"Thank you for coming," Tom, our trusty OC guide said as we walked in.  "I have some natives from The OC coming shortly.  I told the natives here about Passover.  What better way to show them Jewish customs by having a Seder, the first of its kind within these borders?"

~~

Tom is shown here preparing for the Ritual Cleansing of the Armpit, an observation of tradition dating back for over two thousand years, according to what he told us.

OC natives Ed and Paul nodded their heads, trying to soak in strange new traditions from the outside world that Tom was introducing. 

"Why do you have two prisoners from the local jail here?" Ed asked.

"I'm glad you asked," Tom replied as he began cooking the zeroa and preparing the matzo.  "The Seder is integral to Jewish faith and identity.  As explained in the Haggadah, if not for divine intervention and the Exodus, the Jewish people would still be prisoners, slaves in Egypt.  In observance of this, it is our duty to free two prisoners.  This is done every year.  They make the dinner, participate in the rituals and the drinking of the four cups.  After dinner, they are free, free to make a new life for themselves in The OC.  The rituals and symbolic foods associated with the Seder evoke the twin themes of the evening: slavery and freedom."

Bill waved Ed, Paul, Lisa and I over to another part of the room.  "Tom taught us that there is an obligation to drink four cups of wine during the Seder. He says that even the poor are obliged to drink the four cups. Each cup is imbibed at a specific point in the Seder...and in a reclining position! The first is for Kiddush (קידוש), the second is for 'Maggid' (מגיד), the third is for Birkat Hamazon (ברכת המזון) and the fourth is for Hallel (הלל)."

Tom broke in.  "Yes, Bill has learned our traditions well.  The Four Cups represent the four expressions of deliverance promised by God Exodus 6:6-7: 'I will bring out,'  'I will deliver,' 'I will redeem,' and 'I will take.'"

Tom waved his hand toward a cauldron. "This bubbling bluish drink is the closest that the OC natives have to wine," Tom chuckled, "but hey, us people living within these borders have to be flexible!"

This is me - dressed in a low-key costume designed to fit in with the OC natives - and our guide Tom, just before we take turns reciting the text of the Haggadah, an ancient text in Hebrew said to have been originally written by David Lee Roth.

~~

Photography by Bill, OC native and soon-to-be-free man.

Paul, Ed, and Bill relax after the afikoman and Tom's rather stirring and flamboyant singing of Chad Gadya ("One Kid Goat").

Bill reflected on his new freedom before drinking his third cup of wine.  "We have a new lease on life.   I'm thinking of opening a Jewish deli or learning Hasidic dance. So much of it is now an open book, thanks to Tom and these foreign traditions."

~~~

My Journeys Behind The Orange Curtain - Laguna Beach 2007 (Page 1)
My Journeys Behind The Orange Curtain - Real Houses of The OC, Part Deux (Page 2)
My Journeys Behind The Orange Curtain, Part Trois-Knott's Scary Farm (Page 3)
My Journeys Behind  The Orange Curtain, Part Quatre-Indigenous Winter Solstice Ritual (Page 4)
My Journeys Behind The Orange Curtain - New Year's Eve Ritual Along the Savage Border (Page 5)
My Journeys Behind The Orange Curtain - Indigenous Birth Rituals of The OC (Page 6)
My Journeys Behind The Orange Curtain - Celebration of The Dead/Crystal Cove (Page 7)
My Journeys Behind The Orange Curtain - Jewish Seder In the OC (Page 8)
My Journeys Behind The Orange Curtain - The Mysterious Ancient Caves of the HOA (Page 9)