On the eve of Monday 22 April, my family and I will sit around our table together and retell the story of the Jews Exodus from Egypt, being freed from slavery by Hashem (God). This is called the Seder (translated to ‘order’) and we have one on the first night of Passover (Pesach פֶּסַח in Hebrew) and repeat it again on the second night. We will retell the story in Hebrew and English using a book called a Haggadah and with music that would be recognisable at any Seder table across the globe.

We will have symbolic foods on a Seder Plate such as salt water to represent the tears that our enslaved people shed; Haroset – a mixture of apples, ground nuts, cinnamon and wine to symbolise the mortar we used as slaves to build the Pharaohs buildings; and Horseradish to symbolise the bitterness. We dip our fingers in wine ten times as we remember the ten plagues that Hashem (our Lord) sent to the Egyptians because they would not set us free.  We will eat Matzah - unleavened bread - to symbolise escaping under the cover of darkness so our bread did not have time to rise. 

We spend the eight days of the festival refraining from eating any grains that can become leavened so no rice, pasta, bread, cakes, biscuits etc. We also eat a lot (and I mean, a lot) of Matzah. Personally, I smother mine in unsalted butter and apricot jam.

One of the main sections of the Seder is the Four Questions. Traditionally we get the youngest person at the table to sing or read them and their purpose is to encourage inquisitiveness in Jewish children about their heritage.

So, what does Passover mean to me as a secular, orthodox Jew?  Well, its rituals and traditions give me comfort. I love that we sit together as a family, passing on our customs, traditions and history to the next generation. I remember, at my Jewish primary school, being taught the Seder and being chosen to read sections and feeling excited to show my family what I could contribute to at our own Seder.

On my gap year I went to Seders in another country and could still understand the story because as a global community we all do it in much the same way. During Covid, we all zoomed each other from our Seder tables so we could be together somehow.

So, as I look forward to our family Seders this year what do I wish for my own children coming to our family Seder? I want them to have that connection, to feel they have a strong Jewish identity, that they can be proud of who they are, understand our struggles and know where they come from.  I also want it to be a time of reflection, for us to see there are still so many oppressed people on our beautiful Earth and how we must never take for granted the value of our freedom and to fight and speak out for those who are still not free.

Susan Wilcock is the Social Justice Project Co-ordinator in Leeds Trinity University’s Office for Institutional Equity.