Passover, also called Pesach, is the eight-day observance commemorating the freedom and exodus of the Israelites (Jewish slaves) from Egypt during the reign of the Pharaoh Ramses II in the 1200's B.C.
Passover is the oldest continuously celebrated Jewish festival.
The story of Passover is chronicled in the Old Testament book ofExodus. In the story, the Israelites marked their door-posts with lamb's blood to protect children from the tenth plague: the slaughter of the first born. With the protective mark, the destruction would "pass over" the house.
During the final plague, God killed every Egyptian first-born male but passed over the homes of the Israelites.
Passover is also sometimes called the Festival of Unleavened Bread.
During Passover, only unleavened bread called matzo or matzah may be eaten. According to the story of Passover, the Jews did not have time to let their bread rise before they fled Egypt.
Passover begins on the 15th day of Nisan, the seventh month in the Jewish calendar, and can occur in March or April on the Gregorian calendar.
Jewish people celebrate Passover with a ceremonial meal called the Seder.
At the Seder foods of symbolic significance are eaten, and prayers and traditional recitations are performed.
The story of the flight of the Israelites from Egypt is read at the Seder from a book called the Haggadah.
Another Seder tradition is for the youngest child present to ask the four questions about why the Seder night is different from other nights. The answers tell the Passover story.
No one knows for sure when the first Seder was or who actually developed the ritual of theseder based on passages from the Torah. The Torah is made up of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible- Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. For Jews, the Torah is the most holy of all the Biblical writings.
The Hebrew word "Seder" means order. The Seder is traditionally celebrated in the home, although community Seders are also popular.
The Haggadah is a book that contains the entire service used for the Passover seder. The central message for Jews in the Haggadah is that God rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
In the Haggadah, the name of Moses is mentioned only once in order to prevent Moses from becoming idolized.
The most popular Haggadah in the United States in the first quarter of the 20th century was arranged, edited and translated by a woman, Lillie Goldsmith Cowen (1851 -1939). It was published in 1904 under the title, Cowen Haggadah.
The Hebrew word for Egypt is “mitzrahyim.” When Jews talk about being “enslaved in mitzrahyim”, they mean not only in Egypt but also in all the times and places where Jews were not free to practice their religion.
On every seder table there is a symbolic fifth cup of wine called the “Cup for Elijah.” There is a teaching that the Prophet Elijah will answer Jewish legal questions that the ancient rabbis could not resolve. One of these questions was whether we drink four or five cups of wine or grape juice at the seder. We hope that Elijah will visit us on the night of the seder. If that happens, Elijah will tell us whether we should drink four or five cups. Elijah will also be able to drink the cup that is set aside for him.
Three pieces of matzah are placed in the middle of the table. They represent the three classes of Jewish people in ancient times: the Kohens, the priestly class responsible for the administration of the Temple sacrifices; the Levites , the priestly class responsible for the actual performance of the Temple sacrifices; and the Israelites, all other Jews.
The Afikomen is the last piece of food eaten at the Seder. The word "afikomen" is the Hebrew form of the Greek word "epikomion", which means dessert. It is a tradition to hide the afikomen, and for the children to find and “negotiate” for its return. The Seder cannot be concluded until the afikomen is redeemed.
One of the most important concepts of the Seder is that each person gain a personal understanding of the original exodus experience.
Food that contains yeast is prohibited during Passover. This includes soy sauce. Soy sauce contains wheat-gluten as one of the ingredients.
To symbolize the tears shed as a result of slavery, one Passover tradition includes dipping parsley into salt water.
The Persian Jewish communities have a tradition of whipping each other with scallions. The tradition takes place during the singing of “Dayenu” and symbolizes the Egyptian slave masters.
Coca-Cola makes a kosher Coke product for Passover. Regular Coke products include high-fructose corn syrup, but since many observant Jews do not use products made with corn during the holiday, the Kosher Coke uses real sugar. Kosher Coke products have a yellow cap. The limited version of Coke is not available in California.
Italians Jews cannot eat pasta because the flour in the pasta rises. But, the Italian Jews got around the prohibition by baking fresh pasta first before they boil it to prevent it from rising.
Observant Jews in Israel can have kosher cigarettes. As long as the factory uses ingredients that do not come in contact with yeast products, the cigarettes will have a kosher stamp of approval for Passover.
With the difficulty of finding kosher wine in Poland during World War I, the rabbinical authorities made an announcement to allow sweet tea in the Seder ceremony instead of the traditional four cups of wine.
The world’s largest matzo ball was unveiled in 2010 at the Jewish Food Festival in Tucson, Arizona, U.S.A. The matzo ball weighed 488 pounds. Its ingredients included more than 1,000 eggs, 25 pounds of chicken fat and 125 pounds of matzo meal.
When the 18th Amendment went into effect in January,1920, wine along with other alcoholic beverages where prohibited. Although the Catholic Church could obtain wine for "sacramental purposes", prohibition threatened to eliminate this important symbol of religious freedom from Jewish ritual life. So, Jews found themselves embroiled in a battle both with the U.S. government and with each other. While wine would be permitted for Jews during Passover, the new law required obtaining special government permits to make and, in some cases, import wine. These permits became a major target for organized crime. Congregations that existed only on paper applied for permits, which received substantial negative press and became a source of concern and embarrassment for the Jewish community.
The exodus from Egypt is such an important event in Jewish history that it is mentioned in specific prayers each day.