Paschal Greetings 2015

Spring is here, or so we are told -  as snow, rain and sleet have been on the menu this past week.  Has there been a mix-up in the Vernal Equinox?  An unannounced delay?

Nevertheless, the spring holidays are definitely on the way, whether you wear Canada Goose or only an Easter bonnet for the festivities.

Nicole Eisenman, Seder, 2010

At the Jewish Museum, Nicole Eisenman's painting, Seder, is on view through August 9th.   This solemn image, based on Norman Rockwell's Freedom from Want, 1942-43, is a bit off-putting in its expressionist colors and emphasis on the red beet-flavored horseradish, an acquired a taste.  Perhaps, one acquires a taste for Eisenman's style in due time as well.  I'm working on it.

Mark Podwal, Spring, 2011

I much prefer Mark Podwal's Spring - and all its iconographic implications: growth, vitality and beauty flourishing from the illuminations of faith (here a menorah sprouts flowers where candles usually cast their glow).

Leonardo da Vici, The Last Supper, late 1490s.

Was the Last Supper a seder?  Questions remain unanswered in this inquiry. Several scholars doubt the occasion was a traditional seder.  Rather, it might have been a meal taken during the week of Passover, as declared in the Gospels of Mathew, Luke and specifically in Mark (14:12): "the first day of the unleavened bread."

Master of Perea, Last Supper, late 15th century, Spain

In Master of Perea's painting of the Last Supper, this anonymous Spanish artist seems to believe the gathering was indeed a seder, for he covers the table with ritual dishes circa 1492 (before or after the expulsion of the Jews?).   Historians often doubt that the seder performed during the life of Christ looked quite this way.  Others point out that the seder, as we know it, requires the Haggadah developed during the Middles Ages.  (The oldest fragments of a Haggadah date to 200 CE/AD and many medieval haggadot survive from the 13th through 15th centuries.)

Here are the sources I consulted:

http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/was-jesus-last-supper-a-seder/ 

http://www.angelfire.com/pa2/passover/passover-seder-meal.html
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/The-last-supper-a-Passover-seder-348420
http://www.bibleinterp.com/opeds/2013/coo378022.shtml

The seder celebrates the Exodus from Egypt and freedom of all kinds.  We are commanded to recline, rather than sit, like the free people of ancient Greece and Rome - symposium-style.  For the seder is supposed to be like the symposium of yore.

Interestingly, in most paintings of the Last Supper, Jesus and his disciples sit at attention, rigidly arranged in isocephalic harmony to demonstrate the equality among these men.

Leonardo, however, gives us animation - they are responding to Jesus statement that one among them will betray him.  "Are you talking about me?" they gesture.  "Or him?" The tumult seems truly authentic.  Seders are very noisy.

More important to consider: What did this gathering of men eat in 33 CE/AD?  The answer may be in today's Discovery.com.

Adi Nes, The Last Supper, 1999

From my perspective: the Paschal Week brings Christianity and Judaism together to savor the first days of the spring and the promise of renewal  - physically, mentally and spiritually.

Happy Passover and Happy Easter -
May you enjoy peace, love and art (Spring Tours begin next week: click on the website link below for our schedule),
Beth New York

aka Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.
Director
New York Arts Exchange
www.nyarts-exchange.com

Holiday Greetings - Historical Time Meets Biblical Time

Passover and Easter Greetings to you - may your celebrations be joyous and invigorating.

Today, our Jewish-Christian household is not celebrating Easter.  We follow the "old calendar" that celebrates Easter on May 5, 2013.  How is this possible?  The Orthodox Christian calendar calculates Easter in relation to the full moon after March 21 of the Julian Calendar, which falls two weeks after March 21 on the Gregorian Calendar (aka "the Common Era).  Here are the details which explain in all its complexity the date of Orthodox Easter.

All these calculations got me thinking about historical time versus biblical time.
Let's see what that means:

Leonardo da Vinci, Last Supper, c. 1498

Easter - 33 AD/CE
According to the Gregorian Calendar, Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, died and rose from his grave 1980 years ago.  Today, marks the Resurrection. The Feast of the Ascension, also known as Ascension Thursday, falls 40 days later (this year on May 9th).

Holy Thursday, the Last Supper - 33 AD/CE
The Last Supper celebrated Passover (commanded in the Hebrew Bible, Exodus 13:8) in 33AD/CE, before the Haggadah was written.

published 2012

The Haggadah ("the telling") - not before 170 AD/CE
The Haggadah was written during the Roman Occupation of Judea, after the Destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD/CE.  The Haggadah established the correct way to conduct a Passover seder. The word "seder" means "the order."  In this case, it is a ritual meal with recitations, prayers, songs, activities and symbolic foods.  It is based on the ancient Greek symposium: a drinking party with entertainment, discussion and frivolity.

The earliest Haggadot were probably composed during the 2nd to 4th centuries. Here are the details which hypothesize the evolution of the Haggadah.  Parts of the oldest extant Haggadah can be found in the Rav Amram Siddur (a prayer book), c. 860, and the oldest Haggadah in its entirety dates to the 10th century - also within a siddur.  The earliest separate books appeared during the middle ages.  The traditional Haggadah was inspired by the illuminated manuscripts created in Spain and Italy during the 14th and 15th centuries.

Therefore, Jesus' Last Supper celebrated the Passover with a festive meal, but not as a seder in the modern sense of the term.

Mark Podwal, "The Bread of Affliction," from The Haggadah with comments by Eli Wiesel, 1993

The Passover - c. 1220 BC/BCE ?

The story of the Exodus as it is recounted in the Hebrew Bible has been researched over the last few decades.  Theories abound and none can verify the narrative as it is written in the Tanakh (the Masoretic version of the Hebrew Bible, c. 400 BC/BCE).  If indeed the Israelites fled Egypt during the reign of Ramesses II, the Exodus would have taken place between 1279-1213 BC/BCE or c. 2550 HC (Hebrew Calendar, now in the year 5773).  Therefore, the Israelites did not build the pyramids (as some people erroneously claim), because no pyramids were built during Ramesses II's reign which was part of the New Kingdom in Egypt. 

Does the historical record really matter?

No.  Whether literally true or symbolically true, Passover and Easter celebrate the good that comes from sacrifice and promise of spring.  Historians believe that the pascal sacrifice took place in nomadic cultures when sheep and goat herders met to celebrate the spring festivals. 

Wishing you a sense of renewal during this holiday season and beyond - 

Happy Passover and Easter,

Beth New York

Beth Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com