Passover
Passover 2024
Shavuot 2024
What is Passover?
Passover is a festival of freedom.
It commemorates the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt, and their transition from slavery to freedom. The main ritual of Passover is the seder, which occurs on the first two night (in Israel just the first night) of the holiday — a festive meal that involves the re-telling of the Exodus through stories and song and the consumption of ritual foods, including matzah and maror (bitter herbs). The seder’s rituals and other readings are outlined in the Haggadah — today, many different versions of this Passover guide are available in print and online, and you can also create your own.
Passover History
How to Set a Passover Seder Plate
The major event of Passover is the seder, a festive meal during which we retell the story of the exodus from Egypt.
The story is read out of a book called a haggadah, and as the narrative proceeds we refer to several symbolic items on a seder plate, which is a large plate that holds matzah, bitter herbs, charoset (a mixture of fruit and nuts designed to look like mortar), an egg, a shank bone, salt water, and some greens. Each item on the plate is used and explained as the meal progresses.
