PASSOVER
Passover
is a central holiday in Judaism and is a special time for the
individual
and the family to enrich not only the Seder night but all 8
days with
joy, meaning and inspiration that will give you and your
family strength
for the whole year. Passover...Was the birth of our
freedom...
And with our freedom we shall strive for peace
THE STORY OF PASSOVER
The
story of Passover began with the arrival of Jacob and his family
in
Egypt to be with son Joseph who had become Viceroy of all Egypt.
When
Joseph and his brothers died and the children of Israel
multiplied
in the land of Egypt, King Pharaoh chose to forget all that
Joseph
had done for Egypt - transforming it into the wealthiest
country
in the world at the time.
He
decided to take action against the influence and growing numbers
of
the children of Israel. He summoned his council and they advised
him
to enslave these people and oppress them before they grew
too
powerful.
For
the rest of this story on Passover go to this link:
Passover Traditions
The
Passover celebration begins with the "seder", the traditional
Passover
meal. The seder consists of many elements and can be
quite
long--lasting until the early morning hours for some very
religious
Jews. The "required" parts of the seder, however, are the
retelling
of the story of the exodus from Egypt, eating matza and
drinking
four cups of wine.
In
order to make it possible for all Jews to tell the story of Passover,
the
"haggada" was created. This book, read at the seder, contains--in
addition
to the story--all of the blessings over the different types of
food,
Passover songs and more.
The
matza that we eat at the seder and throughout the seven days of
Passover
(eight days outside of Israel) must be prepared under the
strictest
rabbinic supervision to be sure that the dough has no
chance
of rising. During Passover, we eat no leavened foods or foods
made
from grain other than Passover flour.
The
four cups of wine represent the four "redemption speeches"
made
by God, in which He promised to free the Hebrews from
slavery
in Egypt. A fifth cup of wine is placed on the table for Elijah
the
Prophet. This cup symbolizes a fifth promise of salvation made
by
God. Because it is said that it will be Elijah the Prophet who will
declare
the coming of final salvation, this cup of wine is meant for
him.
No one at the table is permitted to taste the wine from this cup.
As
mentioned above, Jews follow very strict dietary restrictions
during
Passover. In order to provide a varied and tasty diet, many
delicious
Kosher for Passover dishes have been created over the
years,
including matza balls (eaten in chicken soup), matza brei (a
Kosher
for Passover version of French toast), many different types
of
Passover cakes and cookies and more. Jews of different origins
(European,
North African, Asian, etc.) all have their own traditional
Passover
dishes.
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