|
Read below to know how this festival came into practice and the motive behind it's celebrations
|
The fascinating history of Passover relates back to over
3,000 years ago, when Jacob, a Hebrew, came to Egypt along with his
twelve sons. Canaan, the land where they dwelt was struck by a severe
famine. Jacob pleaded with the Pharaoh to allow them to live in Egypt.
The kindly Pharaoh granted them the permission and allowed them to live
in the Land of Goshen, the eastern part of the Nile Delta in Egypt.
Jacob and his sons went there and started to live in peace. One of
Jacob's sons, Joseph, even rose to acquire the post of viceroy over
Egypt and the manager of Egypt's grain stores. Many years later, Jacob
and his sons died but their heirs never went back to their land. For
many years, the Hebrews resided and made their living in Goshen. They
dwelt there in relative harmony with the native Egyptians. But their
rapidly growing population, in the eyes of the Egyptian royals, posed a
threat to the empire. The new Pharaoh, unlike his ancestors, was harsh
on the Hebrews and viewed them always with suspicion. He had forever
seen them as outsiders and thought that the huge number of foreigners
could join an enemy force and bring down the Egyptian empire any time.
To keep them subjugated and quash their will, the Pharaoh enslaved the
entire Hebrew population and forced them to build two new cities that
were to be the centers of food supply for the Egyptians. Though he
managed to do that alright, the population of the Hebrews could not
still be kept under check. So the Pharaoh ordered his men to throw all
newborn Hebrew boys into the waters of the Nile.
For many days, nothing but cries and wails could be heard from Hebrew
households as their infant boys were killed with unfailing regularity.
The Pharaoh's men followed his orders to the word. They raided every
Hebrew home to check for any newborn male and brutally slaughtered it if
they found any.
One day Thermuthis, one of the Pharaoh's daughters, saw a tiny boat
floating on the river while she was bathing with her handmaidens.
Curious, she ordered them to bring it to her. Her surprise knew no
bounds when she found the boat to be only a small craft of bulrushes
coated in pitch with a newborn baby boy inside. The princess took pity
on the infant and upon the insistence of a little girl Miriam, ordered a
Hebrew woman Jochebed to look after the baby. Little did she know that
Jochebed was actually the mother of the infant and Miriam, his sister.
The whole thing was a ploy by Jochebed to save her baby from the
marauding soldiers of the Pharaoh.
Some years later, the princess adopted the child and gave him the name
of "Moses", meaning "one who is drawn out" or "one who is pulled out" as
the princess really brought him out of water. Little did the princess or
the people of Egypt know at that time, least of all Jochebed, that the
little boy was born to be the deliverer of the Hebrews.
Moses ended being brought up into the Egyptian royal family, his
identity unknown to them. On reaching adulthood, however, he came to
know who he was really. He went to see how his brethren who were
enslaved to the Egyptians were faring. Angered by the brutal treatment
meted out to the people of his race, in a fit of rage, Moses killed an
Egyptian slave master whom he had seen beating a Hebrew and buried his
body in the sand, supposing that no one saw it or even those who knew
about the incident would be disinclined to talk about it. But he soon
discovered from a higher authority that the affair was known, and that
Pharaoh was likely to put him to death for it. To avoid punishment, he
made his escape over the Sinai Peninsula. He escaped to the desert,
joined a group of shepherds, and became a shepherd himself. He married
Zipporah, a shepherd woman, became a father and lived the life of a
shepherd for forty years. One night, as he was leading his flock, Moses
was imparted supernatural powers by God Jehovah and commanded to be a
deliverer of the Hebrews. By God's orders, Moses returned to Egypt with
his elder brother Aaron and approached Pharaoh Rameses II, son of the
previous Pharaoh. He delivered to the Pharaoh God's demand that the
Israelite slaves be allowed to leave Egypt for 3 days for the purpose of
observing a holiday of worship and prayer in the wilderness for Jehovah,
the Lord God of Israel. When the Pharaoh refused, Moses and Aaron went
away to return again the following morning. They showed him a miraculous
sign of warning - Aaron's staff turned into a serpent. Pharaoh's
sorcerers, using trickery, performed the same feat, but Aaron's serpent
turned back into a staff after swallowing the staffs of the magicians
(Exodus 5:1 - 5:9, 7:8 - 7:13).
