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Easter and Passover Chatter

From: Bill
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 9:27 AM
To: Susan
Subject: Passover

So, why is Passover called Passover when other holidays have strange names?

BILL -- From my iPhone
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On Apr 2, 2010, at 9:31 AM, Susan wrote:

Actually, Passover seems to be the only holiday whose name makes sense. (Wait a minute--"Thanksgiving" makes sense, too.) Wikipedia has much to say about it:

The verb "pasàch" (Hebrew: פָּסַח‎) is first mentioned in the Torah account of the Exodus from Egypt (Exodus 12:23), and there is some debate about its exact meaning: the commonly held assumption that it means "He passed over", in reference to God "passing over" the houses of the Hebrews during the final of the Ten Plagues of Egypt, stems from the translation provided in the Septuagint (παρελευσεται in Exodus 12:23, and εσκεπασεν in Exodus 12:27). Judging from other instances of the verb, and instances of parallelism, a more faithful translation may be "he hovered over, guarding." Indeed, this is the image used by Isaiah by his use of this verb in Isaiah. 31:5: "As birds hovering, so will the Lord of hosts protect Jerusalem; He will deliver it as He protecteth it, He will rescue it as He passeth over" (כְּצִפֳּרִים עָפוֹת—כֵּן יָגֵן יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת, עַל-יְרוּשָׁלִָם; גָּנוֹן וְהִצִּיל, פָּסֹחַ וְהִמְלִיט.) (Isaiah 31:5) Targum Onkelos translates pesach as "he had pity", The English term "Passover" came into the English language through William Tyndale's translation of the Bible, and later appeared in the King James Version as well.
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From: Bill
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 9:48 AM
To: Susan
Subject: Re: Passover

But you have Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana and Sukkot and Channukah and Tzom Gedaliah, among others. Those aren't Englishy sounding like Passover.

BILL -- From my iPhone
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On Apr 2, 2010, at 10:13 AM, Susan wrote:

What the heck is Tzom Gedaliah?
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From: Bill
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 10:21 AM
To: Susan
Subject: Re: Passover

You -- and that's the generic hypothetical you, not you you -- are supposed to fast for some reason. You are supposed to fast for everything all the time, it seems. Catholics (I don't know if all Christians do this) sacrifice something only for Lent, usually chocolate covered peanuts or Twizzlers, and can't eat meat on Fridays.

And it used to be Catholics were not permitted to eat meat on all Fridays or suffer eternal damnation in the bowels of Hell, much like murderers and rapists, and would eat Gorton's fish sticks instead of meat; but with the mercury- in-the-fish scare, the Pope decided meat was okay on Friday. And all those souls in Hell were released by Satan according to the terms of a prisoner exchange agreement. That is how a lot of lawyers ended up in Hell.

It's better to be agnostic in the long run.

BILL -- From my iPhone

Posted by Bill at April 4, 2010 08:23 PM