OK this is not really of any importance but I wanted to post something. Leolaia has elsewhere posted interesting and revealing background to the Christian eucharist meal and it's mix of Jewish Seder meals with Persian and Roman symbolism and ritual. I just was reading from the Jewish Encyclopedia that explained that the tradition of reclining to eat the meal was adopted from Roman sacred banquets. Anyway it was interesting to recall the scene described in the NT story that has Jesus reclining at the Passover meal and learning that even this aspect of the ritual was drawn from it's pagan neighbors.
roman influence on Seder meals
by peacefulpete 5 Replies latest watchtower bible
-
-
Leolaia
Here is some info....
As an example, let us look at the manner of sitting at the seder. The Haggadah tells us that we must sit leaning towards the left, and this is one of the peculiarities that the children are supposed to wonder at in the Mah Nishtanah. As we prop the pillows up against the chair-backs and do our best to keep them from falling onto the floor we explain to ourselves that this is the way in which "free men" are supposed to sit.
Further reflection prompts the question: Which free men are we really talking about? Is there a class of free men that is known for sitting down at a leftward tilt?
The Talmud explains that the reason for leaning leftwards is a medical one: otherwise we would choke on our food. Nonetheless, one wonders why this would be less likely to happen if we were leaning, say, backwards.
The truth of course is that the reclining that is mentioned in the talmudic writings does not refer to leaning on pillows in a straight-backed chair, but to lying on one's side on a couch eating from a private little table, as was the custom at Roman feasts (and as we are often see in historical epic films). Such aristocratic feasts were taken by the Talmudic Rabbis as a model of independence and freedom, and if you are right-handed, lying in such a position, supporting yourself with one arm, it certainly is recommended that you lie on your left side so that the right arm will be free to manipulate the food.
http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/Shokel/880311_Seder.html
Check out the reference in the article too:
- M. Stein, "The Influence of the Symposia Literature on the Literary Form of the Pesah Haggadah," Journal of Jewish Studies 7 (1957).
-
Yerusalyim
Dad blast it, will the pagan influence NEVER end...
Hey, maybe at the memorial EVERYONE can put pillows behind their back while passing the bread and wine.
-
Narkissos
Roman reclining of course doesn't seem to fit very well with the Exodus 12:14 (P) instruction:
This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the LORD.
Another issue of considerable Biblical and post-Biblical variation is the place where the Passover seh (which basically could mean either lamb or kid [of goats]) would be slaughtered and eaten. In every family house or in the temple? Deuteronomy (16), following the centralizing thrust of Josiah's "reform", makes it a hag, ie. a pilgrimage feast (cf. Arabic hadj) which implies celebration in Jerusalem. According to the Book of Jubilees (49) the Passover should be slaughtered and eaten in the Temple. According to the Mishnah (tract. Pesahim) it was to be slaughtered in the Temple and eaten in different homes in the Holy city. (Those variations do not imply foreign influence though.)
-
Yerusalyim
Actually, you can't read too much Roman influence into the Seder. As I understand it a lot of these reforms began with the return from exile thus the persian and greek influence.
-
peacefulpete
Thanks for the comments so far. I wonder is there any evidence that they (any sect of Jew) adopted the practice prior to 70? One site I read asserted that the Esssenes had assumed most of the liturgical aspects of the seder meal prior to 70 but I wonder if that included the Roman posture? Most commenteries associate the liturgical aspect of the seder with the loss of the Temple and it's sacrifices. The Essenes and some others of course had befor 70 shed the animal rites and deemed the Temple apostate and this contributed to their attributing mystical redeeming value in the words spoken and ritual performed. IOW Could this reference to reclining be an anachronism in the last supper narrative?