Historical Background and Traditions of Passover

Passover, or Pesach, is celebrated in remembrance of deliverance from slavery and death. The origin of the name comes from the final plague out of ten that occurred to convince an oppressive Pharaoh to release his Hebrew slaves. The firstborn would all die in the night, but the Hebrew slaves would be spared by following Moses' instructions. These instructions carried down through the centuries form the framework for Passover customs still practiced today.

Why were the Hebrews enslaved by a Pharaoh in the first place? How did it come to such a showdown between the Hebrew God and the Egyptian Pharaoh? Who is Moses? What is the significance of the instructions given by Moses to the Hebrew slaves? How have Jews, descendants of the Hebrews of Exodus, celebrated this holiday throughout their history? The complete details can be found in the book of Exodus, the second book in both the Jewish Torah and the Christian Old Testament, but this article seeks to cover the main points in answering these questions.

The Hebrews were originally from the ancient land of Canaan, present day Lebanon, Jordan and Israel. They are descended from Abraham, who was originally from Chaldea, present day Iraq, but moved to Canaan and allied himself with the people living there.

Abraham's grandson Jacob had twelve sons. One of them, Joseph, was his favorite and tended to rub in his privileged status, even recounting dreams about how his older brothers would bow down to him in the future. This irritated his brothers and, fed up with things, they ended up selling him to passing merchants, telling Jacob that he was dead. Joseph was sold as a slave in Egypt and later imprisoned by his master, but he made the best of things and managed to ingratiate himself with the Pharaoh by the dream interpretation ability that provoked his brothers to sell him.

His predictive abilities allowed for Egypt to prepare for a coming famine. This famine drove his brothers to travel from Canaan to Egypt seeking to purchase grain. As he had been placed in charge of grain distribution, he recognized them and after much suspense revealed himself and, having forgiven them, insisted that they bring their families and his father to Egypt to survive the famine. Once in Egypt, Jacob's family prospered. However, after the death of Joseph's generation the Egyptians were not so hospitable and enslaved the Hebrews out of fear that they would outnumber and turn against them.

When enslavement proved to be ineffective in stopping their success, Pharaoh ordered all Hebrew sons drowned in the Nile River at birth. Moses, the unlikely hero of the Hebrew exodus, was hidden in a basket in the river to avoid this fate and later found and raised by Pharaoh's daughter. When he saw how his people were treated, he killed an overseer beating a slave and fled the country when he realized people had seen him do it. While living as a fugitive, the God worshipped by his ancestors chose him to lead the Hebrews away from Egypt out of slavery and back to Canaan where they had lived before the famine.

He did not want the job and tried repeatedly to get out of it. In the end his brother Aaron and he went before Pharaoh again and again attempting to persuade him to release the Hebrew slaves. Of course, Pharaoh did not like the idea of losing thousands of free laborers and ten plagues ensued to convince him it was not worth it to defy their God and keep them enslaved.

Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread originate from the tenth and final plague and the subsequent departure of the Hebrew people from Egypt. Moses relayed God's instructions to prepare an inspected year old male lamb or kid at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first Hebrew month. The Hebrew homes were marked with blood from the lamb on the doorframe. This blood was a sign that the house was protected from the tenth plague, which was death of the firstborn that midnight. This last plague changed Pharaoh's mind and the Hebrew's were urged to leave and given many treasures by the Egyptians who were afraid that they would all die otherwise.

The original mandated Passover dinner consisted of the roasted lamb (or kid), bitter herbs (such as horseradish, romaine lettuce, or endive), and unleavened bread (matzo). The lamb was roasted whole without breaking it up and the leftovers were burned. The bread was not leavened since there wasn't time before they left and the bitter herbs were to symbolize the bitterness of the slavery being left behind. This whole meal was eaten with an eye toward haste and travel since they were leaving before the morning.

