Was Jesus at a Sedar on the last night?.

The Haggadah refers to the rabbis of that era, including Rabbis Gamliel and Hillel, which  dates the seder’s origins to a period some time between the Temple’s destruction and the third century.

The answer: While Jesus may have come to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival and shared a Passover meal with his disciples, it was certainly not a seder as we know it today. We know this because the seder’s key elements – the Four Questions, the four children, the  afikomen  (dessert), the telling the story of the rabbis of Bnai Brak, and other parts of the Haggadah all postdated the death of Jesus.

Many Jews think that telling the story of the Exodus is an excuse to tell the story of what happened after the destruction of the Temple and the exile from Jerusalem in the year 70 C.E. Conspiratorial Jews refer to words being about sects of Judaism vying for power and for and against the Roman occupation.

Until that time, Judaism had been a religion based on animal sacrifice carried out by the priesthood. Following the Temple’s destruction, the setting of God’s sacred dwelling place moved to the home, where anyone serving as leader could perform the sacred rituals of Judaism.

The dining room table replaced the Temple altar. During the festival of Pesach (Hebrew for Passover), a symbolic lamb bone, matzah, and wine would be placed on the seder table and the story of the Exodus would be told in a format reflecting the Roman traditions of its day.

Why eat This meal and lean to the left

Because Passover commemorates the liberation of our ancestors from slavery in Egypt, one might think the seder would more likely resemble an ancient Egyptian meal. The seder, in fact, replicates the feast of a later oppressor – the Romans – from reclining, washing hands, beginning with an egg, dipping in salt water, wine libations, and discussions of the afikomen (Greek for “revelry”).

Why would the surviving Judeans incorporate the customs of the enemy that only decades earlier destroyed their Temple in Jerusalem? (Answers on a postcard)


haggadah Section: -- Cup #2 & Dayenu