All About Passover!

Brush up on your Passover knowledge in time for our Passover engineering challenges and crafts at Day at the J!

Holiday Name פֶּסַח

• Means: to pass over OR protect
• Pronounce it: Peh-sach 

What It’s About

Pesach commemorates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. After about 400 years in slavery Moses (Moshe) comes along and stands up to Pharaoh, coercing him with 10 plagues to release the Israelites. Only after the death of the first born, in which God “passes over,” or protects, the Israelites, does Pharaoh acquiesce. 

Dates

Begins Wednesday, April 5, 2023, and ends at nightfall on Thursday, April 13, 2023.

Special Foods 

The Israelites were in such a hurry to leave Egypt that they didn’t have time for their bread to rise, leading to very flat bread called matzah. Every household has different foods that make the holiday special and will have variations on the seder plate, including bitter herbs, a roasted egg, a shankbone, charoset, and spring vegetables. Some people add an orange or a sunflower for Ukraine, or will make accommodations for vegetarianism. Every food has symbolism. 

Greetings

Hag Kasher V’Sameach (Have a happy and kosher holiday!)

A zissen Pesach (A sweet Passover!)

Activities

The Passover seder is one of the most widely celebrated Jewish rituals in the calendar. Families will host one to two  nights of feasts with the reading and singing of the story of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. Many will abstain from eating leavened products for eight days, completely rid their houses of foods that have leavening agents, and use special Passover dishes, pots, and pans.

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