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The Seder—Telling the Story of PassoverA requirement of the Passover holiday is to tell our families, especially the young ones, about the exodus from Egypt, the touchstone moment in all of Jewish history. This is done by reciting the Haggadah (Hebrew for “narrative”), which contains many insights into the story of Passover. The reading is done during the seder, which literally means “order,” an allusion to its precise, fourteen-phase structure.It is incumbent on everyone to honor the occasion by dressing in one’s finest. The evening’s meal is a feast of the most sumptuous dishes. The table settings substitute the usual modesty and simplicity with an ornate tablecloth and shimmering finery. Pillows or plush chairs are provided so that everyone can lean comfortably, enjoying the meal as a king would; after all, Passover is a celebration of freedom and a time for the highest exultation. The centerpiece of the seder is the ke’arah (Hebrew for “platter”), which holds the symbolic foods of the holiday (see the Aleppian Ke’arah, page 350): the matzah, bitter herbs, lamb shank, egg, celery, endive, and haroset halebieh (Aleppian Date Preserves, page 309).
The first phase of the seder is the blessing over wine. It is the first of four cups of wine blessed and consumed during the evening. The minimum amount per glass is 3 1/2 ounces. Red wine is preferred for Passover because it signifies the miracle by which G-d turned the water of the Nile River into blood. Phase two involves rinsing one’s hands without a blessing, which is required before dipping any foods into liquid. Phase three is karpas, during which celery is dipped into saltwater. The saltwater symbolizes the tears shed by the Jews while in bondage. The fourth phase is yahatz. According to kabbalistic tradition, the middle of three matzahs on the ceremonial platter is broken into two, one part in the shape of a daled the fourth letter of the Hebrew alphabet) and the other, larger part in the shape of a vav (the sixth Hebrew letter). When combined they equal ten, corresponding to the Ten Sefirot (the core concept of kabbalistic metaphysics). The vav is set aside as the afikoman (a special piece of matzah to be saved until after the meal) and is wrapped, symbolizing the lamb that was sacrificed in the Jewish Temple on Passover. It is an Aleppian Jewish custom to then take turns holding the afikoman over one’s shoulder while reciting in Hebrew, “Mish-aro-tam zeru-rot be-simlo-tam al shikh-mam u’bnai Yisrael a’su k’dbar Moshe” (“Their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders, and the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses”) (Exodus 12:34–35). Then the following dialogue is spoken:
Guests (in unison, in Arabic): Where do you come from? (“minwen jai’yeh?”)
Seder participant: Egypt! Guests: Where are you going? (“la’wen ra’yekh?”) Seder participant: Jerusalem! Guests: What are your provisions? (“ishu zawatak?”) Seder participant: Matzah and maror (bitter greens). This interesting colloquy, which suggests a nosy border official interrogating a wayward Jew leaving Egypt, is meant to allow the seder participants to relate to the Exodus as if it were they themselves who fled Egypt, which is how the sages of old recommended the seder be conducted. The afikoman is then hidden by one of the participants. The purpose is to keep the children awake, alert, and attentive throughout the ceremony. The children who later find the hidden afikoman receive a reward. The fifth and lengthiest phase then begins: maggid (“the telling”). The essential story is told in this part of the seder, beginning with the Four Questions as recited by the youngest participant. The general question is: “Why is this night different from all other nights?” The specific questions are
“Why on all other nights we do not dip our vegetables even once, but tonight we dip twice?
“Why on all other nights we eat bread or matzah, but tonight we eat only matzah? “Why on all other nights we eat many vegetables, but tonight we eat maror? “Why on all other nights we eat and drink either sitting up or reclining, but tonight we all recline?” The group responds by chanting the answer, beginning with “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt...” Toward the end of this phase, each of the Ten Plagues is recited. For each plague, it is customary to pour some wine into a pot, which is held by unmarried girl. She looks to the side to avoid the plagues, just as the plagues avoided the Jews in Egypt. The girl then leaves the room and disposes of the wine. Soon after this rite, a second cup of wine is drunk. The sixth and seventh phases are the ritual rinsing of the hands—this time with a blessing—and the blessing and consumption of matzah. Maror, the bitter green, is eaten for the eighth phase. Aleppian Jews favor endive or escarole dipped in haroset halebieh (Aleppian Date Preserves, page 309). The ninth phase is done in honor of the great Jewish sage Hillel, who devised a sandwich called korekh, made of romaine lettuce and haroset between two pieces of matzah. Hillel ate the whole thing in one go. During the time of the Jewish Temple, the three obligations of pesach (sacrificial lamb), matzah, and maror had to be eaten together at one time rather than one after the other. Today, only matzah and maror are eaten together. This phase is followed by the ceremonial partaking of egg and lamb shank, designated for Passover in commemoration of the sacrifices at the Jewish Temple. For the tenth and most anticipated phase, food is brought to the table and the feast begins. A traditional Aleppian Jewish Passover meal consists of rice, a few vegetable dishes, a couple of mehshi (stuffed vegetable dishes), keftes (Tamarind-Stewed Meatballs, page 162), djaj mishwi (Friday Night Roast Chicken with Potatoes, page 189), and rubuh’ (Succulent Roast Veal Stuffed with Spiced Ground Meat and Rice, page 168). Haggadah from Aleppo, Syria, circa 1890s (courtesy of Albert Shehebar) 
The eleventh phase requires the children to search the house for the afikoman, which was hidden earlier in the seder. After it is found, the afikoman is the final food consumed for the night. Some Aleppian Jews save a small fragment of afikoman for a pregnant woman to eat when she later delivers her child. Childless couples also take care to eat the afikoman. These customs are attributable to the numerical value for the words afikoman and ken yirbeh (“they will multiply” in Hebrew). During the Jews’ period of bondage in Egypt, Pharaoh was alarmed by the increasing Jewish population and concerned that they might align with an enemy and pose a risk to his kingdom. In Exodus 1:10 he said, “Lest they multiply” (pen yirbeh) and later ordered that all Jewish firstborn male infants be killed. Sages have commented that G-d, upon hearing Pharaoh, retorted, “They shall multiply” (ken yirbeh). The twelfth phase is the postmeal blessing, after which the third cup of wine is drunk. During the last two phases, the seder participants recite praises and songs thanking G-d for the miracles of Passover and expressing the hope that by next year’s seder the Messiah will arrive and G-d will bring them to a rebuilt Jerusalem. The final cup of wine is drunk during this part of the seder. By this time, the revelry and songs of the seder have carried it well past midnight in Aleppian Jewish households.
Rabbis from Aleppo, Syria (courtesy of Rabbi Ephriam Levy, Jerusalem)
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