Passover

Tradition plate for Seder dinners

Last week Passover was celebrated and I actually went to my first Seder dinner. Passover is one of the most widely celebrated holidays among Jewish people all over the world. Often the holiday is called Passover, but it is more commonly more known as Pesach.

Passover celebrates the freeing of the Jewish slaves in Egypt. The story of Passover begins when Ramses refused to free the slaves Aaron struck the Nile with his staff and turned the river into blood so no one could drink from it. But even with this Ramses still remained unconvinced and refused to free the slaves. God then sent nine plagues to Egypt, in which each one progressively got worse. With every plague Ramses got scared and the proceeded to promise to let the Hebrews go. But as soon as God lifted the plague he went back on his word and refused to give them their freedom once again.

God sent the last final plague in which the Angel of Death was sent to every household in Egypt and took away their first born child. But Moses warned the Hebrews to put a special sign on their doors so that the Angel would pass over their houses. Moses and his people packed their belongings and left Egypt before Ramses could change his mind again. They left so quickly that there wasn't enough time for the dough to ferment and be baked into bread, so instead they made unleavened bread. Until this day, during Passover week only unleavened bread is eaten. The bread is called Matzo and it symbolizes the suffering of the Hebrews in bondage
 in Egypt as well as in the haste in which they left.

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