New York – Jews Around The Globe To Celebrate Passover

    0

    New York – Jews around the world will celebrate Passover, (Pesach) this year between sunset on Monday, 18 April, and sunset on Monday, 26 April. The eight-day commemoration of Jews being freed from slavery in Egypt, and their subsequent exodus to the Promised Land.

    Join our WhatsApp group

    Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


    The first Passover began under the shadow of death. According to the Torah, God inflicted 10 plagues on Egypt as a way to get the pharaoh at the time to release the Jews from bondage. The first nine were blood, frogs, lice, wild animals, pestilence, boils, hail, locusts and darkness. But the pharaoh’s persistent refusals led God to instruct the Israelites to procure and slaughter a spring lamb and smear the blood of the lamb on their door posts. Hashem told Moses that he would “pass over” the land and spare the lives of the first born of families who complied with his command.

    All other first-born children, including the pharaoh’s, died of the “10th plague.”

    The Jews, told to leave Egypt, packed so quickly that they had no time to allow their bread to rise, so they carried it and baked and consumed it unleavened, consuming it in the same way that Jews do on Passover today.

    Jews sell its “chametz,” leavened bread, to non Jews before the holiday in order not to transgress the commandment of not owning any chametz during the holiday. This includes any food product that contains leavened wheat, oat, barley, rye, or spelt products.

    After a search for remaining chametz in houses Sunday night, Jews burn it the following morning, several hours before Pesach begins.

    Dishes also are changed for the holiday or were made kosher through a procedure of cleaning them, leaving them unused for a period of time and then dipping them in boiling water.

    The traditional Seder is held Monday and Tuesday night. The guide for the Seder is detailed in the Haggadah, literally “narration,” which relates the story of the Exodus from Egypt.

    A plate placed on the Seder table contains several special foods: a roasted egg, symbolizing the special sacrifices which were brought in the Temple; a roasted shank bone, recalling the special Passover lamb offered and eaten in Temple times; a mixture of chopped apples, nuts, wine and cinnamon known as charoset, symbolizing the mortar that the Hebrew slaves in Egypt used to make bricks; sprigs of parsley and lettuce, symbolizing spring; a bitter herb symbolizing the bitterness of slavery; and salt water, recalling the tears shed by the Hebrew slaves in Egypt.

    Three whole pieces of matza mark the division of the Jewish people into priests (Kohenim), Levites and the general population are also placed on the table. There are also other explanations for this custom, as there are for almost all of the customs.

    During the course of the Seder, the Ten Plagues are recalled. When each of the Plagues is mentioned, each participant dips a finger into his/her cup of wine and removes a drop; even though the Jews were oppressed in Egypt, we are reminded that we must not rejoice over the Egyptians’ suffering. Our cups of wine cannot thus be full.

    One of the more popular Seder customs for children concerns the afikoman, a special piece of matza that is the last food eaten during the Seder. The head of the household customarily hides the afikoman somewhere in the house, and the children then search for it. Once found, the afikoman is “ransomed,” since the Seder cannot continue until the afikoman is eaten. This helps to keep the children focused on the Seder and to pique their curiosity regarding the entire Passover epic.

    From the evening of Monday 25 April, Jews will keep a nightly count of the 49 days (seven weeks), until the evening of Monday 6 June, one day before the holiday of Shavuot. This count commemorates the Temple offering of the omer, or sheaf of new grain, in keeping with the Biblical injunction of Leviticus 23:15-16.


    Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

    iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

    Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


    Connect with VINnews

    Join our WhatsApp group