Passover is a Jewish Spring Holiday, known as “The Feast of Unleavened Bread.” It is celebrated by Jewish people for 7 or 8 days. This year it begins in the evening of Saturday, April 12 and ends in the evening of Sunday, April 20. The significance of Passover is to celebrate freedom from slavery. Family members get to recline on pillows at their seat as a symbol of freedom.
A Seder is the ritual feast held at the beginning of Passover on the first and second nights. Seder means Order in Hebrew, and is meant to educate the family about the story of how Moses led the Jewish people out of Egypt. The telling of the story of Passover and its rituals have been passed down through the generations. It is interactive with songs, storytelling and pictures in the Haggadah, the book used for the seder.
Each family member plays a role. The youngest child has an important part that they prepare in advance. They ask “The Four Questions” in Hebrew then the answers are sung and read. This is a big honor for the child. Children get to play a game called, “Find the Afikomen” (meaning dessert) They get to search the house like “hide and go seek.” It is a piece of matzah hidden by the parents and eaten by all at the end of the seder when found.
A Few Facts
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The very first Passover was celebrated in Egypt itself more than 3,300 years ago and marked the first holiday the Jews ever celebrated.
- The Haggadah is the book or text Jewish families read from during Passover. It tells the origins of the holiday and explains how the Seder is supposed to proceed. The First American Edition of the Haggadah was published in 1837.
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In recent years, a new tradition has begun. Seder plates can now have seven spots instead of six. The new seventh food is an orange. The orange is said to signify fruitfulness, and the action of spitting out the seeds represents “spitting out” hate and discrimination in our communities.
- A Seder plate is a key part of the Jewish Passover tradition. It holds symbolic foods that represent different aspects of the Exodus story. Here are the typical foods found on a Seder plate:
- Maror (bitter herbs) - Usually horseradish, it symbolizes the bitterness of slavery the Israelites endured in Egypt.
- Charoset - A sweet mixture of apples, nuts, wine, and spices, symbolizing the mortar the Israelites used to make bricks while enslaved in Egypt.
- Karpas (parsley) - This represents springtime and renewal. It is dipped in salt water during the Seder to represent the tears of the enslaved Israelites.
- Z'roa (shank bone) - It symbolizes the lamb's sacrifice made before the Exodus and serves as a reminder of the Passover offering.
- Chazeret (second bitter herb) - Sometimes romaine lettuce, it also represents the bitterness of slavery, used in some Seders alongside maror.
- Beitzah (roasted egg) - The egg represents the festival sacrifice, and in some interpretations, it symbolizes mourning and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.