Breaking bread

Last week, Rabbi Shlomo Litvin’s family was doing some serious spring cleaning. They weren’t casually clearing cobwebs from the garage or tossing out boxes of useless junk. They were on a deep-dive, seek-and-destroy mission, turning their home inside-out looking for one thing: leaven.

“The couches are flipped over right now,” Litvin said. “My kids are scrubbing under the bottom of the fridge. Anywhere a contaminant might be—where there might be a little bit of leaven—we clear out.”

Both the Torah and the Bible describe leaven as any substance that causes dough to rise or ferment, typically yeast. Litvin admits getting rid of it in his home isn’t easy, particularly with his family.

“I have, thank God, seven kids,” he said. “There is leaven everywhere in my house when we start cleaning for Passover. Cheerios, pretzels—of course, cake and bread and pies.” Even a box of old lollipops his daughter forgot about under her bed didn’t escape the purge, Litvin said.

Litvin’s family, like so many others of Jewish heritage, was preparing to celebrate the Passover festival. A 2020 Pew Research survey found that 62% of all U.S. Jews attended a Seder, or Passover feast, the preceding year. That included Jews of diverse religious backgrounds, ranging from the ultra-Orthodox to nominal practitioners of the religion and secular Jews.

Also celebrating are Messianic Jews—Jews who identify Jesus as the Messiah prophesied by the Old Testament. Some Orthodox Jews don’t consider Messianic Jews to be Jews at all.

While their beliefs and practices surrounding the symbolism of Passover vary, many Jews across the spectrum agree that the Seder celebration traces back to the Mosaic books of Exodus and Leviticus. It remains central to Jewish culture, and many Jews also believe that the Passover festival is a time when gentiles today can remember their Jewish friends.

A crucial feast

Rabbi Shlomo Litvin Courtesy photo

A Hasidic Jew, Litvin serves as director of Chabad of the Bluegrass, eastern Kentucky’s branch of Chabad Lubavitch, an ultra-Orthodox arm of Judaism. For our interview, he was dressed in a modest suit paired with a black fedora, and a full, well-kept beard. But he wasn’t overly somber. Knowing he was being interviewed by a Christian news organization, he was quick to make a joking reference to the show VeggieTales and more than willing to share humorous Jewish anecdotes along the way.

When it came to his faith in Judaism, however, was direct and serious. He said Passover is a reflection of the one true God’s care specifically for the Jewish people, as demonstrated by their deliverance from Egypt outlined in the Torah.

“The birth of the Jewish people and that unique act of love from God towards the Jewish people is the foundation of our faith,” he said. “Everything goes back to, ‘Because I took you out of Egypt. Do this because I am the God who took you out of Egypt.’ We see it again and again throughout the Scripture. So in a way, there’s nothing more important than Passover.”

The Passover festival ran from the 15th to the 22nd of the Hebrew month of Nissan, which this year corresponded to April 12-20. Orthodox Jews outside of Israel observe two Seder meals on the first two nights of Passover due to an abundance of caution to not miss the beginning of the lunar month. Jews in Israel observe it only on the first night.

Seeking the Messiah

The meal consists of matzah—bread that doesn’t rise, due to a lack of leaven. Leavened bread takes time to make, and the lack of leaven demonstrates that the Israelites had to leave Egypt quickly. Leaven can also serve as a stand-in for egotism or sin.

“It reminds us that the first step to subservience to God is to be entirely humble, to be entirely without error,” Litvin said.

Jews also consume maror, or bitter herbs, during the Seder meal. This is typically horseradish or romaine lettuce. The bitter taste is meant to remind Jews of the bitterness of the slavery their ancestors endured while in Egypt.

Like the matzah and the bitter herbs, the other foods that make up the meal are outlined in the Mosaic books of Exodus and Leviticus. But one crucial part of Seder was absent from Litvin’s table: the Passover lamb. That lamb is meant to symbolize the lamb slain to protect Jewish households from the death angel who slew the firstborn sons of the Egyptians in Exodus.

The lamb can’t be eaten because of the Torah’s requirement that it first be consecrated at the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, Litvin said. Since the Roman Empire destroyed the temple in 70 A.D., Jews have been unable to fulfill this requirement.

“One of the 13 national beliefs of Judaism that every Jew has believed in for the last 3,300 years is that there will eventually be an everlasting temple in Jerusalem,” Litvin said. The Seder concludes with the words, Beshena haba'a birushlim,” or, “Next year in Jerusalem” with the hope that the third temple will be built in the coming year.

“Bound by the covenant”

As to who ought to celebrate the Passover Seder, Litvin was adamant that the meal is a spiritual occasion that should be shared exclusively by the Jewish people. That means gentiles should politely stay away. He compared a gentile who celebrates Passover to a man who celebrates his brother’s birthday by getting a birthday cake for himself and blowing out his own candles.

“To me, someone who is not bound by the covenant celebrating by making a cake and blowing out candles is just an odd way to celebrate,” Litvin said. “It feels more performative than earnest. And I think any celebration of God should be earnest.”

