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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 is the relationship between the passover and communion?
Passover commemorates the liberation, led by Moses, of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt.
This is an obligatory custom (Mishna, Pesachim ch.10), meant to intrigue the children (among other reasons). Also, the first dipping is in salt water, which symbolizes the tears of the Israelites in Egypt.
The second dipping is in haroseth, which symbolizes the mortar used with the bricks in Egypt.
What are the decorations used for Passover?
There is no 'color' for Passover.
There are no colors associated with Jewish holidays. Occasionally, you will see blue and white used with Chanukah, but this has little basis in anything. Those are the colors on the Israeli flag. Blue-purple is the color traditionally sewn into a few fringes on a tallis.
Why is the 10th plague significant in regards to passover?
It was the plague after which Pharaoh finally freed the Israelites.
How does Passover help Jewish kids understand what happened?
Pesach (Passover) helps Jewish children understand the relevant events since during Passover we relive the Exodus from Egypt and our birth as a nation, both of which were preparations for receiving the Torah from God.
The highlight of Passover is the Seder meal. During the Seder, we keep the essential mitzva and customs of handing Jewish traditions down to the next generation, with the traditional Seder foods and the ceremony of reading the Passover Haggadah which retells the events of the Exodus. This meal is of great importance in Judaism. It is a 3325-year old continuous tradition that began on the night of the Exodus from Egypt (see Exodus chapter 12), and is fully detailed in our ancient Oral Traditions (Talmud, chapter Arvei Pesachim).
The Seder meal is one of those occasions, like Yom Kippur and Hanukkah, that Jews all over the world, Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike, observe in common.
During the Seder meal, other traditional foods are eaten in addition to the matzah: bitter herbs, parsley, wine and haroset (see below). Salt water, a roasted egg, and a bit of roasted meat are also on the table.
During all the days of Passover, matzah (unleavened bread) is eaten; while leavened foods such as bread, cake, cookies, cereal and pasta are forbidden. Certain prayers are added in the synagogue services, and the Torah is read each day.
Here is the symbolism of the items on the Seder plate:
The bitter herbs (maror) symbolize the harsh slavery which the Israelites suffered in Egypt. Horseradish and/or romaine lettuce are traditionally used for maror.
Charoset - A sweet mixture representing the mortar used by the Jewish slaves to build the storehouses of Egypt. In Ashkenazi Jewish homes, charoset is traditionally made from chopped nuts, grated apples, cinnamon, and sweet red wine.
Karpas - A vegetable other than bitter herbs, traditionally parsley, which is dipped into salt water at the beginning of the Seder. The dipping of a simple herb into salt water (which represents tears) recalls the pain felt by the Israelite slaves in Egypt.
Beitzah - A hard-boiled egg, symbolizing the korban chagigah (festival sacrifice) that was offered in the Temple in Jerusalem and roasted and eaten as part of the meal on Seder night. Although both the Pesach sacrifice and the chagigah were meat-offerings, the chagigah is commemorated by an egg, a symbol of mourning.
Z'roa - A roasted lamb or goat shank-bone, chicken wing, or chicken neck; symbolizing the korban Pesach (Pesach sacrifice), which was a lamb that was offered in the Temple in Jerusalem, then roasted and eaten as part of the meal on Seder night.
See also:
The passover, during that time is when he held the first "last supper", which we celebrate to this day as Christians when we participate in "Communion", which is known as the Eucharist to Catholics.
Why do Jews remember and celebrate Exodus?
No particular reason. It just seems like a good time of the year to take time off
from work, get together with family, have some great meals and a lot of wine.
Very much like Christmas and Easter, which are likewise vestiges of ancient
traditions based on historically uncorroborated folklore, and which likewise
have little or no relevance or usefulness in these modern times.
The traditional viewpoint is that it is a specific commandment in the Torah to
remember the Passover, and another specific commandment to tell ones children
about it. There are several reasons for this. However, the primary reason given is
that this is when G-d made and "appearence" so to say in the world which
showed that he was not only the creator of the world, but that he is involved in
the daily workings of the world continuously. This was the event that was the
beginning of the Jewish people as a nation and the giving of the Torah on Mount
Sinai, eventually culminating in the Israelite nation entering and settling in the
land of Canaan (Israel).
