The Jewish Holiday of Passover

Photo+courtesy+of+PIXTA%0A

Photo courtesy of PIXTA

Eliana Posin, Journalist

What is the only Holiday that automatically comes to mind when thinking of Spring holidays? For most people, it is Easter. The majority of CdM looks forward to Easter as a special time to spend with family and go to worship, as well as hold fun festivities such as egg hunts for the younger kids. However, there is another holiday during Easter time that is celebrated by the Jewish people: Passover. 

 

Passover, or “Pesach” for the Hebrew pronunciation, is a Jewish holiday that falls around the same time as Easter. Jewish people all around the world celebrate this holiday as a remembrance of Moses, and the Jews’ release from slavery in Egypt centuries ago.  There are many traditions and customs that accompany this holiday, making it one of the most meaningful holidays in the Jewish religion. The traditional dinner that the Jewish people host every Passover is called a “Seder” Every observance of Passover signifies something that happened during the time of Moses; one of the most commonly known customs is the consumption of matzo. Matzo is flat, cracker-like bread that the Jewish people had to eat when escaping Egypt, due to a lack of time to bake leavened bread. During Passover, people today refrain from eating “chametz” or anything leavened and eat matzo instead. Orthodox families go as far as to rid their entire household of chametz. 

 

Each Jewish family celebrates Passover differently. At CdM, where the population of Jewish students is a very small minority, students share how they have spent their Passovers. Junior Ella Avital hosted a grand seder with her family and her sister’s friends from water polo, and shared that there is “nothing that we enjoy more than hosting people [for seder].” Her family rented an Airbnb and “spent the whole day preparing food for the event,” Avital said. 

 

As Passover ends, Jewish people everywhere rejoice at the fact that they can eat bread again. Now it’s time to prepare for the next holiday, Shavuot, which celebrates the giving of the Torah to Mount Sinai. But that is for another article. Happy Passover!