Passover
Passover, also called Pesach (/ˈpɛsɑːx, ˈpeɪ-/;[1] Biblical Hebrew: חַג הַפֶּסַח, romanized: Ḥag hapPesaḥ, lit. 'Pilgrimage of the Passing Over'), is a major Jewish holiday for Rabbinical Judaism, Karaite Judaism, and Samaritanism, one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals, that celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt.[2]
This article is about the Jewish holiday. For other uses, see Passover (disambiguation).Passoverחַג הַפֶּסַח
Jewish (religious and cultural)
- Celebrates The Exodus, the freedom from slavery of the Israelites from Ancient Egypt that followed the Ten Plagues
- Beginning of the 49 days of Counting of the Omer
- Connected to barley harvest in spring
15 Nisan
21 Nisan (22 Nisan in traditional Diaspora communities)
15 Nisan, 16 Nisan, 17 Nisan, 18 Nisan, 19 Nisan, 20 Nisan, 21 Nisan, 22 Nisan
Sunset, 5 April –
nightfall, 13 April (8 days)
Sunset, 22 April –
nightfall, 30 April (8 days)
Sunset, 12 April –
nightfall, 20 April (8 days)
Sunset, 1 April –
nightfall, 9 April (8 days)
Shavuot ("Festival of Weeks") which follows 49 days from the second night of Passover.
According to the Book of Exodus, God commanded Moses to tell the Israelites to mark a lamb's blood above their doors so that the Angel of Death would pass over them: they would not be touched by the tenth Plague of Egypt, the death of the firstborn. After this Plague, Pharaoh ordered the Israelites to leave, taking whatever they wanted, and asked Moses to bless him in the name of God. The passage goes on to state that the Passover sacrifice recalls the time when God "passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt".[3]
This story is recounted at the Passover Seder by reading the Haggadah. The Haggadah is a standardized ritual account of the Exodus story, in fulfillment of the command "And thou shalt tell [Higgadata] thy son in that day, saying: It is because of that which the LORD did for me when I came forth out of Egypt."[4]
Pesach starts on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, which is considered the first month of the Hebrew year. The Rabbinical Jewish calendar is adjusted to align with the solar calendar in such a way that 15 Nisan always coincides with Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday. The Hebrew day starts and ends at sunset, so the holiday starts at sunset the day before. For example, in 2024, 15 Nisan coincides with Tuesday, April 23. Therefore, Pesach starts at sundown on Monday, April 22.
Hallel
During Passover, the recitation of Hallel a collection of Psalms praising and thanking God, is an integral part of the daily prayer service. On the initial day(s) of Passover, it is recited in its entirety, similar to the practice observed on Shavuot and throughout Succot. However, for the subsequent days of the Passover holiday, only half of the Hallel is recited. This traditional practice is widely observed by adherents of the Jewish faith as a way of expressing gratitude and celebrating the significance of Passover, while maintaining variations in the recitation of Hallel based on specific days within the festival.[91][92]
Seventh day of Passover
Shvi'i shel Pesach (שביעי של פסח, 'seventh [day] of Passover') is another full Jewish holiday, with special prayer services and festive meals. Outside the Israel, in the Jewish diaspora, Shvi'i shel Pesach is celebrated on both the seventh and eighth days of Passover.[101] This holiday commemorates the day the Children of Israel reached the Red Sea and witnessed both the miraculous "Splitting of the Sea" (Passage of the Red Sea), the drowning of all the Egyptian chariots, horses and soldiers that pursued them. According to the Midrash, only the Pharaoh was spared to give testimony to the miracle that occurred.
Hasidic Rebbes traditionally hold a tish on the night of Shvi'i shel Pesach and place a cup or bowl of water on the table before them. They use this opportunity to speak about the Splitting of the Sea to their disciples, and sing songs of praise to God.[102]
Second Passover
The "Second Passover" (Pesach Sheni) on the 14th of Iyar in the Hebrew calendar is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Numbers[103] as a make-up day for people who were unable to offer the pesach sacrifice at the appropriate time due to ritual impurity or distance from Jerusalem. Just as on the first Pesach night, breaking bones from the second Paschal offering or leaving meat over until morning is prohibited.[104][105]
Today, Pesach Sheni on the 14th of Iyar has the status of a very minor holiday (so much so that many of the Jewish people have never even heard of it, and it essentially does not exist outside of Orthodox and traditional Conservative Judaism). There are not really any special prayers or observances that are considered Jewish law. The only change in the liturgy is that in some communities Tachanun, a penitential prayer omitted on holidays, is not said. There is a custom, though not Jewish law, to eat just one piece of matzah on that night.[106]
Because the house is free of leaven (chametz) for eight days, the Jewish household typically eats different foods during the week of Passover. Some include:
Ashkenazi foods
Sephardi foods
Environmental links
Some see in Passover an important ecological lesson important to the contemporary situation with different ecological threats like climate change. For example, Rabbi Yonatan Neril, founder and executive director of the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development, compares the impact of climate change to the Plagues of Egypt and the refusal of modern society to change its way of thinking to the refusal of the Pharaoh to free the Jewish slaves.[133] Scientists discovered evidence for climatic change at the end of the rule of Ramesses II, which could potentially impact the flow of the Nile, leading to red algae bloom. This could explain what is described as the ten plagues. According to Neril: "The Egyptians were very happy to have a free source of labor in the form of Israelite slaves. When God said this needs to stop, they were reluctant to change…Fossil fuels, in the past 150 years, have replaced slave labor as the key driver of human society. There's a Pharaoh within us that wants to continue to do something that's not right."[134][135]