Passover (or the Hebrew word, Pesach, with the hard, guttural-sounding “ch,” like in the names Bach and Rachmaninoff), is an eight-day festival commemorating the story of Moses leading enslaved Jews out of ancient Egypt. The Exodus is the second of the five books of Moses narrated in the Torah, also known as the Old Testament. Passover begins on the 15th day of Nisan (also spelled Nissan), lasting through the 22nd of that month on the Hebrew calendar. Because the Hebrew calendar is a lunar one, meaning that each month begins and ends with a new moon, the dates that coincide with the 12-month secular calendar change annually. Passover is commemorated with a Seder (pronounced “say-dur”) on the first and second nights of the eight-day observance. The modern-day Seder is actually derived from several biblical verses where the Israelites are commanded to observe and remember the night when they were released from bondage (Exodus 13:3-8).
Jews in Bondage
The Israelites, also called the Children of Israel, had been enslaved to the Pharaohs of Egypt for generations; at least 400 years. Moses was called upon by God to lead the Children of Israel out of bondage but when the Pharaoh would not release the slaves, God inflicted 10 plagues upon the lands of Egypt; (1) blood instead of water in the river Nile, (2) frogs, (3) gnats or lice, (4) flies or gnats, (5) diseases on livestock, (6) skin boils, (7) hail and thunder, (8) locusts, (9) darkness and (10) the slaying of the first-born in families (both humans and animals). Because the plagues affected both the Israelites and the Egyptians, the first-born of Israel were told to smear lambs' blood on their doorposts so that the “angel of death” would “pass over” the Jewish homes. When the Pharaoh’s first-born son was killed as a result of the tenth plague, he acknowledged “the power of Moses’ God” and set the Israelites free.
The Exodus
Historic opinions vary as to the actual dates of the Passover and the Exodus; some estimate the Passover took place sometime between 1210 and 1313 BCE, others say it occurred on the 15 day of the month of Nisan/Nissan in the year 2448 “after the creation of the world.” Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children, free from the bondage of their Egyptian oppressors, left Egypt with Moses, who led them through the desert toward the Promised Land. Pharaoh later changed his mind about allowing freedom for the slaves and sent his army after them. When the army cornered the Israelites against the Red Sea, Moses, with God’s power, stretched out his staff and parted the Red Sea into walls of water and a dry strip of land so that the Children of Israel could pass through it. When the final Jew had crossed the sea and with the Egyptian army on their heels, Moses withdrew his staff, “and the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them” (Exodus, 14:28).
Wandering in the Wilderness
Moses led the Children of Israel across the desert toward Mount Sinai. When God summoned him to the mountain (to give him the Ten Commandments; a stone tablet of laws for the Israelites to follow), Moses stayed there for “40 days and 40 nights;” the longest time he had ever been away from the others. When the Israelites thought Moses had abandoned them in the harshness of the wilderness, they asked his brother, Aaron, to craft a golden calf which would be idolized as their god. When Moses returned to his people and saw them idolizing the golden calf he became very angry, throwing down and shattering the stone tablets of laws which included “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus, 20:3). After Moses destroyed the calf, he invited the Israelites who believed in God, including the sons of Levi, to stand by his side. Upon the word of Moses, the Levites killed about three thousand men who had sinned against God (Exodus, 32:26-28).
God replaced the stone tablets but decided that those who did not believe in him, especially after all of the miracles they had seen, would not enter the Promised Land. This generation was left to wander in the desert for 40 years before their children were led into Canaan by Joshua … not Moses. Because he disobeyed God by trespassing at the waters of Meribah, where he later died, Moses could see it but was not allowed to enter the Promise Land.
The Passover Seder
The Passover Seder is a ceremonial dinner which takes place on the first two nights of the eight-day holiday. The service is identical for both nights and commemorates Passover and The Exodus. Families and friends read from a Haggadah; a booklet which relates the story of The Exodus and guides the participants through the rituals of the Passover service. The Seder begins with a young child asking “why is this night different from all other nights?” in the form of the Four Questions (Mah-Nishtanah). The Mah-Nishtanah (usually sung in Hebrew) asks:
1. Why, on other nights during the year, do we eat bread or matzo but on this night only matzo?
2. Why is it that on other nights we eat all kinds of herbs but on this night we eat only bitter herbs?
3. Why is it that on other nights we do not dip herbs even once, but on this night we dip twice?
4. Why on other nights do we eat sitting or reclining but on this night we eat while reclining?
Eating breads and cakes made with yeast is prohibited during the eight-day Passover holiday. Matzo (pronounced maht-sa and also spelled matzah or matza; plural is matzos or matzot (maht-zoht)) is unleavened bread. When the Jews were getting ready to flee Egypt, they did not have time to let their breads rise so they baked them into hard, flat crackers (matzot) in the hot sun. Bitter herbs are eaten as a reminder of the bitterness of slavery. Dipping green vegetables is a reminder of how hard the slaves worked and that spring … new life … is here. Leaning on a pillow is a reminder that freedom means relaxation.
Six special foods are placed on a Seder Plate to commemorate the holiday:
1. “Maror“ (mah-roar), the “bitter herbs” such as horse radish or sharp-tasting lettuce to symbolize the harshness and bitterness of (slavery) in Egypt,
2. “Chazaret (hard, guttural “ch”; cha-za-ret), may be a piece of romaine lettuce or root vegetable with a bitter-tasting stem, to signify the bitterness of bondage,
3. “Charoset” (hard, guttural “ch”; cha-row-set), a mixture, which can be made of raisins, nuts, figs and dates or a recipe of apples, cinnamon, walnuts and sweet wine, that symbolizes the mortar spread between the bricks that were used by the Jewish slaves in order to build Egyptian structures,
4. “Karpas” (car-pahs), a green vegetable that is eaten (such as parsley, scallions or celery) after it is dipped into salt water (which symbolizes tears shed by the enslaved Jews). The Karpas may also be used while counting the 10 plagues, as part of the Seder service,
5. “Zeroa" (za-row-a), a roasted lamb (shank) bone that symbolizes the lamb that was offered as a sacrifice at the temple in Jerusalem. The shank bone is not eaten.
6. “Beitsah" (bay-its-ah), a roasted, hard-boiled egg to symbolize the festival sacrifice made at the temple in Jerusalem. Hard-boiled eggs are dipped in saltwater and eaten during the Passover Seder.
During the Seder, prayers and songs are sung in both Hebrew and English. Four glasses of wine (or grape juice) are served throughout the ceremony and a piece of matzo called the Afikomen is hidden for children to find at the end of the service.
Upcoming Celebration Dates for Passover
2012: Passover begins at sunset on Friday, April 6th, until sunset on April 14th
2013: Passover begins at sunset on Monday, March 25th, until sunset on April 2nd
2014: Passover begins at sunset on Monday, April 14th, until sunset on April 22nd
2015: Passover begins at sunset on Friday, April 3rd until sunset on April 11th
2016: Passover begins at sunset on Friday, April 22nd, until sunset on April 30th
2017: Passover begins at sunset on Monday, April 10th until sunset on April 18th
2018: Passover begins at sunset on Friday, March 30 until sunset on April 7th
2019: Passover begins at sunset on Friday, April 19th until sunset on April 27th
2020: Passover begins at sunset on Wednesday, April 8th until sunset on April 16th
2021: Passover begins at sunset on Saturday, March 27 until sunset on April 3rd.
Further Reading
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