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Story By PATRICK BUTLER
Religion Editor

Tonight's the night that Jewish faithful worldwide will try to imagine an aggressive, angry Pharaoh behind them, the Red Sea before them and Moses leading the Children of Israel through a sea of dire circumstances to an unknown future.

That's the scenario about 3,500 years ago that faced former Hebrew slaves, and is the focus of this year's Passover observances. The most widely observed Jewish holiday, Passover, begins at sunset tonight. Observances last until April 27 at sundown.

The idea is to identify with Pharaoh's freed slaves and their fearful flight into the desert, said a Tyler rabbi.

"One of the elements of Passover is that the people made haste," Rabbi Neal Katz of Congregation Beth El. "There was a small window of opportunity for redemption and the (slaves) took it. They had to do it in a hurry. That's why we eat the Matza, the unleaved bread at Passover.

That identification leads to escape from "personal bondages," said Katz.

"We all have our personal Egypts," he said. "We all have at least point where we're held back in life, something chaining us down. We all have to make the attempt to escape that. Do it now."

But Jews moved from slavery to slavery, so to speak, Katz said.

"The Hebrew word 'avadia' or 'slaves' is the same as the word 'service.' There is a bad connotation to the word slavery today, but the idea is that we (Jews) moved from a crushing slavery to Pharaoh to a spiritually uplifting service to God, from slavery to servitude. It wasn't an unstructured freedom we moved to. We moved into a context of a covenant relationship of redemption."

That was a sudden shift, he said.

"Jews (3,500 years ago) felt that shift in a space of 40 days. The Passover Seder is not just the retelling of the story and not just to sympathize, but to empathize with them. We have to pretend and visualize that our feet are muddy from the Sea of Reeds, that we look back and see Pharaoh's chariots coming after us. We have to relive that moment as best we can. That's the ideal and for each person, it is different."

Be ready to serve God, said Alan Learner, rabbi of Synagogue Ahavath Achim, as he explained the rapid exodus of the Hebrew slaves.

"People should be prepared and ready to be in God's services in one fashion or another," he said, "serving Him and serving man. We should not delay when someone is in distress and need. We should go out of our way as quickly as possible. Be prepared to help our fellow man in every way possible."

For Learner, Passover means recurring themes.

"It's the same every Passover for me," he said. "Education, renewal and stripping yourself of vanities, arrogance and things that make you feel puffed up."

The "Kashering" of the house is one way Jews do this, he said.

"The Kashering is when you go through the work of cleaning and preparing the house for Passover, because no leaven or Chametz is allowed. Anything that deals with bread or baking that rises must go. It has a humbling effect on people. According to Exodus 12:15, all Jews are required to do this during the festival days."

And Passover means intimacy with God, said Katz.

"There is no greater moment of intimacy with God than the exodus and the trip to Mt. Sinai where the Ten Commandments were given. We are recreating that moment."