Friday marks the beginning of a special time for many Jewish people around the world. It is Passover, also called Passover, that celebrates the Exodus, the deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
Passover occurs every year during the month of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar. That is usually in March or April. In Israel it takes seven days; everywhere else it is eight days. This year Passover is from Friday to April 23.
But how is the holiday celebrated and why is it so important? We spoke to some experts.
Why is Passover important?
The holiday is named for the story behind it, when the angel of God passed through the homes of Israelites and rescued them, said Clémence Boulouque, an associate professor of Jewish and Israel Studies at Columbia University in New York.
People celebrate it over conversation and dinner, telling stories of liberation, the end of slavery and those who are still fighting for freedom. It’s meant to make people appreciate freedom and push for social justice, she said.
This year is especially powerful because of current events and conflicts around the world, said Rabbi Michael Holzman of the Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation in Reston.
“My community, we think about Ukrainians, we think about Afghans, we think about the situation on the southern border of the United States,” he told USA TODAY. “We live in a time of huge waves of refuge, so there’s a lot of resonance with what’s happening in the world.”
How are the dates determined? Why are Easter and Passover so late in 2022? Blame the moon and a cacophony of calendars.
Is Passover related to Easter?
Yes. Jesus was Jewish and had a Passover meal with his followers the day before his crucifixion on the Thursday before Easter Sunday. The last supper was actually a Seder, Boulouque said.
As Christianity developed and focused more specifically on Jesus, Hebrew practices were rejected, said Simeon Chavel, an associate professor of the Hebrew Bible at the University of Chicago’s Divinity School. The calendars, practices and meanings eventually diverged.
And for those wondering: Passover doesn’t always fall before Easter. According to Holzman, Hebrew and Catholic authorities have separate systems for calculating their calendars. Usually they line up, but sometimes they don’t.
Are Good Friday and Passover the same?
New. Passover celebrates the liberation of the Israelites from slavery, while Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus, Boulouque said. Coincidentally, this year Passover begins on a Friday.
How is Passover Celebrated?
Passover always begins and ends in the evening, but traditions depend largely on where families come from.
Usually there are Seders or ceremonial dinners with symbolic foods, guidelines and other traditions. Foods containing leavening agents are banned, or considered “chametz,” as a reminder of the haste with which the Jews fled Egypt.
Passover in the United States:
- Day 1: Seder dinner (ritual retelling of the Exodus and a traditional meal of six symbolic foods according to the guidelines of chametz); there are also work bans subject to compliance.
- Day 2: Seder dinner (ritual retelling of the Exodus and a traditional meal of six symbolic foods according to the guidelines of chametz); there are also work bans subject to compliance.
- Days 3-6: Regular meal as per chametz guidelines.
- Days 7-8: Regular meal according to chametz guidelines; there are also work bans subject to compliance.
Seder plate ideas? 6 Seder plates for your next Passover meal.
For Passover, families clean their homes — such as the spring cleaning — and the night before the holidays, they search for “chametz” items, such as breadcrumbs. If found, these items will be burned, said Boulouque, an associate professor of Jewish and Israel Studies at Columbia University in New York.
“It’s almost something that indicates a comfortable life,” she said. “It’s something you want to take out of your daily life as a reminder of the toll it took to be slaves and leave Egypt.”
In the United States, the first two nights of Passover involve a Seder, which means “order” in Hebrew. It’s a ceremonial meal and retelling of the Passover story in a specific order using the Haggadah, the book that tells the story of the Israelites leaving Egypt, she said.
There are also activities for children, including reading from the Haggadah. Some kids will also hide matzo — unleavened bread or flatbread — so their parents can go find it, Chavel said.
When Passover ends, families from North Africa or the Middle East celebrate the Mimouna, a festival in which they decorate with lights and have a feast and return to eating the foods banned during the holiday, Boulouque said.
What is the ‘bread of affliction’?
During Passover, families eat symbolic foods such as matzo or unleavened bread, as well as eggs.
Each item represents a part of the story, such as the unleavened bread. It’s sometimes called the “bread of torment” as a reminder of the pain of slavery, Boulouque said.
There are also bitter herbs such as horseradish to represent the bitterness of slavery, as well as charoset, a paste made from fruits, nuts and other ingredients that “symbolizes the mortar that Jewish people made while building pyramids for pharaoh and thus their slavery when them under the yoke of a megalomaniac tyrant,” she said.
Some of the foods that are banned during Passover include yeast-leavened flour, as well as wheat and grain products that have come into contact with water or have risen, Holzman said. He said that during Passover Jews consume flour that has been in contact with water for only less than 18 minutes before baking, creating unleavened bread, or matzo.
Even the banned foods are symbolic, Boulouque said.
“This is a holiday of humility,” she said. “This idea of being humble and eating foods that are not sweet – you are not swollen with pride. It is a story of people who are grateful that they are no longer slaves and take everything they had and leave immediately.”
Some people even pay their respects to women on Passover by adding an orange to represent their incorporation into Jewish leadership, Holzman said.
“There is a lot of creativity in Passover food, with people wanting to honor and respect different Jewish traditions from around the world. You may find a family that is not affiliated with the Middle East and makes it Middle Eastern Passover food.”
