taken up, and to
the prayers of thanksgiving was added a prayer for the welfare of that
little soul that was lost to Israel, the missing child Jacob.