PASSOVER AND EASTER - TWO ASPECTS OF ONE THEME
By James Morton
The Thornhill/Richmond Hill Liberal


This year Passover and Easter coincide. The two celebrations seem to be quite different, but in fact share a common theme, a theme important not only for Christians and Jews, but for all Canadians.

For us in a multi-faith community like Thornhill, that common theme is especially important.

The story of Passover is well known.

Israel was in slavery in Egypt. Israelis suffered cruel oppression and their situation seemed hopeless. Unexpectedly, and in circumstances that could not have been foreseen by any reasonable person, deliverance came to Israel. Israel was delivered from slavery and became a free and independent nation. In memory of that miraculous deliverance, Jews, to this day, celebrate Passover by eating unleavened bread in memory of their deliverance.

The story of Easter is superficially unrelated to Passover, except that some say the Last Supper was a Passover Seder. On Good Friday, Jesus was crucified in the morning, died mid-day and was buried before sunset.

Jesus' followers, of course, were distraught. They did not understand earlier comments about rebirth and are astonished when Jesus appeared, alive as if reborn, on Sunday. From that Sunday forward Christians celebrated Easter to commemorate the miraculous victory over death.

The two celebrations - Passover and Easter - in some sense represent the same underlying theme. In both cases, humanity faces what seems to be an insurmountable and final tragedy - slavery and death - and in both cases, miraculously, there is a deliverance.

The nation of Israel was reborn through Passover in much the same way as Jesus was reborn as part of the Easter cycle.

It is easy to gloss over differences between religions and there is no doubt that Easter and Passover mean very different things to Jews and Christians.

That said, the theme of miraculous rebirth is one that all of any faith or none can appreciate. The traditional themes of Easter and Passover are the same. Freedom, redemption, justice are values all Canadians strived towards.

The Exodus story of liberation and freedom has a compelling and universal message. "Avadim Hayinu" ("For once we were slaves in Egypt") is a call to all people that freedom must be cherished. The message of Easter follows a similar theme. Jesus was crucified and resurrected, and the redemption of all the faithful occurs through his suffering and death. The Easter message speaks to the role of every person in redeeming the world.

The messages of Passover and Easter, together, speak to all Canadians. We share the same values even if we have different ways of illuminating them.

As former prime minister John Diefenbaker said, "Canada is not a melting pot in which the individuality of each element is destroyed in order to produce a new and totally different element. It is rather a garden into which have been transplanted the hardiest and brightest flowers from many lands, each retaining in its new environment the best of the qualities for which it was loved and prized in its native land."