We are working our way towards Passover. I love this time of year when we begin to clean and prepare for this incredible holiday. As I may have told you, I have an extensive collection of Haggadahs. I used to buy no fewer than five a year to build it up to make sure I always had new material. In recent years, I’ve seen fewer new ones being published so I’ve slowed down.
A few years back I purchased The Koren Ethiopian Haggada Journey To Freedom. I bought this one with the thought that I’d be able to have an authentic representation of what the Ethiopian Jews did at their Seders, but I was surprised to see it was something entirely different. It doesn’t reflect the Seder traditions of the Ethiopian Jews. It tells their history and their story and it’s illustrated in their style. There’s a very good and important reason it doesn’t have their traditions for their Seder. They didn’t have a Seder in the way we observe Seders today. Our Seder has existed in its current format since at least 200CE when it was codified in the 10th chapter of the משנה פסחים/Mishnah Pesachim.
The issue is the Ethiopian Jews were dispersed from the Land of Israel and the rest of the Jewish people around the time of the destruction of the First Temple (586 BCE). In this Haggada, there’s an oral tradition that’s cited and claims King Nebuchadnezzar conquered Israel and sent many exiles to Egypt in addition to those who were brought back to Babylon. While the Babylonians were conquered by the Persians in Egypt, it was the Greeks who took over under the leadership of Alexander the Great. It was at this time the Egyptians rose up against the Jews as well as the Greeks because they thought the Jews were collaborators. This caused some of the Jews to journey south away from Egypt and they found themselves in central Africa, Ethiopia. That’s their understanding and their tradition. They were thus disconnected from the Jewish world when the משנה was being formed and when the תלמוד/Talmud became our understanding of Jewish religion. Their religion remained a purely תורה/Torah based one that even included sacrifices. The only sacrifice they still conducted was the פסח/Passover one. They ate that sacrifice with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. After the meal, they would listen as the elders told the story. They didn’t have four cups of wine, four questions, four children, and they didn’t have a Seder plate. Now that they’ve been reintegrated into the global Jewish community, they’ve adopted all our practices and so their Passover now looks quite different than it used to.
I want to share a piece from their Hagadda with you. The Jewish people have known for too long what it means to be exiled and to return. We’ve suffered over the generations in ways that can never be quantified and yet we continue to move forward. This piece from the Ethiopian Haggada paints a picture of how all Jews continue to be on a journey that began when we left Egypt. In every generation, we continue to learn and grow, from our past to our current journey.
Has the Time Come to Return to the Holy Land?
Ethiopia 5622 (1862) Blessed be the Lord of Israel, the God of all flesh and spirits. I would like the present missive, which is being sent by Abba Tzega, be delivered to the priest in Jerusalem known as Kacha [?] Joseph, the high priest of all Jews.
I hope that this letter reaches you through Birnchusa [a corruption of the name Bronkhorst — Ed]. My Jewish brethren, peace be with you. We sent an earlier letter to you with Daniel, the son Hanania, the father of Moses.
We are writing to inquire whether the time has come for us to return again to our land, that is, the Holy Land, and to Jerusalem, the holy city. For we are a destitute nation and we have neither a judge nor a prophet in our midst. If the time has truly come, please send us a letter regarding this matter. For you are indeed superior to us, and we look to you for guidance during these times. A great wind is stirring in our souls now, and there are those who are saying that the time has come for us to separate ourselves from the Christians and travel to your city of Jerusalem to reunite with our brethren and offer sacrifices to the Lord, God of Israel, in the Holy Land.
We thus commission you, Birnchusa, on the basis of the love that you have shown us in the past, to deliver a response to us from our distant brethren.
May you go and come in peace, and may peace always reign over our brethren in the Holy Land, which the Lord gave to his servant Moses as he stood on Mount Sinai.
I, Abba Tzega, community elder and leader, do hereby send you this present missive in the second month of the year 7354 after creation. (Waldman, Beyond, 127-128)
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Hearshen
Reimagining OVS
As we continue the work of Reimagining OVS, we’ll be launching a Membership Engagement Questionnaire in the coming weeks to gather valuable insights about your experience as a member of the OVS family. Your input will help us understand what’s working, where we can grow, and how to strengthen connections within our community. We hope you’ll take a few minutes to complete it—your feedback will make a real difference in helping us grow and thrive together. Please watch your email for a link to the survey. We welcome each adult member of your household to complete the survey.
