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•Why We Celebrate: In the Torah,
God commands the Jewish people
to commemorate their liberation
from Egyptian slavery (Exodus
12:14 19).
• The Name Of The Holiday:
Pesach in Hebrew, Passover in
English. Pesach in Hebrew means
"skip over or "pass over," and
refers to the 10th and final
plague that God brought upon
Egypt, where He killed the all
first-born Egyptians, but passed
over the Jewish households
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(888) 914-9700
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2001
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
AppleTree Editor
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248-538-2100
(Exodus 12:21-30).
• When We Celebrate: On the
Jewish calendar, 14-22 Nisan,
which this year coincides with sun-
down, April 7 to sundown, April
15. Most Jews observe an eight-day
holiday, while some denominations celebrate for
seven days. In Israel, the holiday is seven days.
Sunday and Monday (April 8, 9), and Saturday
and Sunday (April 14, 15) are full holidays when
no work is permitted. The intervening days are
semi-holidays when work is allowed.
•What We Celebrate: Primarily, our liberation
from slavery to the Egyptians, 3,000 years ago. On
a more profound level, the founding of the Jewish
nation and the beginning of our relationship with
God on a national level.
• How We Celebrate: With prayer, fellowship, dis-
cussion and food. Special prayers are recited at all
services for the entire holiday. In observance of the
Torah commandment, "You shall tell your child"
(Exodus 13:8), we gather with family and friends to
hold a unique commemorative meal called a seder
("order"). The seder menu includes foods intended
to arouse curiosity from the children and discus-
sion among all gathered on the many subjects that
revolve around Pesach: Jewish identity, our rela-
tionship with God, the actual events of the Exodus
from Egypt, our life in Egypt prior to liberation,
miracles and so on. Among the best-known seder
foods are matzah (unleavened bread), a bitter veg-
etable and four cups of wine.
•Rules And Regulations: There are many, most of
which are concerned with food. On Pesach, we
refrain from consuming any foods that are leav-
ened or contain leavening (such as yeast). This
includes bread and other items made from dough
or batter, most foods and beverages made from
grain, arid anything edible that even might contain
any amount of anything leavened. All food for
Pesach is certified as kosher for Passover (kosher
lPesach) or is beyond suspicion of containing any
leaven. Instead of bread, we eat matzah, either
plain by itself or prepared with other ingredients to
make a variety of dishes. :17,
menial tasks. Racial superiority was foremost in the motivations of the
slave holders.
Other societies sought ever larger numbers of slaves, either through
importation or natural increase, because more slaves meant less work
and greater productivity for the mas-
ters, and extra slaves could be sold as
an additional source of income.
The Torah states that the Jews were
enslaved because the Egyptians both
feared them and suspected them of
disloyalty, and imagined they might
ultimately take over (Exodus 1:10).
The Egyptians actually wanted fewer,
not more Jews. They made slaves of
the Jews to take and keep them out of
the country's economic and political
mainstream, and to exhaust them
physically so as to reduce their rate of
birth. Moreover, the Egyptians resort-
ed to male infanticide to decrease the
Jewish population (Exodus 1:16, 22).
Among the cruelest aspects of
American slavery was how slave holders
disregarded the slaves' natural feelings
of family bonds. Slave holders separat-
ed husbands and wives, parents and
children; any member of a family could
Prato Haggadah,
be sold.
Spain, circa 1300
Although slaves, the
Jews in Egypt main-
tained not only
families but the
structure of
their own soci-
ety through
tribal organi-
zation and a
system of
leadership
headed by
tribal or family
elders (Exodus
4:29). For exam-
ple, in Exodus
6:14-27, the Torah
gives a brief genealogical
A seder plate
profile of some of the Jews,
with tribes, clans and families, including the background of Moses.
When the American slaves were finally freed after a long and
bloody war between North and South, well-meaning, white politi-
cians promised them each 40 acres and a mule. The former slaves
spent the rest of their lives waiting for that promise to be fulfilled.
The Jews, however, emerged from bondage laden with treasures,
which the Torah says, was willingly given up by the Egyptians (Exodus
12:35-36).
America's experience with slavery made the practice abhorrent, and
eventually, illegal. It is with wonder and curiosity, then, that many
read the Torah passages in parshat Mishpatim (Exodus 21: 2 11) deal-
ing with the laws of Jews owning Jewish slaves, along with further
laws concerning both Jewish and gentile slaves in parshat Behar
(Leviticus 25:39-55).
With regard to Jewish slaves, God admonishes the Jews to treat
their brethren kindly, more liked hired help than slaves. The Jews are
reminded that all of them were taken out of Egypt, and thus even
those who are forced by poverty to sell themselves in to slavery
deserve a measure of respect. EI
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