The Pharaoh, however, remained unimpressed. He refused to read the
signs. His refusal brought to the land of Egypt the famous
ten plagues,
an account of which is found in the chapters 7-12 of Exodus. By God's
command and with his assistance, Moses inflicted the plagues to force
the Pharaoh to release the Jews from slavery. The tenth and the last
plague was the deadliest of them all. It resulted in the death of the
firstborn of every Egyptian family, including that of the Pharaoh.
Without any delay, the Pharaoh summoned Moses and his brother Aaron; he
implored them to get out of the land of Egypt taking all the Israelites
with them, whom he had kept as slaves. He allowed them to take their
cattle and even all that they needed in their safe passage to another
land.
As the good word was brought to them, the Hebrews made preparations to
leave Egypt immediately for they feared that the Pharaoh might change
his mind and stop them from leaving afterwards. In their haste, they
could only take unleavened bread with them, called Matza, which is a
part of celebration even today. By Moses' order, they took along enough
food and water with them and even borrowed from the Egyptians their
jewels of gold, silver and raiment who obliged readily. Such was the
effect of the Lord's power on their minds that the Egyptians who had
until then treated the Israelites as dirt, paid them respect now. They
also feared that they might incur God's wrath further if the Israelites
had to stay back. They lent them all such things that they required for
their journey and wished them a safe passage.
As expected, the Pharaoh soon changed his mind, and before long, he was
in pursuit of the runaways with a large army. He was determined to bring
the Jews back. The Hebrews had traveled for 40 days and nights, and were
just at the northern tip of the Red Sea, when they saw the emperor's
army advancing towards them. Shut in between the Pharaoh's army and the
sea, the Israelites despaired and asked for help from Moses. It was then
that a miracle happened. The book of Exodus records that by God's
command Moses held out his staff towards the sea. A fierce wind blew all
night. At daybreak, the waters of the Red Sea stood divided with a patch
of land in between so that Moses, with the Hebrews could pass safely
across on dry ground. When the Egyptian army attempted to follow, God
made the waters to return upon them and drown them. It is not known
whether the Pharaoh mate the same fate as his soldiers for the Egyptian
records do not chronicle such an event.
The Jewish people still hold this day dear to their hearts and they
still thank the Lord for saving their ancestors the way he did. Since
the time of their liberation from Egyptian slavery, Jews have celebrated
Passover precisely to commemorate this historical event.
In the days before Passover, the house is prepared. All traces of bread,
or anything using yeast, is eaten or removed from the house, and all of
the dishes, silverware, pots and pans are changed for a set that is used
only for Passover.
The day before Passover, the house is searched for any trace of yeast
products, (chumetz) and the whole family is involved in the search.
Anything found is discarded, or given away to non-jewish people.
In remembrance of the hardships their ancestors faced in slavery, on the
first and second nights of Passover, the Jewish people hold a feast
called the
'Seder', a custom that has been practiced ever since the Hebrews
were free from the slavery. The word 'Seder' stands for 'order' and
signifies the order of historical events recalled in the Passover meal
as well as the meal itself. The Seder is been celebrated by each
participant to relive the Exodus as a personal spiritual event. The
Seder is of a religious nature with a carefully prescribed ritual that
makes the dinner quite unlike family dinners held on civil holidays. The
ritual is laid out along with the main story of Passover in the 'Haggadah',
a book that is followed during the Seder.
While the main story of Passover is read by Jews the world over, local
customs and traditions have changed over time, so that the festival has
been adapted to reflect the life and routine of individual communities.
This is why the festival of Passover is celebrated differently in
Tunisia than in Canada.
As the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt took place in the spring, Passover
is always celebrated in the spring. Passover is celebrated for 8 days (7
for Reform Jews), and always begins on the 15th day of the Hebrew month
of Nisan.
In Israel, Passover is celebrated for seven days, with the first and
last days observed as legal holidays and as holy days respectively. All
the Jews abstain from work and observe these two days with special
prayer services and holiday meals. The Seder is held on the very first
day. The five days in between are known as Chol HaMoed ("festival
days"). It is a time for family outings and picnic lunches of matzo,
hardboiled eggs, fruits and vegetables, and Passover treats such as
macaroons and homemade candies. While modern Israeli Jews observe a
seven-day holiday wherever they are, Diaspora Jews observe the festival
for eight days, the only exceptions being the Reform and
Reconstructionst Jews. The Jews outside Israel conduct the Seder twice,
on both the first and second days of Passover.
Click here for details on
Seder |
|
|
