Passover

Passover (Hebrew פסח, 'leap') is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the liberation of the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt, recounted in the Pentateuch, mainly in the Book of Exodus. The Hebrew people see the story of the exodus from Egypt as the milestone that marks the consciousness of the descendants of Jacob, with their identity understood in terms of a free nation and provided with a Law. Romance-language-speaking Christians often call it Jewish Passover or Hebrew Passover to distinguish it from Easter celebrated by Christianity.

The festivity is one of the Shalosh Regalim (Three Pilgrimage Feasts) of Judaism, since during the time when the Temple of Jerusalem existed, it was customary to make pilgrimages to it and make offerings.

The festivity begins on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, and lasts for seven days (eight in the Diaspora, given the ancient doubt of a calendar error, an extra day is added to ensure compliance), and during The ingestion of foods derived from fermented cereals (oats, barley, rye, spelt and wheat), called in Hebrew Chametz (חמץ) (the root of the word indicates "fermentation"), is prohibited. Instead, during the holiday it is customary to eat matzah (מצה), unleavened bread, or matzah. This custom is based on the precept given to the Jewish people in the Bible, in chapters 15 to 20 of the Book of Exodus: "Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; and so on the first day you shall make sure that there is no leaven in your houses, for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day to the seventh, that soul shall be cut off from the people of Israel." According to tradition, the Jewish people left Egypt in a hurry and without time to prepare, so there was no time to leaven the bread for the journey, giving rise to the tradition.

The holiday is also called the Spring Festival, since in the northern hemisphere it marks the beginning of the spring season. Since in Israel the hot seasons are the dry seasons, from Pesaj until Sucot it is customary to pray for the dew, and not for the rain (prayers that are reserved for winter). It is also called the Festival of Liberation to celebrate the liberation of the Jewish people from the yoke of Pharaoh. It is also called the Feast of Matzot (plural of Matzah) and the Feast of Redemption, since it is estimated - according to the scriptures - that the redemption of the world will occur in the month of Nisan.

Date and duration

The holiday of Pesach begins on the 14th of the month of Nisan, which generally falls between the months of March-April of the Gregorian calendar. Pesach is the spring holiday, so Nisan 14 begins on the night of the full moon after the vernal equinox. To ensure that Passover does not begin before spring, Jewish tradition indicates that the first day of Nisan could not begin until the barley was ripe, which is the indicator of the onset of spring. If the barley were not ripe, or other phenomena occurred, it was an indication that spring was not imminent, and a leap year was declared, inserting an extra month, the month of Adar II. From the fourth century the date begins to be fixed mathematically rather than by the prevailing climatic conditions.

In the Land of Israel Pesach is a 7-day holiday, where the first and last days are considered holy holidays with cessation of chores, special prayers and festive meals (similar to Shabbat). The days in between are called Chol HaMoed ("The working days of the holiday"). In the diaspora, the festival lasts for eight days, where the first two and the last two are considered sacred holidays.

Tradition indicates that the extra day is respected in the Diaspora in order to correct possible calculation errors and differences with the official calendar that was decreed in Jerusalem. Other opinions indicate that the extra day is observed to allow people who had to travel long distances to celebrate the holiday in community, among other reasons. Graphically it is as follows:

Biblical origin

The precept to observe the holiday of Pesach is found in Leviticus, where it is called the Feast of Matzot (matzot is the plural of matzah, which means unleavened or unleavened bread):

In the first month, at the fourteenth of the month, between the two afternoons, Pésaj is for God. And on the fifteenth day of this month is the solemn feast of unleavened bread to God; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you will have holy convocation; no work of servants will you do. And ye shall offer unto God seven days a burnt offering: the seventh day shall be holy convocation; ye shall not do any work of a servant. (23:5)

Biblical regulations for the observance of the holiday required that all leaven be discarded before the beginning of Nisan 15. On Nisan 10, an unblemished lamb or goat was set aside to serve as a Passover sacrifice (Korban Pesach)., which was sacrificed at the end of twilight on Nisan 14 in preparation for the 15th, the day it would be eaten after being roasted, without removing its internal organs, and accompanied by matzah (unleavened or unleavened bread) and bitter herbs, called maror. What was not eaten until sunrise on the 15th should be burned. The sacrifice should be made only in a specific place designated by God (for Judaism in Jerusalem, for Samaritans, in Mount Guerizin.

The Biblical regulations relating to the first time the holiday was observed, i.e. at the time of the Exodus from Egypt, include instructions on how the food is to be consumed:

"bearing your loins, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hastely."12:11)

“Whoever leaves the Torah in wealth will end up leaving it in poverty. And who fulfills the Torah in poverty will end up fulfilling it in wealth.”

The biblical precept of the holiday highlights the importance of remembrance:

• "And you must remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you will observe these precepts" (16:12).
• "And this day will be a reminder for you, and you will observe a feast for God, through your generations you will observe a feast in eternal ordinance" (12:14).
• You will remember this day, when you came out of Egypt, from the house of slavery, for the strength of the hand of God brought you out of that place (13:3).

Passover Seder

The Passover Seder (seder means "order" as "procedure", so the entire phrase is transliterated as "paschal order") consists of carrying out a traditional dinner on the first night of the festivity (the first two in the Diaspora), called the “Pesach Seder” (סדר), during which the story of the departure is told of Egypt beginning with the paragraph of "ha lajmah anya". Several toasts are also made in which the elements of the Seder Plate, the keará, are presented.

And similar to other Jewish holidays, its celebration differs between Ashkenazi and Sephardic traditions, each having its own version of the haggadah (Hebrew: סידור, the prayer book).

Table of celebrations in the first month according to the Torah

Month 1st:

The purple color means that although it is not Saturday, it is considered Saturday since it is a holy convocation. The book Vayikra mentions that the Israelites were not to do work on this day.