Passover

Passover is probably the best known of the Jewish holidays, mostly because it ties in with Christian history (the Last Supper was apparently a Passover seder), and because a lot of its observances have been reinterpreted by Christians as Messianic and signs of Jesus.

Passover begins on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nissan. It is the first of the three major festivals with both historical and agricultural significance (the other two are Shavu’ot and Sukkot). Agriculturally, it represents the beginning of the harvest season in Israel, but little attention is paid to this aspect of the holiday. The primary observances of Passover are related to the Exodus from Egypt after 400 years of slavery. This story is told in Exodus, Ch. 1-15. Many of the Passover observances are instituted in Chs. 12-15.

A ceremonial feast known as the Seder takes place on the first two nights of Passover. Symbolic foods, including unleavened bread, are placed on the table. The word Passover is derived from the tenth plague God placed on Egypt for keeping the Israelites in slavery. According to the Bible, God killed the first born child in Egyptian homes but "passed over" the Israelites' homes which were marked with the blood of lambs.

About Passover

Passover is one of the most important religious festivals in the Jewish calendar. Jews celebrate the Feast of Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) to commemorate the liberation of the Children of Israel who were led out of Egypt by Moses.

Passover is celebrated today in homes by having a seder. Seder means order, and we read the Passover story in a special order from the book called a haggadah. Haggadah means "to tell" and we tell the story of our ancestors, and remind ourselves that we are now a free people. There are different parts of the seder and during the seder, we eat traditional and symbolic foods that remind us of the Jewish people and their adversity. One of the things that we do is to dip a spring vegetable into salt water. The vegetable is a sign of spring, or rebirth, and the salt water represent the tears of the slaves.

We eat bitter herbs, to remind us of the bitterness of slavery. We eat a special mixture, called Charoset, which is made of apples, nuts, wine, and cinnamon (although there are many different varieties of this, depending on where your ancestors lived) that reminds us of the mortar that the slaves made their bricks from.

The name Passover comes from when the Angel of Death passed over the homes of the Jews, because they had been forewarned, and had put lambs blood on their doors, so that death would spare their first born child.