Over the centuries Passover celebration has evolved little. There are different traditions and requirements for the various modern Jewish sects but they all follow the basic instructions given in Exodus. Leavening, called Chametz, is removed from the home for the celebration week. It can be burned, sold, or given away. This is done in the weeks before Passover and a ritual search of the home is performed the night before. Any leavening found is burned. All food utensils are cleaned or replaced to avoid contamination.

The Seder is performed on the first night of Passover week. This is the meal in remembrance of the night the Hebrew community was released from Egypt. The Haggadah, a text documenting the origins and order of the Passover Seder, is used to tell the story of the Exodus to Jewish children. The Seder instructions mix up the order of traditional Jewish meal customs to encourage the children's curiosity and questions.

A more recent tradition, added around the time of Roman rule in Palestine, is that of drinking four cups of wine or grape juice at specific times during the meal. This addition is in celebration of the freedom from slavery and was derived both from four promises regarding redemption made by God to Moses in Exodus 6:6-7 and the Roman tradition of drinking wine before, during, and after a feast. When in Rome. The following list gives the order of a traditional Passover Seder:

• The first cup of wine for the Kiddush, a blessing of Jewish celebration recited over wine or grape juice.
• Hand washing
• Karpas, usually parsley or celery, dipped in salt water or vinegar, representing blood or tears, and eaten
• Yachatz, where the middle matzo in a stack of three on the table is broken, with the larger piece called the afikoman, meaning after or dessert from Greek, given the children to hide. It is eaten later in the meal during the ritual of Tzafun and the children will be asked to return in exchange for a reward. This is to keep them involved for the duration of the meal. The smaller piece is returned to the matzo stack.
• Maggid, which is the second cup of wine and the recounting of the Exodus story with traditional questions asked by the children or youngest child
• Hand washing with a blessing
• Motzi-Matzo, a blessing before eating bread products and matzo
• Eating of the Maror, or bitter herbs detailed earlier
• Eating of Koreich, which is a sandwich of matzo and the bitter maror herb
• Shulchan oreich, meaning set table, is the part where the holiday feast is eaten
• Tzafun is the counterpart to Yachatz, where the children return the afikoman for a small reward and the afikoman is broken and distributed to all participants. This must be performed before midnight to symbolize the Passover lamb consumed before midnight when the Egyptian firstborn died and Pharaoh sent word to Moses for the release the Hebrews.
• Birkat Hamazon, a set of Hebrew blessings after meals with bread, concludes the meal and is immediately followed by the third cup of wine or grape juice.
• Hallel is a Jewish holiday prayer, taken from Psalms 113 - 118, praising and thanking God. The fourth cup of wine follows the chanting or recitation of this reading.
• The conclusion, or Nirtzah, of the feast is made with singing, discussion, and a final fifth cup of wine, representing the fifth promise of redemption made by God to Moses in Exodus 6:8. This cup was disputed by some rabbis during the Roman period so it is left out and not drunk.

The Seder dinner begins a week of Chol HaMoed, or festival weekdays with lightened holiday restrictions. Jews in different regions and of different sects vary the schedule and restriction slightly. Generally the holiday lasts seven days, with the first, the night of the Seder, being a major Jewish holiday and the last also being a major holiday with prayer services and festive meals celebrating the splitting of the Red Sea detailed in Exodus 14. The entire week is meant to be festive and no leaven can be consumed or owned during its time. To avoid leaven, wine and food consumed and purchased during this time has to be designated Kosher for Passover or Kosher for Pesach.

Easter is related to Passover, in fact it is called Passover in many languages other than English, and Christians believe that Christ was the Passover lamb sacrificed to redeem them from slavery to sin. According to Matthew 26: 17 - 30, The Last Supper was a Passover Seder. This links Easter to Passover on the calendar and since Passover scheduling is based on the old Hebrew lunar calendar, this explains why Easter moves around more than other Christian holidays based on the Roman calendar.

Sources:

Bible, "BibleGateway.com: A searchable online Bible in over 100 versions and 50 languages. ", BibleGateway.com

Kehot Publication Society, "English Haggadah Text with Instructional Guide - The Haggadah - Passover", Chabad.org