Session 11 How Jesus Became Christian - by Barrie Wilson
Passover Traditions - Guest Speaker Dr. Eliezer Segal
"What Christianity achieved in the post-Constantine fourth-century era represented the marketing victory of all times. It is especially ironic that a movement that started off as a radical challenge to the Pax Romana succeeded in becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire. ... But the victory came at a tremendous price. Simply put, the teachings of Jesus himself were smothered by the religion of Paul." ... p255

Index
Dr. Eliezer Segal teaches at the University of Calgary in the Faculty of Religious Studies. He introduced himself as being both an Orthodox Scholar and a happy grandfather and then proceeded to an enthusiastic and informative powerpoint presentation on Passover. He kindly provided us a copy of this. For a download of the powerpoint file click HERE. If you do not have the powerpoint program, first, download a free ppt reader from microsoft  HERE. Then you can click HERE to view. The reader will in future permit you to see powerpoints on the internet.

After his presentation he answered questions from group. His interesting answers kept the attention of the 30 persons gathered to hear him for the entire evening without pause.

Dr. Segal has referred us to additional information on his website.

His personal website is Eliezer Segal's Home Page. He draws our special attention to the page linking his Newspaper Articles and Public Addresses. (He has posted 350 articles!) You will find more information on for example the other celebrations "around the calendar". If you enjoyed his talk you will want to explore these additional informative articles. If you were not able to be with us for his presentation, you may learn most efficiently about these Jewish customs, by checking out Dr. Segal's articles.

Uncle Eli's Special-for-Kids Most fun Ever Under-the-Table Passover Haggadah. Dr. Segal impressed upon us that a prime purpose of the Passover tradition is to pass on the tradition, and to do this in the context of family. He has a special interest in the children and has written the tradition up especially for them with some rousing poetry as well. Some of his powerpoint was based on the Uncle Eli material and he has published a book for children with the same name. This is his publications page.  The book "Uncle Eli sfkmfeuttp Haggadah" is in stock at Chapters for only 12.54.

At the other end of the spectrum Dr. Segal turns out to have a rather wry wit. Here is an excerpt from his "Exodus Satire"
Moses has not shied away from wholesale pollution of the rivers, soil, air and animal life. His incursion against the firstborns and his massacre at the Red Sea drew no distinctions between military and civilian targets, nor between social classes or political leanings. The continued successes of his untrained band against mightier forces confirms our claim that he has been secretly aided by foreign powers, probably Canaanites or Hyksos. ... Pharaoh's refusal to submit is consistent with our policy of not negotiating with terrorists.
Clicking the icon left will activate the e-mail on your machine and direct your comments to us. Comments are welcome and will be posted with usual editorial courtesies. St. David's United Church.Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Mar 2009