Passover, Jewish Pesah, is the Festival of Freedom and is by far the most popular Jewish holiday. One of the reasons for Passover's universal interest is its home character. Members of the family travel great distances to be together at the Seder table (Passover Meal) with their kin. The desire to participate in a Seder, no matter where a person may be, indicates that the childhood impressions of the holiday have a fast hold upon the Jewish heart.

The holy days begins on the fourteenth day of the Biblical month of Nisan and continues for seven days through the twenty-first day (Leviticus 23:8).  Like Sukkot and Shavuot, Pesach was originally a nature festival that later took on historical significance. At one time it commemorated the barley harvest and the lambing season in ancient Palestine; it also marked the rejuvenation of life in general. Passover came to symbolize the Exodus from Egyptian bondage, which meant more than any other single historical event in the life of the ancient Hebrews.

The Seder, which is held in traditional households on the first two nights of Passover, highlights the festival. The entire family is seated around the table with the father as teacher and the family as students; it is a class in audio-visual education, each object on the table representing a symbol of the freedom lesson.

The matzah is the bread of affliction that our forebears ate in haste while in flight from Egypt. The shankbone represents the paschal sacrifice offered by each family on the eve of Passover. The egg represents an additional sacrifice, but it has also been interpreted to signify the Jewish people - just as the egg hardens when heated, so has the Jewish will to survive become more resolute with each added persecution. The maror or bitters remind us of the anguish that the Jews experienced in servitude; the haroset, or mixture of apples, nuts, and wine, serves to recall the mortar that the Hebrews were forced to make under the Pharaoh. The greens serve as the symbol of spring. Four cups of wine are drunk at various intervals to recall the four times that God promised freedom to the Israelites. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, a fifth cup has been added in many homes, with an appropriate prayer.

Much of the Seder is geared to the interest of the children. The youngest anxiously awaits his or her turn to ask the four questions; they read with the family a description of four different kinds of children and their respective interest in Judaism; they attempt to "steal" the afikomen (dessert Matzah), which is hidden at the beginning of the ceremony. The songs are postponed to the end of the service so that the children's interest will be maintained to the very end.

The Haggadah, out of which the family reads the account of Israel's flight to freedom, is a short history of the Jewish people rather than just a description of the holiday. Its passages help to entertain and instruct the more supple minds, to enlighten and to challenge the astute. The principal theme of the entire Haggadah is found in the following passage: "In every generation each man must regard himself as though he left Egypt." The Jew is bidden to remind him or herself continually that the task of seeking freedom for the oppressed is never ended. One should never take freedom for granted, and "the more one repeats the story of the Exodus the more praiseworthy he becomes."

The Historical Passover 

The name Passover is taken from the Exodus story.  During the tenth and ultimate plague inflicted upon Pharaoh, king of ancient Egypt, the Lord passed over the Israelites and struck dead the Egyptian firstborn.  That night Pharaoh finally agreed to let the children of Israel go; and ever since then Jews have gathered together on this night to commemorate being freed by the "strong arm" of Elohim.

Passover marked the beginning of the relationship between the Holy One of Israel and the nation of Israel, because up to that time the Covenant was established only with individuals, such as Abraham.

Passover is a spring holiday which follows the bleakness of winter. Spring marks the rebirth of the earth with the bursting forth of new life.  Similarly, a people shackled in oppressive slavery to Pharaoh, being the lowest of the social group and doomed to a slow process of degradation, burst forth out of Egypt in a new life's journey leading to the land of promise.  God adopted them as the very sons and daughters of the Most High.  

So it is today. Once set free from sin the saint of God should never return to be spiritually enslaved again.  The Israelites believed they would always be slaves, having been bound for so long by Pharaoh; but when the prophet Moses called for the people to go, they left behind their jobs and secure homes with the hope for a better life.  The redemption of the Exodus foreshadows the redemption of Israel soon to come.

Devout observants today prepare for Passover in much the same way they have for centuries.  Days before the holy day, a search is made of their homes for any yeast or leavened products, which are then discarded.  God required that leaven be put away for the seven days of Passover ( Exodus 12:15; 13:7)..  The Seder table is set for the family.  Around the meal, with an extra cup of wine set for the expected prophet Elijah, the Jewish household prays and sings, and the children ask questions about the Exodus.

Passover evening is a time of reflection, both of the freedom from slavery as well as the future redemption to be heralded by Elijah.  God promises in Malachi 3:1, "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before Me" just before the Lord--the Angelic Messenger of the Covenant at Mount Sinai--comes to His Temple in Jerusalem.  Malachi identifies the one who will prepare the path for Messiah: "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful Day of the Lord comes," (4:5).  Many Jews expect Elijah's arrival at Passover.

Feast of Unleavened Bread

The evening meal of Passover leads into a new day as the sun sets in the west.  Just as the death angel passed over the people of Israel because they obeyed, using the sacrificial blood of a lamb, so Almighty will pass over the saints with death's sentence as they have trusted in the blood of the Lamb.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread, known in Judaism as "Had-ha-matzot," is the first full day of Passover and falls on the fifteenth day of Nisan (Leviticus 23:6-7).  On this day the people were to "hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work."  The sabbath of unleavened bread evokes images of that night when the Israelites ate the sacrificial lamb in fear, yet eager anticipation of the coming days.