Reflection. Exploring the Intersection of Ramadan, Lent, and Passover (Meli Solomon)

Episode 94. 

Are you a Jew, Christian, or Muslim? Do you wonder about how your holiday this spring intersects with other holidays occurring at or near the same time? What do you make of that? And what does your holiday mean to you? How do you celebrate it? 

In this month's reflection, I address how Ramadan, Lent, and Passover connect thematically, and in the calendar. In these tense times when so many of us are feeling anxious and distressed, we can either give into that or strive to remember what connects us to be civil and caring and, that we can learn from each other. I personally choose the latter and I'm guessing you do as well. I thought taking a few moments to look at the main themes of these holidays and the calendar of these holidays that we can, get a little relief from the exhaustion and expand, enrich our own spiritual experience.

Highlights:

• Ramadan, Lent and Passover coinciding this year.
• Ramadan and Lent: Repentance and gratitude.
• Lent and Passover: Redemption and transformation.
• Fasting or restriction brings time and reflection.
• Exodus story as the foundation for both Lent and Passover.
• Importance of processes over time for renewal and spiritual cleansing.

Bio:

I am a public scholar and interreligious leader with a keen interest in understanding the nature of similarities and differences––especially religious and cultural.  The Talking with God Project is currently my main focus, and I am actively expanding its reach through workshops, articles, panels, talks and a podcast.  

Raised in the Boston area, I have lived in Seattle, WA and Berlin, Germany, before returning to Boston in 2017.  Carving out a varied educational and professional path, I hold a B.A. in Fine Art from Oberlin College (1984), an M.B.A. from Northeastern University (1997), a Certificate in Coaching from the International Coach Academy (2015), and a Master of Jewish Liberal Studies (MJLS) from Hebrew College with a focus on Global Interreligious Studies (2019).  Professionally, I have worked as a business manager, an art dealer and founder of Solomon Fine Art gallery, language trainer, text editor, business coach and now public scholar and podcaster. 

Though raised in an interfaith non-observant home. my Conservative Jewish practice and wide range of personal and professional experiences inform my research and life.

Transcript on Buzzsprout

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The Living Our Beliefs podcast is part of the Talking with God Project.

Transcript

Reflection. April 2025 transcript

Exploring the Intersection of Ramadan, Lent and Passover

Méli Solomon [00:00:05]:

Hello, and welcome to Living Our Beliefs, a home for open conversations with fellow Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Through personal stories and reflection, we explore how our religious traditions show up in daily life. I am your host, Meli Solomon. So glad you could join us. This podcast is part of my Talking with God Project. To learn more, check out the link in the show notes. There's a confluence of holidays this year for the three religions that I focus on, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Muslims just finished celebrating the month of Ramadan.

Méli Solomon [00:00:50]:

Christians are currently celebrating Lent, and the Jewish holiday of Passover begins in about ten days. So my thought is that in these tense times when so many of us are feeling anxious and distressed, we can either give into that or strive to remember what connects us to be civil and caring and, that we can learn from each other. I personally choose the latter and I'm guessing you do as well. I thought taking a few moments to look at the main themes of these holidays and the calendar of these holidays that we can, get a little relief from the exhaustion and expand, enrich our own spiritual experience. I'm going to address the thematic and temporal connections of Ramadan and Lent and Passover that's coming up. Ramadan and Lent are both times of reflection, penance, and gratitude. The restriction on food or for Christians celebrating Lent, perhaps other things, other things they value, gives them a time to focus on prayer, reflection. Restricting these things increases the appreciation of that item and of generally of all the blessings we have.

Méli Solomon [00:02:21]:

The thematic connection to Judaism is actually not with Passover. It's with Yom Kippur, which we celebrate in the fall. Yom Kippur is the day of atonement. It is like Ramadan, a fasting holiday and where we make amends with people we have wronged and also with God. During this holiday, we look at where we've fallen short and how we might improve in our relationships either with other people or with God. Both Lent and Passover derive from the Exodus story. So for Christians with Lent, they are celebrating it for forty days, not including Sundays. And for Jews, the holiday has echoes of the forty years we spent wandering in the desert.

Méli Solomon [00:03:18]:

So these are themes of redemption and transformation. For Jews, we're talking about how the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. And during those forty years, we gradually let go of the emotional shackles of slavery. It took two generations to do this. The physical shackles are one thing, but the emotional and social shackles are quite something else. And we needed time to go by before we could become free people with a new set of laws and really a group identity. On an individual level, many of us really connect with this idea of freeing ourselves from things in our lives that pinch us and restrict us, places of stuckness. And this takes time.

