Passover is the major Jewish spring holiday celebrated in remembrance of the Jews’ liberation from slavery in Egypt. One often hears the name “Pesakh” used interchangeably for the same holiday, a word which, not coincidentally, refers to the Christian holiday of Easter in different forms in different European languages and cultures. Pesakh means “to pass over,” hence the English name of the holiday, Passover. In Hebrew and Aramaic there is another closely related word which sounds almost the same and means “I will have mercy, I will have compassion.” Both meanings come together in the Old Testament Book of Exodus, where the Jewish children are “passed over” by the angel of death and do not suffer the fate of the Egyptian children, demonstrating the mercy of the Most High.

Passover is first of all a holiday for teaching children Jewish history and culture. The Passover Seder is a dinner where the two prerequisite Passover offerings are savored: matzo bread, and bitter herbs. The matzo reminds us the Jews fleeing Egypt had no time to wait for their bread to rise, and the bitter herbs are tasted to remind us of the bitterness of slavery during the time of the Jews’ sojourn in Egypt.

There are special rules which apply when Passover begins on the Sabbath, as it does this year, on the evening of April 3. The holiday lasts for eight days.