SOLLY: Is it filming me?
CHARLIE: Ten-year-old Solly lives inManchester with his mum dad brother Rafi and two younger sisters.
SOLLY: I think we get on OK. There is no major trouble. Not really!
CHARLIE: Solly is preparing for one of the most important Jewish festivals of the year - Passover or in Hebrew Pesach.
SOLLY: At Passover we remember the Exodus of the Jewish peopleout from Egypt.
CHARLIE: The Israelites were held as slavesfor hundreds of years. Moses warned the Egyptian leader Pharaoh that God would send terrible plagues on Egypt if he didn't let the Israelites go. Plague after plaguestruck the Egyptians ending up with the deathsof all Egyptian first-born sons. God told Moses that if the Israelites marked their homes with lamb's blood they would be spared and their homes passed over. Eventually Pharaoh gave in and told Moses and the Israelites to go at once. They left in such a rush their bread didn't have time to rise. That's why during Passover we only eat unleavened bread called matzvah. And all the traces of normal bread called chametz must be removed from the house.
SOLLY: Tally remember to clean all roundthe edges yeah?
MUM: It is really hard looking for the chametz. It is a whole month of preparation. The strength and the belief to kind of do that job is a really spiritual understanding of why we're doing that. Lots of the chametz has been put away in the shed for the week and then there is some cupboards in the kitchen that I haven't emptied so they have just got plates and things in. To make sure that nobody uses them by accident they are all taped up with little signs saying 'Chametz'.
CHARLIE: Everything needs to be readyfor Passover Seder - a special meal on the first night. Each piece of food on the Seder Plate reminds us what it was like for the Jewish slaves in Egypt. We're now making the charoset which is the paste made from sugar cinnamon apple wine and ground almond.
CHARLIE: Charoset represents the mortar or cement used by the slaves to stick the pyramids together.
WHIRRING
MUM LAUGHS
WHIRRING
MUM: Sol stop it!
CHARLIE: The meat and the egg reminds us of the offerings made to God in the Holy Temple. Bitter herbs like horseradish are for the bitter suffering of the slaves in Egypt.
Can I have a glass of water?
CHARLIE: Finally karpas is a vegetable we dip in saltwater to represent the tears of the slaves.
SOLLY: We are going to recreate Seder Night so we can show you the experience of what happens.
CHARLIE: Cameras can't film the real Passover Seder because Solly's family observe rules which say you can't switch on electrical things.
DAD: Welcome to our Seder everybody.
CHARLIE: During the Seder everyone drinks wine or grape juice to symbolise the joy of the Almighty rescuing our people from slavery.
DAD: 'This is the bread of our affliction. Now we are slaves. Next year we are free men.'
THEY SING
Video summary
10-year-old Solly from Manchester uses his own video camera to share the experience of his family preparing for the festival of Passover.
We see preparations for this major Jewish festival, and hear about its origins. Passover remembers Exodus, the time when Moses led the Jewish people out of Egypt.
We are also introduced to typical food and drink such as charoset, karpas, unleavened bread and seder wine. From BBC Series My Life, My Religion: Judaism.
Teacher Notes
Some believe religions teach their followers a way to be free. This is a big idea, but 7-11s will find it interesting to explore Passover as a festival of freedom.
You could begin with these questions: Who was set free? Who by? How? Why? What makes it worth remembering?
Then ask the pupils to think about who needs freedom in today’s world, and what kinds of freedom they look forward to as they grow up.
This topic is relevant to KS2 Religious Education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and National 2 Religious Studies in Scotland.
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