Just a thought - at Kabalat Shabbat services tonight, our rabbi asked the congregation why they thought that the Passover Seders were the most widely celebrate of Jewish rituals. Among the typical responses of "family togetherness" and "compelling human story", I piped up with my own theory.

I suggested that the celebration of Passover is so popular because it's one of the few relatively public Jewish rituals that we don't have to be embarrassed about. Christians know what the holiday's about - they've seen The Ten Commandments a dozen times just like we have. Non-Jewish Americans may know something about Hanukkah or Yom Kippur, but it's not as well known as the Passover story which is in everyone's Bible.

Since people are more comfortable telling their bosses, co-workers, etc. that they are leaving work early to get home for Passover, no one needs to ask why or question it's significance. That makes us more comfotable in taking time out from the society at large to do our own thing.