Meaning of Passover

Passover now stands for the birth of the Jewish nation, dating back to the time that Israel first prepared to face the hazards of the elements as "God, in His providence, brought it to Sinai, gave it the Law, and concluded the Covenant" (Gaster 32). The Jewish people celebrate Passover because it signifies the attainment of their freedom from the Egyptian pharaohs. On that date, years before Christ was born, the Israelites cast aside their idols and repudiated their pagan-like ignorance; at the same time, God revealed his presence to the children of Israel and imparted his divine knowledge to them.

The Passover festival now celebrates a special kind of freedom which traces its roots to the old Testament. In Jewish tradition, freedom is an opportunity which requires volitional dedication, and that dedication forms the theme of the Passover story. If Israel had gone forth out of Egypt but not accepted

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. The Jewish attitude toward Passover reflects the belief that the Exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt involved both the patriarchs of the past and their children's children of the future. Passover now validates the mission of the Israelites and determines the destiny of the Jews. This idealistic Exodus, the Exodus which is now detached from the Biblical context from which it arose, is now celebrated in the traditional Seder service on the first two evenings of the Passover festival (Rabinowicz 10). Seder means simply "order of service" or "formal procedure" and is meant to be a substitute for the ancient paschal sacrifice and a fulfillment of the Biblical injunction referred to in Exodus 13:8 which retells the story of the Exodus to one's children (Gaster 38-39). The principal feature of the Passover celebration is the eating of various foods which are traditionally associated with the Israelites' departure from the land of the pharaohs. According to Exodus 1:11, these foods are matzah (or unleavened bread), bitter herbs (like horseradish) which is taken to commemorate the bitterness of servitude, and haroseth, which is a mixture of chopped nuts, apples, cinnamon and raisins, which symbolizes the mortar in which th
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Approximate Word count = 1797
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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