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Passover
Passover is a Jewish holiday commemorating their exodus from Egypt as cited in the Old Testament. This category is about the conceptual significance of Passover which is central to the understanding of Judaism.
937 Questions
What four ways do Jews celebrate Passover?
Conducting the Pesach (Passover) Seder meal
Refraining from work on the days of Passover when work is forbidden by the Torah
Praying, and reading the Torah-portions for each day
Avoiding leavened foods (bread, etc.) during Passover, as commanded in the Torah (Exodus ch.12)
What is the correct wish for Passover - Is it Blessed Passover?
In Hebrew it is: Chag Pesach sameach
In English it is: Happy Passover
How do you know when Passover is about to come?
Passover always begins on the same date on the Hebrew calendar: the 14th of Nissan.
What are three important things Jews do at the passover festival?
Thing 1: Eliminate all leaven from their households (bread, even crumbs, and any grains that may have been, even remotely, exposed to even small amounts of water).
Thing 2: Host or attend a Passover seder, that is, a meal on the first (and sometimes second) evening of Passover that has a special liturgy around it. (A second night for Jews outside Israel except that Reform Jews only celebrate one night.)
Thing 3: Instead of bread, throughout the weeklong festival, eat only unleavened bread, that is, Matzah.
What do they wear during passover?
Most people wear Bigdei Shabbos, Shabbos clothing. That is usually a white button down shirt and black pants for the men, and nice (appropriate) clothes for the women. During the seder, some married men wear a Kittel, a white garment that resembles burial shrouds.
You don't! You dip it before the blessing so that there is no interruption between the blessing and eating, but you make the blessing and then eat.
How many seder plates are in a passover dinner?
There is only one ceremonial plate; other than that, everyone present at the seder has a plate for the normal purpose of holding their food. Depending upon how many people are at the seder, this can be lots of plates.
Who wouldn't let the hebrews go free?
The Bible or Torah doesn't say, but I think it was Thutmoses iii
because his cause of death is unknown and he ruled as Pharoah around the same time the Exodus took place. [1,310]
What day do the Jewish people make their offerings?
In Judaism, offerings cannot be made without the Temple. As the Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E., Jews have not made offerings in 1,930 years. As specified in the Torah, prayer replaced sacrifice with the destruction of the Temple.
What does the charoset represent at a Passover meal?
It looks like what the Jews used to make bricks in Egypt, so it represents the bricks that the Jews were forced to make.
What plague finally convinced Ramses to let the Hebrews go?
According the Old Testament, Pharaoh finally allowed the Hebrews to leave Egypt after the Tenth Plague: Death of all Firstborn Egyptians.
Why does matzah have those holes?
Matzah has holes to prevent it from puffing up as Jews are not supposed to eat any leavened or puffed bread. There is no symbolism behind the holes.
The reason air pockets are a problem is because it is possible that a piece of dough inside the air pocket might not cook within 18 minutes, and will be considered leavened (Chametz) which is forbidden for Jews to eat or own on Passover. (Some groups assume that regardless of perforation, there may be pockets of not fully cooked dough in matzah; this is why there is the issue of gebrokt/non-gebrokt.)
Do Jews nowadays kill lamb for the passover feast?
Killing and/or eating lamb during passover is actually not done by Ashkenazi Jewish custom. Many Sephardim do eat lamb during Passover with some Ashkenazi Jews starting to eat lamb too.
Due to the religious laws surrounding kosher slaughter, not anyone can slaughter an animal for consumption. Specially trained people called a Shochet are the only ones allowed to do kosher slaughter.
What did the lamb bitter herbs and unloved bread mean on Passover night?
Matzah (unleavened bread):
Matzah represents two things:
- The poor food eaten by our ancestors as Egyptian slaves, the alternate name for matzah is 'bread of affliction'.
- When the moment of liberation came, it was so sudden, they didn't have time to let their bread rise before baking it.
Maror (bitter herbs):
Maror symbolises the bitterness of slavery.
Lamb:
The final plague HaShem sent to the Egyptians was the death of firstborn sons. To mark their homes, the Israelites were commanded to slaughter a lamb and paint the blood on the door posts of their home. There was a second reason for slaughtering lambs and using their blood. The Egyptians worshiped lambs as one of their gods. By slaughtering the lambs, the Israelites showed their rejection of the Egyptian false gods. In addition to using the lambs' blood to mark their doors, the Israelites were required to roast the meat and eat all of it. While the Temple stood, families would slaughter a lamb as an offering of thanks to HaShem, again, they were required to roast and eat all of the meat. Today, Ashkenazi Jews do not traditionally eat lamb for Pesach (Passover) while Sephardi Jews often do.
