FORT SILL, Okla., April 29, 2016 -- In celebration of the Jewish holiday, Passover, the Jewish congregation at Fort Sill organized a Passover Seder for the Fort Sill and Lawton communities, April 22. While the Jewish congregation typically meets at Quarry Hill chapel on the training side of the installation, the Passover service took place the Frontier Chapel.
"We're here as a mandate from God to remember, absolutely remember, the exodus from Egypt," said John Cohen, who led the Passover Seder.
The celebration of Passover includes the telling of the Exodus story, of the Jewish people who found freedom after being slaves in ancient Egypt. Traditionally family and friends gather in the evening to read the Haggadah, or the Jewish text that sets the order of the Passover Seder.
Tonight, strangers become family and friends to celebrate the holiday.
Rebecca Pollard, a resident of Lawton, attends the Jewish service on Fort Sill because of a lack of Jewish communities off post. She, along with others, helped set up the event and said it was open to both those of the Jewish faith along with friends and those who are curious about it.
The result was those who were Jewish sat next to those of different faiths, helping explain what the different element and parts of the Seder, which means "order," meant.
"There's an actual order to the Seder," said Cohen. "All the things we're going to do and taste, everything will remind us in some shape or form of the exodus from Egypt."
Each table had a Passover Seder plate filled with foods symbolizing a different aspect of the exodus story. Items included horseradish to symbolize the bitterness of slave life, parsley to symbolize spring and rebirth and a shank bone (or lamb bone) to symbolize the Passover sacrifice.
Preparations for the event began early that morning and went until moments before guests arrived. Cohen's wife, Sheri, helped organize the event and asked volunteers to arrive early to set up. She said she enjoyed doing the work behind the scenes because she knew how important the end result was.
"It's especially important to the young Soldiers who are away from home and can't go anywhere," she said.
The event also had food brought in from a kosher Dallas restaurant. A meal of brisket, chicken or eggplant lasagna, was provided along with kosher desserts. Pollard explained how it can be difficult to find a kosher restaurant because of the Jewish rules pertaining to kitchens. As the group continued to eat Cohen explained the meaning of different steps, asking those in attendance questions regarding the Passover and encouraging guests to ask questions when they didn't understand something.
"You're allowed to ask questions when you don't understand, in fact you're obligated to ask a learned person why we do things," said Cohen.
Cohen said it is important to have events like these for Soldiers who are attending basic training and advanced individual training and cannot go home. He believes participating in the Passover Seder, and knowing that in homes and communities around the world, other Jews are doing the same thing can be comforting to those who are away from home.
"It ties me to the faith," he said. "You might feel alone but when you retell the story you know people around the world are doing it too and it ties you to them."
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