Passover, or Pesach in Hebrew, is one of the three major of ancient Israel and commemorates the Exodus from Egypt.
Its name comes from the miracle in which God “passed over” the houses of the Israelites during the tenth plague. Centered on the family or communal celebration of the seder (ritual meal), Passover is one of the most beloved of all Jewish holidays.
The Passover Seders this year will take place on Monday, April 22nd and Tuesday, April 23rd in the evening.
The origins of Passover lie in pre-Israelite spring celebrations of the first grain harvest and the births of the first lambs of the season.
In the , it celebrates God’s great redemptive act at the time of the , leading the Israelites out from slavery in Egypt to freedom. Together with (the Festival of Weeks) and (The Festival of Booths), Passover is one of the three ancient Israelite pilgrimage festivals, during which adult males journeyed to the Temple in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices and bask in the divine presence. Since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, the focus of Passover shifted to the ritual meal, called the seder, which normally takes place at home.
In anticipation of Passover, it is traditional to engage in a thorough spring cleaning.
During the holiday, the food reflects the major theme of Passover and is intended to help Jews relive God’s great redemptive act, albeit in a vicarious manner.
Because the Israelites had no time to let their bread rise as they hurriedly left Egypt, Jewish law forbids eating (or even possessing) any food that contains leavened grains. Therefore, a major part of the preparations for Passover consists of from the home and replacing them with (though many Jews prefer to “sell” some leavened products to a non-Jew for the duration of the holiday). This necessitates both a massive cleanup and the with special Passover ones. It also requires a shopping expedition to stock the kitchen with special kosher-for-Passover foods.
The central ritual of Passover is the seder(which means ORDER), a carefully choreographed ritual meal that typically takes place in the home. A number of are laid out on the table, of which the most important is the , the unleavened “bread of affliction.” The seder follows a script laid out in the , a book that tells the story of redemption from Egypt. Although the Haggadah is a traditional text, many people add to it and revise it in accordance with their theology and understanding of God’s redemptive actions in the world.
Although the focus of Passover observance is on the home, on the first and last days traditional Judaism prohibits working. There are special synagogue services, including special , among them, “The Song of Songs,” and psalms of praise and thanksgiving. The last day of Passover is one of the four times a year that the service of remembrance is recited.
The overarching theme of Passover is redemption. The Story of the Exodus from Egypt is the collective narrative of the Jewish people. After all, this is the holiday that celebrates God’s intervention in history to lead the Israelites from slavery to freedom. It is a time to celebrate God as the great liberator of humanity. The divine redemption of the Israelites thus becomes the blueprint for the Jewish understanding of God and divine morality and ethics.