What was the custom in Judea at the time of the Passover concerning prisoners?
A: The Christian gospels say that it was the custom to release one prisoner at the time of the Passover, but scholars can find no evidence that this was ever a practice in Judea. The Christian story tells of Pontius Pilate offering to release one prisoner, and the Jews chose to release Barabas and sacrifice Jesus. This story is probably based on the Jewish tradition of releasing one sheep at Yom Kippur and sacrificing another sheep.
Are lamb chops kosher for Passover?
Lamb can be kosher for Passover. However, Ashkenazi Jews traditionally do not eat lamb during Passover.
What is the main theme of the Passover Seder?
The theme of the Seder meal is freedom from slavery, based on the verse in Exodus "And you shall tell it to your son on that day, saying, 'Because of this God did for me when He took me out of Egypt'" (Exodus 13:8). It is a time of celebrating God's deliverance of the Jews from bondage to Pharaoh in Egypt.
What was the Breaking of the Matzah at the Passover?
the Matzah is a bread that is broken in three. One third is hidden and then shown later. Many ideas speculate as to what this means. Some say it stands for Moses, Elijah, and David, some for the Christian Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and that the Son, Jesus (Y'shua) was put away in death as the final sacrafice and brought back through Reserection to redeem through his unblemished blood and as Messiah to redeem Israel from her sins
What is the post Passover period?
The period after Passover is Sfiras HaOmer. It lasts for 49 days. Be aware that it actually starts on the 2nd night of passover, not after it. This is a count towards Shavuos.
What Hebrew month and day was Moses born?
The seventh of Adar (Talmud, Kiddushin 38a).
More information
Moses was an Israelite, a great-great grandson of Jacob. He was born 245 years after the death of Abraham. The time when Moses was born was when the Pharaoh had ordered his people to kill all Israelite male infants because he (Pharaoh) was afraid that the Israelites would become too strong for him (Exodus ch.1-2).
Moses' mother didn't want him to die. So she made a basket for him and put him in it to float in the Nile reeds. He was found by Pharaoh's daughter, who took pity on him (Exodus ch.2) and raised him as her own son.
Moses was forced to flee after killing a cruel Egyptian taskmaster, and went to Midian, where he wedded the daughter of Jethro.
He eventually achieved the highest level of prophecy (Deuteronomy ch.34) and was called upon by God (Exodus ch.3). He brought the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery (Exodus ch.12). He received the Torah from God (Exodus 24:12) and later recorded it in writing (Deuteronomy 31:24). He went up on Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights (Deuteronomy ch.9-10) and brought down the Two Stone Tablets with the Ten Commandments (Exodus 31:18). He brought the Israelites into the covenant with God (Exodus ch.19 and ch.24), and he oversaw the building of the Tabernacle (Exodus ch.35-40). He was the humblest of men and the greatest of prophets (Numbers ch.12).
See also the Related Links.
Link: Problems that Moses faced and overcame
- How did Moses know he was an Israelite?
1) In those days, Israelite custom was to nurse babies for up to four years. Since it was his own mother who nursed him (Exodus 2:8-9), his family had plenty of time to teach him before he was returned to Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus 2:10) to live in the palace.
2) Moses was not a prisoner in the royal palace. He came and went as he pleased (Exodus 2:11 and 2:13) and sought out his people (ibid).
- Did Moses ever sin or make a mistake?
The claim to infallibility is a sure sign of megalomania and prevarication. The Hebrew Bible, because of its Divine origin, kowtows to no man, and prominently spotlights the faults of even its greatest protagonists. In this regard it is unique in ancient literature.
Moses' sin is mentioned (Numbers 20:12 and 24) again and again (Numbers ch.27, Deuteronomy ch.32). He struck the rock which was, by a miracle of God, made into a source of water (Numbers ch.20). He was supposed to speak to the rock instead (ibid). Striking the rock served to slightly diminish the miracle.
It should be self-understood that this criticism of Moses is only in proportion to his greatness. In the final analysis, he remained the most godly person who ever lived (Deuteronomy ch.34).
