OLD PROMISES TO THE JEWS FROM AGES PAST

WITH Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, falling last week between October 2 and 4, and Israel in the news, I recalled my experience of another important Jewish festival.

- RENUKA NARAYANAN

Years ago, I was invited to the Passover Seder at the Judah Hyam Synagogue in Delhi. The invitation was from Rabbi Ezekiel Isaac Malekar, who heads the tiny Jewish community of less than ten families in Delhi.

Passover, or Pesach in Hebrew, is the Jewish festival of freedom that marks the exodus of the Jews from slavery in Egypt.

It occurs in March or April. As Jewish sources tell it, the story harks back 3,400 years to the family of Jacob, who fled their home in Canaan, or ancient Israel, to escape a terrible famine. They found their way to Egypt where they were welcomed, and grew in numbers. But when a new pharaoh came to power, he feared the growing Israelite population and enslaved them.

This oppression continued for 210 years.

Moses, an Israelite infant who escaped the pharaoh's decree to kill Jewish babies and grew up half-Egyptian in the palace itself, heard God's call from a burning bush in the desert to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. He negotiated with the pharaoh for the Israelites' freedom. This led to a conflict between God, who wanted freedom for the Israelites, and pharaoh, who epitomised the cruel forces of tyranny and enslavement. God broke pharaoh's arrogance by inflicting ten plagues on Egypt.

During the night of the final plague, God "passed over" and protected the houses of the Israelites, giving the festival its name.