What is Passover?
Passover 2008 Information
What is Passover? The Passover Festival is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jews from slavery in Egypt.
When is Passover 2008?
What is the Passover story?
How do you make your house kosher for Passover?
Chametz! What is it and how do you get rid of it?
What is matzoh and what is the spiritual significance of matzah?
What do you do at a Passover seder?
Are you looking for a good Passover recipe?
You'll find delicious, interesting, vintage, kosher for Passover recipes here - and what would a Passover meal be without yummy, sweet macaroons and other lovely kosher for Passover dessert recipes?
What is Passover or Pesach?
Passover 2008 is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. It is celebrated for eight days with special prayers and kosher for Passover foods, including matzoh, Jewish bread that is unleavened. The Passover feast begins with the special Passover seder meal, a ritual meal that re-enacts the Passover story and emphasizes the freedom of the Jews under the guidance of God. The first two and the last two days are holy days and the intermediary days of the festive Passover week are also celebrated with pleasant family Passover activities.
What is Passover?
Physical and Spiritual Preparation
The Passover Festival calls for early and elaborate preparations to make the Jewish home fittingfor the great festival. It is not physical preparedness alone that is required of us, but also spiritual preparedness-- for in the life of the Jew the physical and spiritual are closely linked together, especially in the celebration of our Sabbath and festivals.
What is Passover?
Spiritual Liberation
On Pesach we celebrate the liberation of the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery and, together with it, the liberationfrom, and negation of the ancient Egyptian system and way of life, the "abominations of Egypt." Thus we celebrate ourphysical liberation together with our spiritual freedom. Indeed, there cannot be one without the other: There can be no real freedom without accepting the precepts of our Torah guiding our daily life; pure and holy life eventually leads to real freedom.
What is Passover?
Personal connection to God
It is said, "In every generation each Jew should see himself as though he personally had been liberated from Egypt." This is to say, that the lesson of Pesach has always a timely message for the individual Jew. The story of Pesach is the story of the special Divine Providence which alone determines the fate of our people. What is happening in the outside world need not affect us; we might be singled out for suffering, God forbid, amid general prosperity, and likewise for safety amid a general plague or catastrophe. The story of our enslavement and liberation of which Pesach tells us gives ample illustration of this. For the fate of our people is determined by its adherence to God and His Prophets.
What is Passover?
Symbols of Liberation
This lesson is emphasized by the three principal symbols of the Seder, concerning which our Sages said that unless the Jew explains their significance he has not observed the Seder fittingly: Pesach, Matzah and Morror. Using these symbols in their chronological order and in accordance with their Haggadah explanation we may say: the Jew can avoid Morror (bitterness of life) only through Pesach (God's special care "passing over" and saving the Jewish homes even in the midst of the greatest plague), and Matzah -- then the very catastrophe and the enemies of the Jews will work for the benefit of the Jews, driving them in great haste out of "Mitzrayim," the place of perversion and darkness, and placing them under the beam of light and holiness.
What is Passover?
Connecting Our Children
One other important thing we must remember: the celebration of the festival of freedom must be connected with the commandment "You shall tell it to your child." The formation and existence of the Jewish home, as of the Jewish peopleas a whole, is dependent upon the upbringing of the young generation, both boys and girls: the wise and the wicked(temporarily), the simple and the one who knows not what to ask. Just as we cannot shirk our responsibility towards our child by the excuse that "my child is a wise one; he will find his own way in life; therefore no education is necessary for him," so we must not despair by thinking "the child is a wicked one; no education will help him." For, all Jewish children, boys and girls, are "God's children," and it is our sacred duty to see to it that they all live up to their above-mentioned title; and this we can achieve only through a kosher Jewish education, in full adherence to God's Torah. Then we all will merit the realization of our ardent hopes: "In the next year may we be free; in the next year may we be in Jerusalem!"- Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson - © 2008 Rae Ekman Shagalov All rights reserved.
Printed with permission from
Living With Moshiach
Return from "What is Passover" to Inspirational Quotes Motivational Sayings Homepage
We are constantly updating Holy Sparks,
so bookmark us or add your favorite feed and visit us often!
We look forward to being an integral part of your life.
Please stay in touch and share with us your exciting journey
as you discover and fulfill your unique and important purpose in life.
You can search Holy Sparks for your next inspiration.
May you be blessed with success
& only good things!
|
