The United Synagogue

Pesach

Passover commemorates when God freed the Jews from slavery in Egypt. The first two days and last two days are called Yom Tov, and the middle four days are called Chol Hamoed.

What does Pesach mean?
The festival has a number of names:

Chag Hamatzot - Festival of Matzot.

Passover - The word means "to pass over" and is related to the passing of the Angel of Death over the homes of the Israelites to slay the Egyptian firstborn.

Zeman Cherusaynu - Season of Our Freedom.
This describes the freeing of the Jews from the Egyptian slavery.

What are the customs of Pesach?
Chometz
The word "chometz" means fermented or leavened. Wheat, spelt, barley, oats, and rye are the five grains that are considered to be chometz. So any product made with these grains cannot be used on Passover. Chometz includes items such as beer and whiskey.

We are forbidden to eat and drink, possess, or even derive benefit from chometz.

We are required to thoroughly clean the house in the days before Pesach to eliminate any chometz. Most people take this as a chance to spring clean.

We then search any place that chometz might have been brought into during the year. This search is called Bedikat Chometz, "Searching for Chometz", and it takes place after nightfall on the night before Pesach. The following morning one must destroy all chometz that remains in one's possession. The preferred manner of destroying the chometz is burning. This is called Biyur Chometz, "Burning the Chometz."

Since destroying all the chometz in one's possession can be a financial worry, the rabbis have established a procedure in which a Jew can transfer ownership of his or her chometz to a non-Jew.

In addition to the prohibition against chometz, some Jews do not eat kitniyos. Kitniyos refers to products such as rice, millet, beans and lentils. Sefardi Jews are allowed to eat Kitniyot but Ashkenazi Jews are not.

Matzah
"From the 14th day of the first month in the evening , until the night of the 21st day of the month, you must eat Matzot."(Exodus: Chapter 12 Verse 18).

Matzah is the only form of bread which is permitted on Pesach. The dough for matzah can only be made from flour and water.

The Seder
On the first night of Pesach (or, outside of Israel, the first two) we are required to perform the Seder. The Seder is an orderly process by which we fulfill the special commandments of the Pesach night.

The Seder is written down in a book called the Haggadah. The Haggadah as we know it was compiled during the 7th and 8th centuries. The oldest version appears in the prayer book of Saadia Gaon in the 10th century.

The Haggadah includes the telling over of the story of the Exodus from Egypt. During the Seder we also drink four cups of wine and eat maror (a bitter vegetable such as horseradish).

Before the Seder begins we have to arrange the Seder plate and other necessities for the Seder. The Seder plate will include:

Zeroa
A piece of roasted meat. This symbolises the Pascal Lamb.

Beitza
A roasted egg. This symbolises the special Festival sacrifice offered on the 14th of Nissan in Temple times.

Maror
Bitter herbs (usually horseradish). This symbolises the bitterness of the Egyptian bondage.

Charoses
A special mixture of ground apples, and cinammon. This symbolises the mortar used by the Israelites to build the Egyptian buildings.

Karpas
This can be any vegetable except those used for maror. This is an hour d'oeuvre and signifies that we are free people and no longer in Egyptian bondage.

Chazeres
Another piece of maror. Some Seder plates have a small compartment for this piece of maror, while others do not. Do not worry if you don't have this, it is not essential.

Salt Water
This symbolises the tears shed by the Israelites in Egypt.

The Three Matzot
Besides the seder plate, three matzot are placed before the head of the family. Two of them take the place of the usual two loaves of bread at the Shabbat meal and the third matzah is for the purpose of making a special blessing for the ritual of eating the Matzah.

Some say that the three Matzot correspond to the three sections of the Jewish people: Priests, Levites and Israelites.

The Four/Five Cups of Wine
These are drunk in token of the expressions of redemption mentioned in the Bible (Exodus: Chapter 6 Verses 6&7):

"And I shall bring out."
"And I shall deliver."
"And I shall redeem."
"And I shall take."

"And I shall bring." This is the cup of Elijah. The cup of the coming of the Messiah.

The Service
To demonstrate our status as free men we are required to lean or recline while eating during several parts of the Seder.

The Haggadah breaks the Seder into the following steps:

Kadesh
We recite the Kiddush for Pesach and drink the first cup of wine while leaning.

Ur'chatz
We wash our hands the same way we wash for bread but we do not make the blessing.

Karpas
We dip a vegetable into salt water and make the appropriate blessing.

Yachatz
We break the middle matzah and set aside the larger half for use later in the Seder - this piece is called the Afikoman. The smaller half is returned to the middle of the three Matzot. Here we are expressing the essence of Matzah, the poor-man's bread: A poor person never knows from where and when his next meal is coming, he always sets something aside in case of emergencies.

