Facts about Passover

The New Testament indicates that Jesus and his family celebrated Passover each year by taking part in the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Modern biblical scholars often question the origin of Passover, believing that the ritual was probably not celebrated universally in ancient Judah and Israel, but instead was adopted relatively late.

Traditionally, during Passover, the only grain product that can be owned or eaten is one in which flour and water have not combined for more than 18-22 minutes.

On the night of that plague the Israelites smeared their lintels and door-posts with the blood of the Passover sacrifice and were spared.

Each meal is a demonstration of the chefs' talents in turning the basic foodstuffs of Passover into a culinary feast.

Today, in the absence of the Temple, the mitzvah of the Korban Pesach is memorialized in the form of a symbolic food placed on the Passover Seder Plate, which is usually a roasted shankbone.

The intermediary days of Passover are known as Chol HaMoed (festival weekdays) and are imbued with a semi-festive status.

The ritual meal of the Passover Seder commemorates this event.

The English term "Passover" came into usage through William Tyndale's translation of the Bible in the sixteenth century, and later appeared in the King James Version as well.

When the Temple was standing, the focus of the Passover festival was the Korban Pesach (lit.

Due to the strict separation between matzo products and chametz during Passover, families typically own complete sets of serving dishes, glassware and silverware that are reserved for use during Passover only.

The term pesach also refers to the lamb or kid which was designated as the Passover sacrifice (called the Korban Pesach in Hebrew).

On the morning before Passover, the fast of the firstborn takes place.

Matzo by-products, such as matzo farfel (broken bits of matzo) and matzo meal (finely-ground matzo) are used as flour substitutes in the baking of Passover cakes and cookies.

The Israelites were commanded to eat Maror, bitter herbs (typically, horseradish or romaine lettuce), together with matzo and the Passover sacrifice Exodus 12:8.

On the first night of Passover (first two nights outside Israel), a Jew must recount the story of the Exodus from Egypt.

Outside the Land of Israel in the Jewish diaspora, Shvi'i shel Pesach is celebrated on both the seventh and eighth days of Passover.

According to traditional accounts, in subsequent years, during the existence of the Tabernacle and later the Temple in Jerusalem, the Korban Pesach was eaten during the Passover Seder on the fifteenth of Nisan.

Jesus also traveled to Jerusalem during the Passover pilgrimage as an adult.

The weeks before Passover are also the time for the baking of the matzos which will be eaten during the holiday.

Should the cough last longer than a month, some doctors may issue a referral to an otolaryngologist (ear, nose, and throat doctor) to see if a condition other than bronchitis is causing the irritation.

Note: The commandments regarding Passover are not observed strictly by most Jews.

Shvi'i shel Pesach (????? ?? ??? "seventh of Passover") is another full Jewish holiday, with special prayer services and festive meals.

Jesus is similarly characterized as the sacrificial Passover lamb in 1 Corinthians 5:7 and Hebrews 11:28.

At the Nicene Council in 325 it was decided that the Christian Passover should be celebrated on the Sunday following the full moon of the vernal equinox (March 21).

The eating of matzo figures prominently in the Passover Seder.

Many Sephardic families thoroughly wash their year-round glassware and then use it for Passover, as the Sephardic position is that glass does not absorb enough traces of food to present a problem.

Passover (Pesach, Pesakh)—also called the Festival of Unleavened Bread—is a Jewish holiday commemorating the Exodus and the freedom of the Israelites from ancient Egypt.

Orthodox families, however, generally observe the tradition that only those obligated to bring the Passover sacrifice to the Temple may participate in the feast.