Passover, also known as the Festival of Unleavened Bread or “Pesach” in Hebrew, commemorates the Exodus and freedom of the Israelites from ancient Egypt. The holiday marks the “birth” of the Children of Israel who became the Jewish nation as their ancestors were freed from being slaves of the Pharaoh and became followers of God.
Occurring on the fifteenth day of the month of Nissan, the first month of the Hebrew calendar, the celebration is the most commonly observed holiday of all the Jewish holidays. In Israel Passover lasts seven days and the first and last days are major holidays in which, in Orthodox and Conservative Judaism, no work is performed and most of the observances of the Shabbat are adhered to. The seder, a special meal in which the family gathers and the story of the Exodus is retold, is conducted on the first day of Passover. Outside of Israel, the holiday lasts for eight days, with the first and last two days being major holidays.
The name “Passover” derives from the night of the Tenth Plague, when the Angel of Death saw the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts of the houses of Israel and „skipped over” them, thus sparing their firstborn. The firstborn male of the family fasts the day before to remember the fact that the firstborns were not killed in the final plague.
Matzo, or unleavened bread, is an important element of the celebrations. This bread is eaten on the first night of Passover in memory of the flat bread that was baked quickly after the Israelites hastily departed from Egypt. The dough for matzo is made when flour is added to water only, which has not been allowed to rise for more than 18–22 minutes prior to baking. No leaven is allowed to be in the house during the Passover period, and a process of cleaning the home meticulously begins several weeks before the holiday.
This year, Passover begins at sunset on April 19th. Because this is a Saturday, the special preparations must be conducted slightly differently than normal, due to the practices of Shabbat. Many of the Passover preparations are tasks that cannot be performed while the regular Shabbat is observed. This means that, for example, the Fast of the Firstborn is performed on the Thursday before Passover. The seder is also prepared as much as possible beforehand.
