But second, why get pissed? We’d have invited them in. It’d be a bit crowded if they accepted, but still. It’s not like they’re really gonna get a chance to give their conversion spiel.
Reminds of an SCA friend. After a weapons practice, the gang (still in garb with weapons) were lounging around the house. Non-SCA roommate answered a knock at the door. When the JWs asked if they could come in, roomie said “sure”.
The missionaries stayed for a very few, panic-filled moments and then fled. For years afterwards, missionaries avoided that house like the plague. Going so far as to cross the street just for that house, so as not to walk on the sidewalk in front of it.
Correct. The bottom line is that the Gospels disagree/are unclear. However:
There is no mention of the Passover sacrifice. In Temple times, they would have sacrificed a lamb and eaten the meat at the seder (we don’t do that today.) It would be logical/symbolic for Jesus to say that the meat (of the Pascal sacrifice) is his body, but that’s not what he says, he says his body is the bread, not the meat. That’s not conclusive, but it is indicative.
If it was a seder, the next day would be a holiday. There wouldn’t have been a trial or an execution in a Jewish court. (Counter argument: it wasn’t a Jewish court but a Roman court.)
Current academic thinking (majority) is that it was a later night of Passover, but not seder night.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it to one. The rabbi of the Chabad group wrote me back politely saying I wouldn’t be able to attend because the Torah prohibits them cooking for non-Jews during Passover. That left the interfaith Seder, which I had to miss because I’ve just started a new job (Tuesday was my first full shift, in fact) and I wasn’t in a position to take time off.
Thanks for all the advice, though. There’s always next year. (In Jerusalem?)
Jews are not allowed to cook at all on Shabbat. We’re allowed to cook on the major holidays, but only for holiday purposes. For example, it is against halacha (Jewish law) for a Jew to cook on the holiday if he plans to eat it after the holiday, even if he is cooking it for himself. The Jew isn’t even allowed to cook for the next day of the holiday, if the next day has less holiness than the day that he’s cooking on. Similarly, a Jew is not allowed to cook on the holiday for a non-Jew, because it isn’t a holiday for the non-Jew, certainly not as much of a holiday as it is for the Jew.
For clarity’s sake, this is what the rabbi wrote back to me.
[QUOTE=Rabbi Cheski Edelman]
I would love to be able to invite you to join our Seder, but Jewish law prevents me from being able to do so. The Torah gives special permision to cook on Holidays (cooking is prohibited on the Sabbath), however this exemption is only limited to cooking for people who are Jewish. Because of this Jewish law states that one may not invite a person who is not Jewish to a Holiday meal because you will be cooking for them (a non-Jew may be invited to a Sabbath meal because all cooking is done before the onset of the Sabbath). Tha being said, if a gentile does attend a Seder he is welcome to stay…
[/QUOTE]
I read this to mean something along the lines of “It’s not like we’d kick you out if you showed up, but I can’t tell you it’s OK for you to come either.” I definitely got the impression that I wouldn’t be welcome, though.
He chooses to believe that one statement of law (limit cooking on holidays to what is necessary) overcomes another (do that which spreads peace and goodwill). This is an opinion or interpretation of which principle is more important, and it makes him, in my opinion, an asshole, but it is the prevailing view among his sect. As stated earlier, Chabad Lubivatchers are extremists and their views are not widely shared. I hope you will not be put off from attending in the future.
