Month: April 2011

You know how the haggadah says “Drink the first [second, third, and fourth] cup of wine”? Do you gulp it down or take a sip? Every seder I’ve been to, people take a sip and move on. Wait a minute. Let’s read between the lines. Let’s read “and talk” when it says “drink the Nth cup of wine.” The Greek word symposium literally means “drink together.” And the idea of “drink together” is “talk together.” So, instead of taking a sip, why not talk for as long as it takes everyone to comfortably finish a glass of wine? Talk about the meaning of Passover. Talk about Passovers past and Passovers future. How have you been helped up with a mighty arm and outstretched hand? Don’t just eat, pray, sip. Eat, pray, drink! And talk, and drink, and talk.

Just don’t drink and drive. 🙂

UPDATE: I figured this out on my own when I wrote it last year, but apparently I’m not alone. Just now I Googled ‘the seder should be a symposium’ and I found these related articles:

• The Origins of the Seder
• The Seder and the Symposium
• The Passover Seder – A Banquet Of Greek, Not Jewish, Origin?
• The Seder is a Modified Symposia