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10 Ways Passover is Like the TV Show LOST
Contributed by Esther Kustanowitz

  • TOP HAGGADAHS FOR 2023

As Jews worldwide sit down for the Passover seder, an organized meal with a set order of rituals and readings, which are compiled in the Haggadah, we'll talk about Passover, what we’re up to in our respective lives, and all the family stuff. This year, we're all trapped at home anyway, staying safe by staying inside, likely participating in a seder via zoom. But being trapped on our own little island is a great time to rewatch some of our favorite TV shows, especially those about being trapped on an island, most appropriatelt the J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof and Jeffrey Lieber show "Lost," which aired 2004-2010 on ABC. Here's how Passover is similar to "Lost." (Based on a previous article for Beliefnet.com - updated to reflect our current moment in 2020. "Lost" is available for streaming on Hulu.)

1. Passover is a widely-celebrated ancient Jewish holiday with a deep mythology. “Lost” is a widely-watched TV show, with hordes of devoted fans always seeking to delve deeper into the increasingly intricate and eclectic mythology.
2. The narrative of the Haggadah (telling the Passover story) is a series of flashback episodes illuminating the backgrounds of Biblical characters. Jews observing Passover are commanded to “see ourselves as if we had been the ones to come out of Egypt.” Best way to see yourself in your own history? Time travel, a staple in the "Lost" universe. (Just watch out for the nosebleeds.)
3. Every year, Jewish families have to go down into the hatch– only instead of a hatch, it’s a basement, and instead of finding a Scotsman named Desmond, they find their boxes of Passover dishes.
4. "Lost" has the Dharma Initiative, a shadowy cabal that provides the island with an exclusive brand of food products. Passover has the Matzah Initiative, a shadowy cabal that provides kosher for Passover households with an exclusive kind of food products.
5. Both stories feature reluctant leaders (Moses/Jack, John, Sawyer) and complicated family relationships: Moses is adopted by an Egyptian princess, but cared for by his birth mother and biological sister; Jack eventually cares for his half-sister Claire’s son, Aaron (who happens to share a name with the brother of the Biblical Moses).

6. On "Lost," the "Others" live on a part of the island that our heroes don’t visit. On Passover, the "Others" are the ones we can't visit (except on Zoom).
7. The Oceanic 815 survivors all have important family obligations that are being interrupted by their time on the island. People who observe Passover all have important obligations that are being interrupted by their time with their families.
8. On both the island and during Passover, even though your food intake is restricted to what’s available from the Initiative, no one seems to lose any weight.
9. Everyone’s obsessed with numbers: on “Lost,” the numbers that bring Hurley to the island; in Passover’s Haggadah, whether "ten plagues" means an actual literal ten or hundreds more. Trust me, it needs its own wiki.
10. Anyone who’s seen Cecil B. Demille’s “Ten Commandments” will recognize in the tenth plague the misty angel of death, who is unquestionably the great-green-grandpapa of the island’s deadly Smoke Monster.

Any perspectives on this pop/Passover intersection to share? Happy Passover (and inevitable “Lost”-rewatching) to us all.
haggadah Section: Maggid - Beginning
Source: Original, based on: https://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/idolchatter/2009/04/10-ways-passover-is-like-lost.html

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