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Pesach, known as Passover in English, is a major Jewish spring festival,
commemorating the Exodus from Egypt over 3,000 years ago. The ritual
observa nce
of this holiday centers around a special home service called the seder
(meaning "order") and a festive meal; the prohibition of chametz
(leaven); and the eating of matzah (an unleavened bread). On the eve of
the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, we read from a book
called the Haggadah, meaning "telling," which contains the order of
prayers, rituals, readings and songs for the Pesach seder.
The seder has a number of scriptural bases. Exodus 12:3-11 describes the
meal of lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs which the Israelites
ate just prior to the Exodus. I n
addition, three separate passages in Exodus (12:26-7, 13:8, 13:14) and
one in Deuteronomy (6:20-21) enunciate the duty of the parents to tell
the story of the Exodus to their children. The seder plate contains
various symbolic foods referred to in the seder itself.
In Jewish tradition and history, Pesach is one of the festivals noted
for its diversity and many meanings. It is a festival that commemorates
past slavery and the Exodus from Egypt; it is the national unity
festival of our people in the melting pot of distress and salvation; the
festival of the greatness of the Jewish family which knows the wonder of
being together as a family; it is the spring festival in which the
blossoming of nature symbolizes the renewal and awakening of a people
delighting in life. Above all it is the festival of freedom, the freedom
of every single Jewish individual and the freedom of the entire Jewish
people.
More about Passover
For more about How to Spice Up Your Seder and The Four Questions, please
click on these images...
 
Acknowledgements
Some materials used in our Passover pages were produced by URJ, as well
as
Rebecca Rubinstein. |