In Israel, Passover was from sunset on April 15 (1889), until sunset on April 22. Outside of Israel, Passover was from sunset on April 15 (1889), until sunset on April 23. See also:
Why do Jews have a Seder plate?
The Seder Plate is a special plate for holding the symbolic foods used during the seder. Pieces of the symbolic foods are distributed to everyone during the course of the seder. Traditionally, the person leading the seder is the only one with a Seder Plate. However if there are many guests, additional Seder Plates can also be set on the table.
Why did pharaohs order Hebrew parents to throw male babies in the river?
Pharaohs order Hebrew parents to throw male babies in the river is because he was gay
How long were the Hebrews in bondage?
According to Exodus 12:40-1, the Egyptian Captivity was for a period of 430 years.
However, scholars long ago noted that there is a contradiction between this period and the genealogy of Moses. A Jewish midrash (non-binding theological opinion) of the Common Era attempted to rationalise by stating that Moses protested to God that he could not lead the Hebrews, because they had only been in Egypt for 210 years and had not yet faced the 400 years of oppression that God had foretold to Abraham. God responded that the time of oppression had to be dated from the birth of Isaac, and so 400 years had indeed gone by. This midrash implies that the Egyptian Captivity was only for 210 years.
Scholars say that the Israelites were not really enslaved in Egypt - this was a legend that developed long after they had forgotten their real heritage.
What does Passover remind the Jews off?
Passover commemorates the Biblical events of the plagues of Egypt while the Israelites were enslaved there, and how the tenth plague was not visited on those Israelite households that marked their doors with lamb's blood.
Why was it important to celebrate pesach in World War 2?
When the Jewish people were led out of Egypt where they have been enslaved they observed a holy day commemorating that event and giving thanks and praise to God for their deliverance. During World War II, the very admission of one being a Jew would ensure their persecution by Germany authorities under the auspices of Adolf Hitler. During the war years they were forced to celebrate in private, but they had the knowledge that God who had delivered them from Egypt would also deliver them from the atrocities of the Germany authorities. Exodus 12:2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you
Exodus 13:4 This day came ye out in the month Abib.
Leviticus 23:5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's passover.
Deuteronomy 16:1 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.
How old was gaylord nelson when he invented the first earth day?
People were starting to worry about air and water pollution. There had been a big oil spill the year before in Santa Barbara, California, and US Senator Gaylord Nelson thought that a special day would gather the energy of Americans. Twenty million people gathered that first Earth Day all across America. April 22, 1970.
When is a seder plate used passover or all Jewish holidays?
Anyone who is hosting a Passover Seder (the ritual dinner on the first two nights of Passover), would have a Seder plate. It's usually placed in the center of the dinner table. It is a special plate containing symbolic foods eaten and displayed during the Passover Seder.
The foods are arranged on the plate has special significance to the retelling of the story of the exodus from Egypt, which is the focus of the Seder. There are 6 ritual items, five of them are on the Seder Plate:
• Bitter herbs, symbolizing the bitterness of slavery, which the Hebrews endured in Egypt.
• A sweet mixture of chopped nuts, grated apples, cinnamon, and sweet wine called "Charoset", represents the mortar used by the Jewish slaves in building Egypt.
• A vegetable, usually Parsley or Endive , which is dipped into salt water to represent the tears of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt.
• A roasted lamb or shankbone, chicken wing, or chicken neck; symbolizing the Passover sacrifice, which was a lamb that was offered in the Temple in Jerusalem. This item is not eaten.
• A hard-boiled egg, symbolizing the mourning of the destruction of the Temple and our inability to offer any kind of sacrifices in honor of the Passover holiday today. (eggs are the first thing served to mourners after a funeral)
• The sixth ritual food is Matzos, which is placed on a separate plate.
There are many decorative and artistic Seder Plates, but any plate large enough to hold all the ritual food items can be used.
Are the Passover and Good Friday on the same day?
Of course it does; hence the name Good Friday Easter Sunday, for Catholics and Protestants, is the first Sunday after the first full moon after March 20 (which is the placeholder date used for the Spring Equinox in these rather ancient calculations.) Good Friday is two days before, potentially on the full moon or slightly before it. Easter ends the season of Lent, which lasts 40 days from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday.
