Some 3,300 years ago, Jewish slaves made their way out of Egypt to freedom. Now in 2011, Egyptians themselves are getting a taste of freedom – an irony not lost on local rabbi Zalman Bluming.
“It’s fascinating,” he told me. “You know, we (Jews) left Egypt years ago, but we didn't take the Egyptians along with us in terms of our journey towards freedom and direction. Only time will tell where this will actually go in terms of the Middle East.”
Rabbi Zalman is Executive Director of Chabad of Durham-Chapel Hill, which will celebrate the ancient Israelites’ exodus from Egypt next Monday and Tuesday nights with a community Seder (“SAY-der”). That’s the ritual meal that marks Passover, and the rabbi says Chabad’s will be the largest in the Triangle. Advance registration is necessary.
“We celebrate Passover eight days,” he told me. “The first day celebrates liberation from bondage. The rest of the holiday celebrates the course of freedom we were directed upon -- the fact that we weren't just liberated people, but were people that created a covenant with God. Something to be sure that, with this freedom, we wouldn't just find another form of enslavement, another dictator, or another form of oppression that would hold us down. That's my hope and yearning for the people in the land of Egypt and everywhere else.”
The Passover Seder is a multi-sensory experience involving taste, smell, singing, prayers, story-telling, and more. It’s the most celebrated of the Jewish holidays. Rabbi Zalman there’s a good reason for that.
“Because more important than the synagogue and the Jewish Community Center is the family, the home. This is the most celebrated edifice in our community and the ideals that we believe in. While everybody else builds statues and monuments out of their leaders, our monuments are that of the home and the family, and these have been our citadels and towers.”
The Chabad Seders will take place next Monday and Tuesday nights at 7:00 at Chapel Hill’s Franklin Inn Hotel. They’re expecting some 200 people the first night, and about hundred the next. The Seders are free, with a suggested donation of $28. All are welcome, particularly college students who would otherwise miss the experience at home.
“Being away from your family at the Seder is a very difficult time for a student, so we try to do as much as possible with a family atmosphere,” says Rabbi Zalman. “We involve children, and we have the students participating and speaking about different parts of the Seder. So we really have not just one Seder with 200 people, but we have hundreds of Seders being relived for the sheer experience.”
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When the senior class at Fayetteville Christian School heads to the African nation of Zambia tomorrow for a missions trip, they’ll be taking along 44 labors of love, courtesy of Heide Nash. Mrs. Nash hand-crocheted 44 afghans for the group to take with them and give away to the Zambian people. She made one for her granddaughter and the 43 others making the trip.
Mrs. Nash’s daughter, Kirsten Speer, suggested the afghan project:
“I actually got the idea almost a year ago when I was looking at the pictures of last year’s senior class who also went to Africa. I saw this one picture of a group of children, some without legs, smiling proudly for the camera and wrapped in dingy, seemingly dirty blankets. I envisioned my mom’s afghans around them, so I told her what I was thinking she could do when my daughter went the following year. My mom started making them right away! She was thrilled to do it.”
Mrs. Nash also crocheted 44 crosses to take along.
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Raleigh International Church is expecting another huge crowd this coming Saturday for its annual Hope Connection Event. The church will be providing groceries, clothing, health care services, haircuts and more – all free. It’ll take place in the 4000 block of Capital Boulevard, from 10AM to 2PM. It’s the third year RIC has done this, and Pastor Olden Thornton says, “This year, we hope to be able to impact an ever greater number of citizens in our communities.”
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A special visitor will celebrate Palm Sunday services in Newton Grove this weekend. The Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori, who leads the nation’s Episcopal churches, will visit La Eglesia De La Sagrada Familia. The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church is making a tour of several congregations in the Diocese of East Carolina, with the Newton Grove stop among them. She’ll lead the 10:30 AM service.
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400 years old and still going strong. Duke Divinity School historian David Steinmetz has written a fascinating article on how the King James Version of the Bible came to be, and why it remains so popular.
He is a good friend that speaks well of us behind our backs.
Posted by: Timberland Boot Shop | 02/17/2012 at 10:46 AM