Date of Celebration: sunset of April 19 - sunset of April 26/27, 2008
Like the holiday
of Sukkot, the intermediary days of Passover are known as Chol
HaMoed (festival weekdays) and are imbued with a semi-festive
status. It is a time for family outings and picnic lunches of
matzo, hardboiled eggs, fruits and vegetables and Passover
treats such as macaroons and homemade candies. The prohibition
against eating leavened food products and regular flour during
Passover results in the increased consumption of potatoes, eggs
and oil in addition to fresh milk and cheeses, fresh meat and
chicken, and fresh fruit and vegetables. To make a "Passover
cake," recipes call for potato starch or "Passover cake flour"
(made from finely granulated matzo) instead of regular flour,
and a large amount of eggs (8 and over) to achieve fluffiness.
Cookie recipes use matzo farfel (broken bits of matzo) or ground
nuts as the base. For families with Eastern European
backgrounds, borsht, a soup made with beets, is a Passover
tradition. Some hotels, resorts, and even cruise ships across
America, Europe and Israel also undergo a thorough housecleaning
and import of Passover foodstuffs to make their premises "kosher
for Pesach", with the goal of attracting families for a
week-long vacation. Besides their regular accommodations and
on-site recreational facilities, these hotels assemble a package
of lectures given by a "rabbi in residence," children's
activities, and tours to entertain Passover guests. Each meal is
a demonstration of the chefs' talents in turning the basic
foodstuffs of Passover into a culinary feast.
Passover is probably the best known of the Jewish holidays,
mostly because it ties in with Christian history (the Last
Supper was apparently a Passover seder), and because a lot of
its observances have been reinterpreted by Christians as
Messianic and signs of Jesus. Passover begins on the 15th day of
the Jewish month of Nissan. It is the first of the three major
festivals with both historical and agricultural significance
(the other two are Shavu'ot and Sukkot). Agriculturally, it
represents the beginning of the harvest season in Israel, but
little attention is paid to this aspect of the holiday. The
primary observances of Passover are related to the Exodus from
Egypt after 400 years of slavery. This story is told in Exodus,
Ch. 1-15. Many of the Passover observances are instituted in Chs.
12-15.
The name "Passover" refers to the fact that G-d "passed over"
the houses of the Jews when he was slaying the firstborn of
Egypt. In Hebrew, it is known as Pesach (that "ch" is pronounced
as in the Scottish "loch"), which is based on the Hebrew root
meaning "pass over". The holiday is also referred to as Chag
he-Aviv (the Spring Festival), Chag ha-Matzoth (the Festival of
Matzahs), and Zeman Herutenu (the Time of Our Freedom) (again,
all with those Scottish "ch"s). Probably the most significant
observance related to Passover involves the removal of chametz
(leaven; sounds like "hum it's" with that Scottish ch) from our
homes. This commemorates the fact that the Jews leaving Egypt
were in a hurry, and did not have time to let their bread rise.
It is also a symbolic way of removing the "puffiness"
(arrogance, pride) from our souls.
Chametz includes anything made from the five major grains (wheat, rye,
barley, oats and spelt) that has not been completely cooked within 18
minutes after coming into contact with water. Traditional Jews of
Ashkenazic background also avoid rice, corn, peanuts, and legumes
(beans) as if they were chametz. All of these items have been used to
make bread, thus use of them was prohibited to avoid any confusion. Such
additional items are referred to as "kitniyos." We may not eat chametz
during Passover; we may not even own it or derive benefit from it. We
may not even feed it to our pets or cattle. All chametz, including
utensils used to cook chametz, must either be disposed of or sold to a
non-Jew. The process of cleaning the home of all chametz in preparation
for Passover is an enormous task. To do it right, you must spend several
days scrubbing everything down, going over the edges of your stove and
fridge with a toothpick and a Q-Tip, covering all surfaces that come in
contact with foil or shelf-liner, etc., etc., etc. After the cleaning is
completed, the morning before the seder, a formal search of the house
for chametz is undertaken, and any remaining chametz is burned.
The grain product we eat during Passover is called matzah. Matzah is
unleavened bread, made simply from flour and water and cooked very
quickly. This is the bread that the Jews made for their flight from
Egypt. We have come up with many inventive ways to use matzah; it is
available in a variety of textures for cooking: matzah flour (finely
ground), matzah meal (coarsely ground), matzah farfel (little chunks,
used as a noodle substitute), and full-sized matzahs (about 10 inches
square, a bread substitute). The day before Passover is the fast of the
firstborn, a minor fast for all firstborn males, commemorating the fact
that the firstborn Jewish males in Egypt were not killed during the
final plague.
On the first night of Passover (first two nights for traditional Jews
outside Israel), we have a special family meal filled with ritual to
remind us of the significance of the holiday. This meal is called a
seder, from a Hebrew root word meaning "order." It is the same root from
which we derive the word "siddur" (prayer book). There is a specific set
of information that must be covered in a specific order. This is the
seder. An overview of a traditional seder is included later in this
page. Passover lasts for seven days (eight days outside of Israel). The
first and last days of the holiday (first two and last two outside of
Israel) are days on which no work is permitted. See Extra Day of
Holidays for more information. Work is permitted on the intermediate
days. These intermediate days on which work is permitted are referred to
as Chol Ha-Mo'ed, as are the intermediate days of Sukkot.