Why do the Jews have no electricity on Passover?
Pesah = Passover Around March / April Hebrews escaped from
Egypt where they were slaves. Lasting about eight days.
Oil lamps were used.
It's because of the ruling by leaders that electricity is "lighting a fire". Any new innovation is judged by the existing laws governing what God said about work.
In Leviticus, the laws of Sabbath (any major holiday as well as "Sunday worship") have strict things about them. Among them are "do no work" and "light no fire". Making electricity is making others do work which the Ten Commandment says not to do, so you can't use electricity for the day. The point is to rest from all work, so even the simple thing like flipping a switch for electricity on Sabbath is doing work.
Since lighting a fire is also work...and forbidden...those who observe the Laws don't use electricity on Passover. How is electricity lighting a fire? Some areas use coal for electricity...lighting a fire. It's kind of complicated.
As Jewish days are from sunset until after twilight the following evening, and Passover is on the 15th of Nisan, so the first day of Passover finishes after twilight on the 15th of Nisan.
Actually the passover starts at sundown on April 8th 2009.
starts April 9, 2009; ends April 15, 2009
What practices and customs are associated with the celebration of passover in Jewish homes today?
Passover is celebrated in Jewish homes today by observing the Passover Seder which is a celebration that takes place in the Jewish home and includes the retelling of the Passover story and a special dinner of kosher foods. Other customs associated with this time are the spring cleaning of ones home in anticipation of Passover and also a ritual of removing unleavened goods or agents from the home.
Answer:
Pesach (Passover) is important to us since in it we relive the Exodus from Egypt and our birth as a nation, both of which were preparations for receiving the Torah from God.
The highlight of Passover is the Seder meal. This meal is of great importance in Judaism. It is a 3325-year oldcontinuoustradition that began on the night of the Exodus from Egypt (see Exodus chapter 12), and is fully detailed in our ancient Oral Traditions (Talmud, chapter Arvei Pesachim).
The Seder meal is one of those occasions, like Yom Kippur and Hanukkah, that Jews all over the world, Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike, observe in common. During the Seder, we keep the essential mitzva and customs of handing Jewish traditions down to the next generation, with the traditional Seder foods and the ceremony of reading the Passover Haggadah which retells the events of the Exodus.
During the Seder meal, other traditional foods are eaten in addition to the matzah: bitter herbs, parsley, wine and haroset (see below). Salt water, a roasted egg, and a bit of roasted meat are also on the table.
During all the days of Passover, matzah (unleavened bread) is eaten; while leavened foods such as bread, cake, cookies, cereal and pasta are forbidden. Certain prayers are added in the synagogue services, and the Torah is read each day.
Here is the symbolism of the items on the Seder plate:
The bitter herbs (maror) symbolize the harsh slavery which the Israelites suffered in Egypt. Either horseradish or romaine lettuce is traditionally used for maror.
Charoset - A sweet mixture representing the mortar used by the Jewish slaves to build the storehouses of Egypt. In Ashkenazi Jewish homes, charoset is traditionally made from chopped nuts, grated apples, cinnamon, and sweet red wine.
Karpas - A vegetable other than bitter herbs, traditionally parsley, which is dipped into salt water at the beginning of the Seder. The dipping of a simple vegetable into salt water (which represents tears) recalls the pain felt by the Jewish slaves in Egypt.
Beitzah - A hard-boiled egg, symbolizing the korban chagigah (festival sacrifice) that was offered in the Temple in Jerusalem and roasted and eaten as part of the meal on Seder night. Although both the Pesach sacrifice and the chagigah were meat offerings, the chagigah is commemorated by an egg, a symbol of mourning.
Z'roa - A roasted lamb or goat shank-bone, chicken wing, or chicken neck; symbolizing the korban Pesach (Pesach sacrifice), which was a lamb that was offered in the Temple in Jerusalem, then roasted and eaten as part of the meal on Seder night.
What bible story does the Passover holiday remember?
