Families and communities hold ritual feasts called seders, during which people eat special foods and read from the Haggadah, a text that sets forth the order of rituals at the dinner table and explains their meaning.
The first Passover seder is on the evening of Monday, April 22nd, and the second Passover seder takes place on the evening of Tuesday, April 23rd. Passover 2024 begins at sundown on Monday, April 22nd and ends the evening of Tuesday, April 30th for most Jews in diaspora. Jews in the land of Israel and some Reform Jews in diaspora will end Passover on the evening of Monday, April 29th.
What is Passover?
The holiday, also called Pesach in Hebrew, is observed for eight days in the U.S.
It commemorates the biblical story of the Jewish people's escape from slavery in ancient Egypt. Passover is a festival of freedom.
It commemorates the Israelites' Exodus from Egypt, and their transition from slavery to freedom. The main ritual of Passover is the Seder, which occurs on the first two night (in Israel just the first night) of the holiday - a festive meal that involves the re-telling of the Exodus through stories and song and the consumption of ritual foods, including matzah and maror (bitter herbs).
The seder's rituals and other readings are outlined in the Haggadah - today, many different versions of this Passover guide are available in print and online. Passover always begins on the night of a full moon in accordance with the Jewish calendar, according to NASA. It says the moon is known by many names including Pink Moon, Sprouting Grass Moon, Egg Moon, Fish Moon, the Pesach or Passover Moon and the Hanuman Jayanti Festival Moon.
What are some Passover practices?
The central Passover practice is a set of intense dietary changes, mainly the absence of hametz, or foods with leaven. (Ashkenazi Jews also avoid kitniyot, a category of food that includes legumes.) In recent years, many Jews have compensated for the lack of grain by cooking with quinoa, although not all recognize it as kosher for Passover. The ecstatic cycle of psalms called Hallel is recited both at night and day (during the seder and morning prayers). Additionally, Passover commences a 49-day period called the Omer, which recalls the count between offerings brought to the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. This count culminates in the holiday of Shavuot, the anniversary of the receiving of the Torah at Sinai.
What foods do we eat on Passover?
Matzah, or unleavened bread, is the main food of Passover. You can purchase it in numerous stores, or you can make your own. But the holiday has many traditional, popular foods, from haroset (a mixture of fruit, nuts, wine, and cinnamon) to matzah ball soup - and the absence of leavening calls upon a cook to employ all their culinary creativity.
Submitted by: Angie Taylor