Méli Solomon [00:04:18]:

Returning to the issue of Lent, it's also really an idea of rebirth, life coming out of death. And this is, of course, the natural cycle that we all witness. In the process, I guess, a Christian is reminded of their own mortality that giving something up and replacing it with prayer, a period of penitence, what they're grateful for, that Christ died for their sins and that whole package. I, of course, can't speak as a Christian. I'm not a Christian, and I certainly welcome a Christian's perspective. But these two holidays, Passover and Lent, are linked in this idea of getting released from a place of narrowness and for Christians on how Christ died for their sins. For me, it's also sometimes a time of self-discovery, of hope, of mindfulness because during Passover, we don't eat anything with leavening. So bread, pasta, crackers, cookies, cakes, all of that is out.

Méli Solomon [00:05:40]:

And we do this for a week. So there's heightened awareness of what we're eating. And by removing foods with leavening, we're also being mindful of our egotism. So there's a humility, which I think really connects to the Christian time of reflection and penitence. So what about the practice? During Ramadan and Lent, there is, as I mentioned, fasting and abstinence. There's also study and prayer and an expectation or perhaps an invitation to give to charity. There's certainly, services, right? Ramadan and Lent involve attending services and studying scripture. When I think about these different elements of celebrating, of honoring the holiday, I see a combination of is a is a natural desire.

Méli Solomon [00:07:03]:

We all need this mixture. Too much of one or the other is not particularly helpful. For those of us who are celebrating Passover soon, this includes all manner of preparation of the home as as it's a home-based holiday. We do a really deep spring cleaning, removing bread and other foods that are leavened. And then on the first, and if you're outside of Israel, the second night, which this year begins Monday April, we have a seder, which is the Hebrew word for order. And we retell the story of the Israelites' freedom from slavery in Egypt and this broader theme of release from places of stuckness and narrow places of our lives and also of other peoples who have been or are enslaved. I find it a really moving holiday because the idea of slavery and release from slavery is such a universal theme. It's very flexible, and it's sadly always an issue.

Méli Solomon [00:08:24]:

So both of these holidays are about preparations of body and soul. And I would add mine body, soul, and mind. It's abstract concepts. It's physical cleaning. It's physical restricting of food. And in retelling the story at the Seder, it's coming together with friends and family to tell the story and and kind of really feel it in your soul. In addition to the cyclicality, I'm reminded that these holidays relate to a process. Ramadan, Lent, and Passover are all processes over time.

Méli Solomon [00:09:09]:

Like, you know, much as we are impatient, want something yesterday, renewal is not an instant process. It is just that way despite our impatience. As they say, good things come to those who wait, and good things come to those who are mindful and pay attention. But I'm not talking about passive waiting. It's not like you're waiting for a bus. It's more the process in all of these three traditions that it involves reflection, cleansing, mindful restriction of foods. And by spending less time on eating and cleaning up, you know, especially for the Muslims who are fasting during the daylight hours, that gives them time for study, for prayer, and for other things in life besides cooking and eating and cleaning. So how do these holidays connect on the calendar? Lent and Passover are both in the spring.

Méli Solomon [00:10:18]:

I would note that the details of dates are slightly different in the Eastern Orthodox calendar, though they're very close this year. Again, Lent is forty days, not counting Sundays, and it runs between Ash Wednesday and Easter. It's not just a passage of time, it is leading up and preparing for Easter. And imitates Jesus' days in the desert in preparation of beginning his ministry to give the message of salvation. Naturally, how we observe any of these holidays a wonderful small community here in Boston. And I attended an Iftar, the Muslim breaking of the fast, with a wonderful small community here in Boston. And I will be hosting a combined Passover Seder Good Friday dinner in a few weeks. I believe that doing things, whether alone or with others, are practical ways of walking the path and telling the story to ourselves and others, a way to rededicate ourselves to the beliefs and the tradition.

Méli Solomon [00:11:35]:

So my question for you is, what have you learned this year and what have you done or will you do to expand your understanding and expression of your holiday? Hopefully, the holidays and this reflection brings you a little relief from the general anxiety so many of us are feeling. And remember, you are not alone. In closing, I look forward to hearing from you about how this year's observance has been and any thoughts or comments on on what I've, spoken about today. 

Thank you for listening. This podcast is an outgrowth of my Talking with God Project. If you'd like to learn more about that project, a link to the website is in the show notes. Thanks so much for tuning in. Till next time. Bye bye.