Passover Seder; Gorillas eating Matzah

It's that time of year: matzah is showing up everywhere. Not only is it in my school's dining hall. It's being fed to gorillas at a Tel Aviv zoo. This confused and intrigued me at first. I thought: what a great idea to think of the animals' spiritual well-being! Surely this is a step towards developing greater respect and compassion towards other species! But then I started questioning the ethics of forcing the gorillas to participate in religious rituals that they probably didn't understand. As it turned out it wasn't for the gorillas at all; it was just because the animals' handlers can't handle leavened bread.

I'm a little late, but please check out this absolutely beautiful Seder service written by Rabbi Michael Lerner. Lerner is editor of Tikkun, a progressive Jewish magazine with consistently great writing and solid interfaith discourse. Reading this service is a really great way to understand what the holiday is about and what all the symbols mean both historically and in the present geopolitical situation. You really should read the whole thing but here's a taste:

We are descended from slaves, from people who staged the first successful slave rebellion in recorded history. Ever since, our people has kept alive the story of liberation, and the consciousness that cruelty and oppression are not inevitable “facts of life,” but conditions which can be changed. The Exodus message is revolutionary: The way the world is now is not the way it has to be. Everything can change once we recognize that the God who created the world also creates the possibility of transformation and liberation. (read the rest)