Fla. Christians celebrate Passover

Fla. Christians celebrate Passover
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (UPI) -- Several Florida churches said they are celebrating the Jewish holiday Passover with Seders reorganized with a Christian spin.
Deacon Ron Perkins of Ecclesia Christi, a Christian spiritual community in Fort Lauderdale, said the group has held authentic Seders preserving the Jewish traditions for the past five years, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Monday.
"We conduct ours exactly as if we were in a Jewish home," Perkins said. "Christ was Jewish. As you go through the prayers of the Seder, it reinforces what it was like in Christ's time."
Other churches and Christian groups said they altered the traditional Seder to add Christian meanings to the ceremonial foods, for example the broken matzo symbolizes the torture of Jesus and the glass of wine is his blood.
Some Jewish leaders have criticized the practice of Christian Seders.
"The people doing it may be well-intentioned, but they are misguided," said Rabbi Anthony Fratello, president of the Palm Beach County Board of Rabbis. "It's problematic for Christians to be engaging in Jewish ritual observance. It's almost heretical from the standpoint of Christian theology. It ignores history."

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