Diversity Affairs Feature

Passover (Pesach)

Begins April 20 at sundown

Passover, Pesach in Hebrew, is one of the most important Jewish festivals. It is celebrated from sundown on Nisan 14th through Nisan 22nd on the Hebrew Calendar, which corresponds to late March or early April. Passover commemorates the Israelites’ exodus from ancient Egypt, and is often considered the pivotal event in Jewish history. It freed the Israelites from more than 200 years of slavery and defined them as a nation. The name, Passover, refers to the 10th plague in which God “passed over” the houses of the Israelites and killed all the firstborn in ancient Egypt as punishment for refusing to free the Israelite slaves.

Jews today celebrate Passover through many traditions. Prior to the start of the holiday, observant Jews thoroughly clean their homes to remove all traces of chametz (non-kosher-for-Passover items). This tradition is a metaphor for purging oneself of all impurity. This is why the rabbis advocate going to great lengths to remove even the tiniest bit of chametz. It is meant to represent the struggle to remove our own bad traits. No bread or any leavened food is permitted on Passover, which basically includes anything made with flour. In Ashkenazi tradition (Jews of Eastern European descent), legumes, like beans, peas, lentils, rice, sesame and sunflower seeds, as well as corn and its byproducts are also not permitted onPassover. This does not apply, however, to Sephardim (Jews of Spanish, Moroccan, and Middle Eastern descent).

The holiday officially begins with a Seder (which means order), a festive meal that revolves around the retelling of the Exodus story (the Israelites escape from Egypt and slavery), called the Hagaddah. A Seder is conducted the first two nights of Passover in the Diaspora, but only the first night in Israel. The Seder plate contains the five symbols of the Seder. While any dish can be used, most families have a special Seder plate they use year after year. The foods that make up the Seder plate are not actually eaten during the Seder. They are:

Karpas: a vegetable, usually green such as parsley, to symbolize spring and rebirth. It is dipped into salt water near the beginning of the Seder.

Haroset: a mixture of chopped apples, nuts, wine and spices like cinnamon or nutmeg. It symbolizes the mortar that the slaves made for bricks in Egypt.

Maror: the bitter herbs. The most common foods used for maror are carefully washed romaine lettuce or freshly ground horseradish.

Beitzah: a roasted egg, also the symbol of the festival sacrifice.

Zeroa: the shank bone, another symbol of the festival sacrifice.

Matzah, made from flour and water, takes center stage on the Passover table. Matzah is eaten on Passover, because when the Israelites escaped from Egypt, they had no time to let their dough rise.  A special bag is set aside for the afikoman, the piece of matzah that is broken off at the beginning of the Seder. The piece within the bag is then hidden for the children at the Seder to find after the meal.  Since the Seder cannot continue without the afikoman, children are allowed to ask their price for the afikoman’s safe return once they have found it.

Other Passover traditions include drinking wine, reclining during the meal (a symbol of freedom and wealth the Jews enjoyed in ancient times), salt water (a reminder of the tears shed when we were slaves in Egypt), and the Four Questions, asked by the youngest child at the Seder, which ask why things are different on Passover.

Cultural Comment
Passover is a celebration rich with traditions and rituals, which are symbolic of significant historic events in Jewish history.  Passover is particularly focused on the youth and inspiring their curiosity about the history of their people and culture.  The tradition of storytelling as a way to communicate the history and beliefs of a people is common to many cultures.  It is also an opportunity to share cultural values.  For example, the Torah says to be kind to strangers in their land, for the Jews were strangers in ancient Egypt.  It is in the retelling of the Passover story that values such as this are passed down to the younger generations.  Rituals, traditions, and values are what give a cultural group a sense of unity and purpose.  We relive our histories to remind us of who we are and where we came from, and we teach our young about their past so that they too will feel a sense of belonging.  The sharing of history also has value across cultural groups.  In sharing our histories with others, they may better understand us, and we may better understand them.