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Community Corner

Understanding Passover

Learn the meaning behind one of Judaism's most important holidays.

Pesach, or Passover, begins today, and If the only thing you know about Passover is that those who observe the Jewish holiday are not allowed to eat bread, read on to learn the story behind the holiday and all of the traditions associated with the observance.

“Passover celebrates the freedom of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt over 3,000 years ago,” explained Dr. Itzik Eshel, education director for the of Maryland. According to the story, God helped the Israelites escape by inflicting ten plagues upon the Egyptians, with the tenth being the slaughter of all first-born children. The Israelites were instructed to mark their doors with lamb’s blood and this would allow the plague to “pass over” these homes, giving the holiday its name.

“The Israelites hasty escape from Egypt made it impossible for them to wait for their bread to rise. To remember that hurried departure, we do not eat anything leaved—no bread, no cereals, no cakes. Anything made with wheat is forbidden,” Eshel said. “Throughout the week of the holiday we eat eggs, vegetables, fruits, meats and matzo (flat, unleavened bread made from flour and water only).”

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Many families go through their homes in the days leading up to Pesach and do a thorough cleaning and some even bring in an entirely different set of dishes and cooking utensils to make sure that everything remains “kosher for Passover.”

To kick-off the celebration, Jewish families hold ceremonial dinners called seders. The word seder means order and the dinners consist of 15 specific steps that everyone must follow and complete.

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“Many people ask me why we celebrate freedom with such a regimented ceremony,” Eshel said. “I tell them that freedom does not necessarily mean chaos. We have to think about how we got our freedom. Once you’ve gone through the 15 steps, now you’ve earned it to be free.”

The major components of a seder are eating matzo, eating bitter herbs to commemorate the bitter slavery, drinking four glasses of wine to celebrate the newfound freedom, and reciting the Haggadah, the story of the Exodus. 

“The Haggadah is full of songs to make sure that everyone will rejoice and enjoy the holiday,” Eshel said.

The ritual of the seder revolves around the seder plate which contains three whole matzos, stacked one on top of the other and then covered with a cloth; a zeroa, roasted chicken bone to represent the Passover offering; a beitzah, hard-boiled egg to represent the festival offering and to serve as a sign of Spring; maror, grated horseradish to be used as the bitter herbs; charoset, a paste made of apples, pears, nuts and wine to dip the bitter herbs in and to serve as a symbol of the mortar used by the slaves when building Egyptian structures; karpas, a bit of vegetable such as an onion or potato; and chazeret, bitter herbs. There is also a small dish of salt water to represent the tears shed during the years of slavery.

“Traditionally, in Israel, you only have a seder on the first day of Pesach, which is the 15th day of the month of Nisan according to the Hebrew calendar,” Eshel explained. “But today, a lot of people do two seders, one on each of the first two nights. It is sometimes separated out so that the first night is done with family members and the second seder is done with friends.”

At Temple Emanuel, the students are learning about Pesach and holding mock seders to practice the songs and the customs and traditions. Additionally, during the first full day of Passover, Tuesday, April 19, the temple will hold special festival services as well as its annual matzo brei cook-off. “Matzo brei is essentially fried matzo with egg in it and then you can spice it up however you please,” Eshel said. “Some people put salsa in it, some people sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar, some people add cheese to it; it’s entirely up to you.”

Tuesday evening, the Temple will also host a community seder. Starting at 6:30 p.m., the price of attendance is $44 per adult, $42 per senior citizen, $22 per child 13 and younger and free for children 5 and younger. For more information, or to RSVP, contact frontdesk@templeemanuelmd.org.

The seventh and final day of Passover is marked by another special service at Temple Emanuel followed by a last matzo luncheon. Eshel said, “Most people celebrate the end of Pesach by going to synagogue and then eating pizza or fresh bread.”

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