Instead of attending a Seder meal, Litvin suggested gentiles wish their Jewish friends a happy Passover, donate to a Jewish nonprofit, or read the Exodus story to their children.

The sacrifice of Yeshua

Mitch Glaser leads Passover Courtesy photo

But not all Jews agree with Litvin that only people of Jewish descent should have a seat at the table. Mitch Glaser is president of Chosen People Ministries, a nonprofit established in 1894 that describes itself as one of the largest Messianic Jewish missions in the United States today. Like Litvin, Glaser last week also prepared his heart and home for the Passover festival. But unlike Litvin, Glaser wasn’t waiting for the Messiah to be revealed. He said his Messiah has already come in the person of Jesus Christ.

For evidence, Glaser pointed to the Messianic prophecies of Isaiah 53.

“He would be without sin,” Glaser said. “He would die for our sins. He would rise from the dead. And then, you come to John 1, where [John the Baptist] says, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.’”

The Lamb of God

Glaser said being a believer in Christ doesn’t change his commitment to following the customs of Passover, though he was quick to admit that his observance of Passover does not contribute to his salvation.

“People ask me, do I keep these traditions? Yeah,” Glaser said. “I don’t keep them to be saved or to make God happy with me. I mean, Jesus did all that for me. But it makes me happier with the Lord when I do them.”

He said he also was removing leaven from his home prior to the Passover, but not because he believed he could impress God. Glaser cited I John 1:9, pointing out that if anyone confesses his sins to Christ, Jesus is righteous and faithful and will forgive him of his sins.

“I understand all that,” he said, but quickly added that when you clean the leaven from your home, “you still come face-to-face with your ongoing sinfulness. And you can teach your kids about everyday repentance and turning to Jesus for ongoing forgiveness.”

The Last Supper

Glaser insisted that Christ and His disciples celebrated the Seder meal during the Last Supper. While scholars debate whether that was the case, it’s clear that the Last Supper was part of the Passover festival.

As a Messianic Jew, he finds a special significance in the Gospel of Luke’s description of the meal. There are four cups of wine traditionally consumed during the Seder. They are: the Cup of Sanctification, the Cup of Plagues, the Cup of Redemption, and the Cup of Praise. It’s the third cup—the Cup of Redemption—that Glaser thinks is described in Luke’s Gospel.

“In Luke 22 He [Jesus] raises the third cup taken during the meal, which is the Cup of Redemption,” Glaser said. “We still call it the Cup of Redemption. He says, ‘This is my blood given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’”

The bread Jesus takes is matzah, Glaser said. He explained that it had always been Jewish tradition to have three pieces of flat matzah bread. The middle piece would be removed, broken, then wrapped in a special napkin and hidden for a time, before being returned.

Glaser believes this was the piece Jesus took when He broke the bread and said, “This is my body.” Christ’s ultimate death, burial, and resurrection finally gave meaning to the Seder tradition Jews had long practiced.

“He was wrapped for burial and hidden in a tomb,” Glaser said. “And death couldn’t hold Him. That’s our communion bread, which is just fantastic!”

Grafted in

Glaser’s organization encourages gentile believers in Christ to take part in their own Seder meal. He believes that Christians are now part of the new covenant that Christ declared during the Last Supper. He pointed to Romans 11, which provides a metaphor for this concept, with gentile believers being grafted into the olive tree representing God’s original covenant with the Jews.

“In a sense, Passover belongs to the gentile Christians as well,” he said. “It's something that we should know about, celebrate, and learn more about. I think it deeply impacts our spiritual lives.”

Chosen People Ministries offers a Haggadah—or script—for believers in Christ to mark their own Seder meal. I attended a Seder meal on Saturday, April 19, the night before Easter. The meal was directed by Rabbi Aaron Bortz, a Messianic Jew. Bortz blended Old Testament Judaism with New Covenant beliefs about Christ. Bortz’s Seder didn’t have a Passover lamb because Bortz said the lamb had already been offered in the form of Jesus Christ. It concluded with a call for those in attendance who had put their faith and trust in Christ to rejoice because they had been redeemed by the Lamb.

Showing solidarity

Although both Litvin and Glaser may hold very different religious beliefs, both men agreed that the Passover festival is a special time when gentiles can remember their Jewish friends.

Litvin said this year’s Passover is overshadowed by what is happening in the Middle East.

“We’re celebrating a festival of freedom while there’s over 50 hostages still being held in the hell of Gaza,” he said. “People were kidnapped for the crime of being Jewish—that was their one offense—and are being held by modern-day Nazis in the most evil conditions imaginable.”

In Glaser’s view, Passover can help gentiles to learn more about the tribulations and challenges faced by Jews around the world and stand in solidarity with them. He added that it can also be a time for believers in Christ to encourage partakers of God’s first covenant to become a part of His new covenant.

“Passover is a very important time to share the gospel, and we do pray that our Jewish people will come to know true forgiveness and holiness through the shed blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God.”