Passover Seder: Greek Symposium?

The Haggadah (הַגָּדָה‎) is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover ritual meal, the Seder.

“There’s a reason the haggadah feels goyish: Formally speaking, it’s Greek. It’s a Judaicized version of a Greek genre called ‘symposium literature’. Plato loved the form. So did Xenophon. The symposium enshrined the most appealing traits of the Hellenic personality: conviviality, Epicureanism, a love of good conversation.”

–”Platonic Form,” Judith Shulevitz, Tablet Magazine

The ancient Greek symposium (συμπόσιον) was a drinking party; drinking four glasses of wine is a Passover obligation. Diners are supposed to recline while they do so, just like the Greeks.

There’s a cute Passover tradition, breaking a piece of matzoh (unleavened bread) and hiding half of it. The bread can only be eaten at the end of the meal, after the family’s children discover it. That piece of bread has a funny name, afikomen, but its origin isn’t Hebrew. You guessed it, it’s Greek:

“In Greek, the word is epikomen and is made up of two smaller words: epi, which means after (as in an epilogue), and komos, which means a banquet or merrymaking, and is the same word that inspired the English word comedy. For centuries, Jews have taken afikomen to mean ‘that which comes after the meal,’ more commonly known, of course, as dessert.”

– “Breaking Matzah,” David K. Israel, Mental Floss

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The Trump Bible

Serial adulterer and convicted sexual abuser Donald Trump, who lied 30,573 times while he was in the White House, will sell you a Bible for $59.99. Not just any Bible, but one emblazoned with the lyrics of a song written and recorded by Melvin Lee Greenwood, “God Bless the USA,” and padded out with our county’s public domain founding documents. Perhaps copies will replace the Gideon versions in Trump Hotel nightstands.

Bible salesman Trump is running for the presidency of the United States, and he plays Mr, Greenwood’s patriotic 1984 recording at all his campaign rallies, right after The Village People’s “YMCA,” a paean to gay culture.

Donald Trump is known for flourishing the Bible in front of houses of worship while violently stifling public assemblies, and fumbling Biblical references in front of Christian college students. He is running for president against faithful churchgoer Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.

“The Bible Salesman,” written by Billy Vera and Chip Taylor, recorded by Billy Vera, 1969.

More:

“What to Know About Donald Trump’s New $60 Bible,” Inae Oh, Mother Jones

“What is the ‘God Bless the USA Bible’? The $60 Bible Trump and Lee Greenwood are selling,” Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA Today

“All Copies of Trump’s Bible Recalled After It Was Found to Contain Nuclear Codes,” The Borowitz Report

“Trump has sold $60 Bibles, $399 sneakers and more since leaving office,” Amy B Wang and Marianne LeVine, Washington Post

Related:

“The Church of Trump: How He’s Infusing Christianity Into His Movement,” Michael C. Bender, New York Times

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Jefferson’s Religious Freedom Cheese

On New Years Day 1802, a 1235-lb. wheel of cheese arrived at the White House, a gift to President Thomas Jefferson from Baptist minister John Leland and his Cheshire, Massachusetts church. Inscribed with the motto “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God,” it was intended as a statement about religious liberty. A WETA Boundary Stones video.

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Pope Francis: Cured by Pizza?

Pope Francis entered Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic hospital last Wednesday with a case of bronchitis. He was discharged on Saturday after a treatment of antibiotics and pizza. His Holiness really, really, really likes pizza.

More:

“Vatican: Pope OK to leave hospital, has pizza, baptizes baby,” Frances D’Emilio, Associated Press

“A Timeline of the Pope’s Obsessive Love Affair With Pizza,” Wil Fulton, Thrillist

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St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick (née Maewyn Succat) was a 5th century Brit, abducted as a teenager as a forced laborer and trafficked as a swineherd to Ireland, where he got religion. He later escaped, went to France, and became a priest (at either Lérins Abbey or Auxerre) before returning to proselytize in Ireland. A millennium later, North America’s early Irish immigrants and their descendants began to celebrate the day of his death as a joyous holiday, which seems a wee bit ghoulish.

The party ramped up after the Potato Famine increased Irish immigration to the US in the mid 19th century. St. Patrick’s Day became a celebration of parades, corned beef and cabbage, fiddle music, soda bread, and green beer rather than the solemn saint’s day it had been in the Auld Sod, but that’s America for you. US tourists in Ireland expected a big bash on March 17th, and the host country was glad to oblige, in celebration of greenback dollars. The holiday has now gone global. Faith and begorrah!

A National Georgraphic video.
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The White Evangelicals Rethinking Their Politics

In the 2020 election, 84 percent of White Evangelicals voted for habitual liar, golf cheat, and serial adulterer Donald Trump because he was the GOP candidate. Astoundingly, according to a survey, many Trump supporters began identifying as evangelical during his presidency — he brought them to Jesus. At least superficially.

But some devout evangelicals, raised in conservative GOP households, say that their political views became more liberal as they immersed themselves deeper into their faith. A FiveThirtyEight video by Tony Chow.

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Papal Drag

Popes dress in white, unless they’re in full regalia for ceremonies and such. Pope Francis is kind of a polos-and-khakis guy compared to his predecessors. A Vox video by Marie Cascione.

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Christmastime For the Jews

“Christmastime for the Jews,” a Robert Smigel stop-action animation featuring the voice of Darlene Love in a “Wall of Sound” production, from a  2005 Saturday Night Live episode (lyrics here).

Gut yom tov to all, and to all a good night.

Related:

“Why American Jews Eat Chinese Food on Christmas,” Adam Chandler, The Atlantic

“The history of Jews, Chinese food, and Christmas, explained by a rabbi,” Jamie Lauren Keiles, Vox

“The War on Jewish Christmas must be stopped,” Daniel W. Drezner,Washington Post

“Are Jews Doomed to Lose the War on Jewish Christmas?” Paul Waldman, The American Prospect

“Why ‘Jewish Christmas’ (Movies and Chinese Food) is Going Mainstream,”  Sarah Seltzer, Flavorwire

“Fa-La-La-L’Chaim: Why It’s Okay For Jews to Celebrate Christmas,”
Charlotte Alter, TIME

“Holy Night: The little-known Jewish holiday of Christmas Eve. Seriously.” Benyamin Cohen, Slate

“Nittel Nacht: The Jewish Christmas Eve,” Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily

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When Christmas Was Banned

Christmas was once Banned in Boston, and throughout Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony. Some early American colonists weren’t too keen on Christmas. A video by History Dose.

More:

“Yuletide’s Outlaws,” Rachel N. Schnepper, New York Times

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QAnon Isn’t a Conspiracy, It’s a Religion

Why are Qanon True Believers impervious to facts? As prophecized, after 2020, Qanon became a cult, wholly based on belief, and you can’t argue with religious faith.

And this Cult of Q is growing. A recent poll by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Interfaith Youth Core found that 15 percent of Americans say they think that the levers of power are controlled by a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles, a core belief of QAnon supporters. 15 percent of Americans, 30 million people, means QAnon has more followers in America than Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism combined.

More:

“QAnon Now as Popular in U.S. as Some Major Religions, Poll Suggests,” Giovanni Russonello, New York Times

“Understanding QAnon’s Connection to American Politics, Religion, and Media Consumption,” Public Religion Research Institute

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