Beginning around the time of the vernal equinox and lasting 8 days, Passover, or Pesach (“passing over” or “protection”), is celebrated in honor of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt and their safe journey across the Red Sea over 3000 years ago. After the Egyptian Pharoah, Rameses II, had enslaved the Jews and refused to set them free despite demands from Moses and several plagues sent from God, he finally relented after the 10th plague, which was the murder of each household’s first-born child. To protect the Jews from this fate, God instructed them to mark their doorways with lamb’s blood, so that the Angel of Death would know to pass over their homes. Once this plague hit the land, Rameses finally set the Israelites free, at which point the Jews left as quickly as possible, without giving their bread time to rise. (And so Matza was born, and food without yeast became very symbolic.) The Jews fled for 40 days and nights, during which time Rameses changed his mind and sent his army to recapture the Jews. Upon reaching the Red Sea, however, the Israelites saw they were cornered, until Moses parted it, giving them just enough time to cross. Moses quickly restored it to its natural form, however, drowning all of the Pharoah’s soldiers.
The first two days of Passover are celebrated with the Seder meals, of which the center (and discussion) piece is a Seder plate containing five symbolic foods: maror (bitter herbs), charoset (mixture of wine, nuts, and fruit), zeroah (shank bone), betzah (roasted egg) and karpas (green vegetable dipped in salt water), which are both eaten and discussed at the meal.
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