One of the well-known customs is for the leader of the seder to hide the Afikoman. The children of the house try to find this piece of Matzah, in return for a prize. Money is always a good thing!

In Yemenite homes, the children dress up as pilgrims carrying the Afikoman on their backs in a satchel. The father asks them where they are going to which they reply "to Eretz Yisrael (The Land of Israel)."

Maggid
We recite the story of the Exodus. At the completion of Maggid we drink the second cup of wine while leaning.

Let us now delve into explaining some of the events (in order) that take place during this Maggid period:

Ha Lachma Anya - "The Bread of Affliction"
This paragraph refers to the custom that many families have at their seder at least one guest who has nowhere else to go.

Mah Nishtana - The Four Questions
They start with: "Why is this night different than all other nights?" This is the question which will be answered during the rest of the Maggid section. In many houses it is the youngest child who sings the questions.

The Story of the Five Rabbis
Rabbis Eliezer, Yehoshua, Elazar ben Azarya, Akiva and Tarfon were all sitting retelling the story about the redemption from slavery when one of their students came up and said, "It is morning and time to recite the Shemah" (the prayer, "Hear O Israel the Lord our God the Lord is One").

The Four Sons
The Haggadah uses this paragraph as an opportunity to teach us a lesson in education. There are four different types of children, and a parent or teacher should never place them all into the same category. Each child needs a different approach.

The Wise Son vs The Wicked Son
The Talmud states that the Second Temple was destroyed for one reason alone - baseless hatred. The wicked son is wicked, NOT because he doesn't observe the commandments, but due to his language and tone of voice. "What is the meaning of this Seder to "YOU", implying "You and not me." He is considered a "kofer be-ikar, a denier of the foundations of Judaism."

The Wise son also uses the words, "What are the testimonies.... which the Lord our God has given you?" Here the "you" is directed to the father, as the boy himself does not yet have any obligations to observe commandments since he is under age. But he is wise because his question is based on a desire for knowledge and not as a tool for destruction.

The Simple Son
Here is a son who is questioning: How is it possible for us Jews to celebrate when we are still in times of war? To him we answer, "God took us out with a strong hand." We must have faith to impart to this son.

The Son Who Doesn't Even Know to Ask
He is in a certain way, worse-off than the wicked son. The wicked son has taken what he has learned and used it improperly. This son isn't even in a position to learn. Without asking, it is very hard to progress in Judaic study. However, even people falling under this category must not be ignored and must not be put down. We all have the responsibility to take the initiative and gently explain to them in their terms. No one is excluded from the Haggadah experience.

The Ten Plagues
One of the customs of the Seder night is taking out a little wine with our little finger as we repeat the plagues. The reason for this is that even in our triumph we must always remember that we are all God's creatures. Therefore we take off a little wine, a little of our happiness, for it could never be complete if it is at the expense of another.

Dayenu - "Enough!"
This is one of the original parts of the Haggadah. It dates back to the time of the second Temple. It is comprised of 15 stanzas which represent the 15 steps in the Temple and the 15 Songs of Ascents written by King David. Today, although we don't have a Temple, we are still grateful to God for letting us have one - stressing the hope that we will have one again soon.

Pesach, Matzah, Maror
We now approach the last part of Maggid, the most important part of the reading of the Haggadah: pointing out the three symbols of the night.

After the Maggid

Rachtzah
We wash our hands in the manner required for bread and make the blessing.

Motzi Matzah
Lifting all three Matzot, we make the blessing for the Matzah, then release the bottom matzah and recite the blessing for the mitzvah (commandment) of matzah. We then eat a portion of matzah from the top two Matzot while leaning. To fulfill the commandment of eating matzah on the seder night, each participant should eat approximately the size of two olives. This equates to about 1/2 a machine baked Rackuzens matzah.

Maror
We take a portion of maror and dip it into the charoses, shake off the excess charoses and make the blessing for the mitzvah (commandment) of eating maror.

Korech
We take a second portion of maror and sandwich it between a portion from the third matzah. We then eat the korech (sandwich) while leaning.

Shulchan Orech
We eat the meal, fantastic. By this time I am glad to see my chicken soup and matzah balls.

Tzafun
We take the second half of the middle matzah which we set aside earlier and eat a portion while leaning. This portion is called the Afikoman. Afikoman means "dessert".

Barech
We recite the Birkat HaMazon (Grace after Meals). At the conclusion of the blessings we drink the third cup of wine while leaning.

Hallel
We then recite the Hallel and other prayers. At the completion of this section we drink the fourth and final cup of wine while leaning.

Nirtza
We are to spend as much of the night as we can discussing the Exodus and the laws of Pesach. We sing a number of ancient songs such as "Ehad Mi Yodea?" (Who Knows One?) and "Chad Gadya" (One Lamb). Many Jews also recite Shir HaShirim (The Song of Songs) during this night.