When I was young, one of the times when my whole family was together was viewing The Ten Commandments on TV. It was also one of the few times my mother would allow us to eat in the den when we were younger. For some reason, the scene were Moses is with the Bedouin and they break bread on the floor stuck with me. I guess it had to do with me thinking at that age, around 8, that eating on the floor was a cool concept.

When I got older I told myself I would make a tradition of eating on the floor when The Ten Commandments came on TV. As silly as that vow was, I have kept it for a number of years. It takes me back to my childhood when things were simpler.

A little over a decade and a half ago I had by first Seder. The family who invited me weren’t orthodox Jews, but for the tradition of the Seder they went all out in doing the presentation. It was like a sitcom to me, in a good way, because the grandma and uncle, who I was seated in between, were a hoot to listen to. Everyone was trying to be serious and they were talking to me or other family members about all sorts of odd stuff. It had a real family feel to it.

It has been a couple of years since I’ve been to a Seder and I miss the tradition of it. I’m not Jewish, but I respect and admire the history that comes with it. Every year watching The Ten Commandments and seeing the Seder ceremony unfold while I’m eating on the floor has unofficially become my tradition.

After reading about my best friend’s wife preparing a surprise Seder for him, I decided this year to try a formal semi-Seder for viewing The Ten Commandments. I didn’t want to do a real Seder, but I wanted something that reminded me of family, especially my family and memories from when I was younger. I used the Seder plate as a blueprint for this new tradition I was forming. I wanted the meal to symbolize the same sense of struggle and salvation that the traditional Seder represented.

The first thing I wanted to make sure of was that it was humble. While I had time to plan for the ceremony, I didn’t have a lot of money to make an elaborate meal. As I started planning things I realized I didn’t want to cook over a stove preparing a meal. It was just for me, and I realized The Ten Commandments is a long production. I didn’t want to spend time cooking the meal and not watching the show. The nice thing is even though I do wait for the show to come on TV, I have a DVD copy of the movie and most of the time I watch that when the time comes.

So tonight will be the first Ten Commandments night where I will be having a formal ceremonial meal. The tradition is that when Moses and the Bedouins celebrates the sale of the sheep and the daughters dance for him, that is when my meal begins. Here is the description of the meal I have prepared and what each course symbolically means.

The most complicated preparation is the potato. To prepare the potato, you will make a cut along the length of it, but not all the way through the potato. You will then make cross cuts along the potato, also making sure not to cut all the way through the potato. With a little bit of oil, salt and pepper the potato is baked until soft. The cutting and presentation of the potato represents the slaves ships packed with human cargo coming to America.

A cut cucumber or zucchini, which is dipped into a bowl of salt water and eaten. This is similar to the Karpas in the Seder tradition and represents the tears and pain of the slaves in bondage.

Two root or earth vegetables. For this first one I wanted an onion and mushrooms but I got carrots instead of mushrooms. I decided to use a red onion instead of yellow just because of color. They are both raw and cut lengthwise, so they resemble sticks or fingers. It represents the toil of the slaves as they worked the land.

The two root vegetables are dipped in a paste made from horseradish sauce, minced garlic, hot chili sauce and Thousand Island dressing. By dipping the root vegetables into the paste, it symbolizes the hands of the slaves digging into the bitter soil.

Corn bread is made. It can be from scratch or prepared package but you will likely want to make sure honey is in the bread. On a separate plate is butter or margarine for the corn bread, and if you wish you can have a little honey mixed with the butter or margarine. To clarify you want honey either in the bread or the butter bowl. The corn bread symbolizes innovation, using corn instead of flour in making a staple like bread. The butter and honey represents the Promise Land, a place flowing with milk and honey. It is our innovation and perseverance which will take us to the Promise Land.

Apple sauce and fruit cocktail mixed. It represents us being one when we arrive here. We may come from different tribes, our children may be from us or from the slave owner, but we all come together and are united as one big melting pot that is of hope, joy and salvation.

Chicken wings are baked and must be eaten in pairs, so you will have two or four wings depending on appetite. The wings symbolize the flight to freedom.

A glass of wine or grape juice (and for my case I did use kosher grape juice but you don’t have to) represents the blood of my ancestors who fought and sacrificed so I can have the freedom I have today.
All of this is laid out on a blanket in front of the TV to be eaten. At the head of the meal are two candles. One represents the northern star and the beacon of freedom. The other candle represents family members who have died.

One thing I didn’t plan on doing but I’m glad I did was I bought plates so that each dish could be on its own plate. In keeping with the frugality of the meal I got them at a 99 cents store so the cost wasn’t much. I took the time to make sure I got earth tones for the plates.

Setting the oven at 450 degrees, if you start baking the potato when the broadcast starts, put in the chicken and corn bread in when Moses visits his real mother, the meal will be ready just when Moses hits the watering hole.