It remembers the final act of judgment of God against Pharaoh and Egypt in order to free the Israelites from slavery. After various plagues, because the Pharaoh would not give in, God declared that he would come through Egypt in the night and kill every first born male, whether human or animal. But he told Moses to tell the Israelites that in order to protect their first born, they had to sacrifice a lamb that had no defect and to spread it's blood on their door frames. Then when the angel went through the land that night killing the first born males it would 'pass over' those doors which were daubed in lamb's blood.
Following this catastrophic judgment, the Pharaoh finally gave in and gave the Israelites their freedom.
You can read this story in the second book of the Bible, Exodus, in chapters 11 and 12.
How was the Hebrew religion was different from Egypt?
The Hebrew religion (Judiasm) was the first monotheistic faith; the first religion with only One God. In biblical times, Judaism was significantly different from the pagan religions of the time. Judaism is also the founding of other Abrahamic religions such as Christianity and Islam.
AnswerMark S. Smith (The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel) says that according to the available evidence, Hebrew religion in its earliest form did not contrast markedly with the religions of its Levantine neighbours in either number or configuration of deities. The number of deities in Israel was relatively typical for the region. He says that, as they did in the religions of surrounding states, some old Canaanite deities continued within an Israelite pantheon dominated by a national god. However, Judahite belief tended away from polytheism and towards monolatry in the late monarchy, becoming monotheistic after the Babylonian Exile. The period after the Babylonian Exile, known as Second-Temple Judaism, is also marked by the rejection of human sacrifice to God. Answer:The Hebrew religion was different in that it rejected idolatry. Abraham worshiped "the Lord God of Heaven and Earth" (Genesis 14:22 and 24:3) and complained about the Philistines' lack of fear of God (Genesis 20:11). Jacob confiscated the idolatrous images taken from Shechem (Genesis 35:2) and got rid of them (Genesis 35:4); and refrained from invoking the gods of Nahor (Genesis 31:53). Rachel pilfered Laban's statue-images (Genesis 31:19) in order to prevent him from idolatry (Rashi commentary, ibid.). Joseph placed his hope in the God of the Forefathers (Genesis 50:24). Moses characterized the Golden Calf as "a great sin" (Exodus 32:21, 30) and punished the worshipers (Exodus ch.32). During the rest of his lifetime and that of Joshua (Judges 2:7), no incidents of Jewish idolatry were reported.Shortly before he died, Moses warned the people that he suspected that they would eventually succumb to the lure of the idols (Deuteronomy 29:17). Joshua gave a similar warning (Joshua ch. 24).
These warnings came true. Many of the Israelites went astray after the foreign gods (Judges 2:11). However, the Jews never invented their own idol. It was always the baneful influence of other peoples. And there were times when the entire Jewish nation repented (Judges 2:1-4) and prayed to God (Judges 3:9, 3:15, 6:6, 10:10).
Idolatry was never universal among the Jews. The tradition of the One God was handed down in every generation, whether by the few or the many; and it is those who handed down the tradition whose beliefs we Jews continue today. Deborah ascribed victory to God (Judges 4:14), Gideon tore down the idolatrous altar (Judges 6:25-27);Samson prayed to God (Judges 16:28), as did Hannah (1 Samuel 1:11) and Samuel (ibid. 12:18); Eli blessed in the name of God (1 Samuel 2:20), Saul built an altar to God (1 Samuel 14:35); Jonathan ascribed victory to God (1 Samuel 14:12), as did David (1 Samuel 17:46); and Solomon built the Temple for God (1 Kings 8:20). A number of the kings "did what was right in God's eyes": Asa (1 Kings 15:11), Yehoshaphat (1 Kings 22:43), Yehoash (2 Kings 12:3), Amatziah (2 Kings 14:3), Azariah (2 Kings 15:3), Yotam (2 Kings 15:34), Hizkiah (2 Kings 18:3), and Josiah (2 Kings 22:2).
And, of course, the Prophets, who spoke in the name of God and warned against idolatry: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea and so on.
The sages of the Talmud, who ridiculed idolatry (Megillah 25b), were simply continuing in the tradition of the Prophets whose verses are quoted in that context (ibid.).
Passover is a Spring holiday that ends after 8 days (or 7 days by some traditions). It has no distinctive ending.
