When is Passover 2024? What to know about the Jewish holiday of freedom
Display the seder plate and hide the afikomen: Passover will be here soon.
Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) is the most observed Jewish holiday. Known as the Festival of Freedom, it commemorates the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs.
The holiday occurs during the month of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar, usually in March or April. It's observed with formally structured seders (festive, ritualized meals) among families, friends and communities and other sacred traditions.
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When is Passover 2024?
This year, Passover begins before sundown on Monday, April 22 and ends after nightfall on April 30 in the United States.
In the Hebrew calendar, Passover begins on the 15th day of the month of Nisan, which will always be a full moon because the Hebrew months are tied to the lunar cycle. The calendar used most often everywhere else, the Gregorian calendar, is based on a solar cycle and the two calendars don't quite match up. The Hebrew calendar moves forward about 11 days every Gregorian year.
Passover lasts for seven days. On the first and last days of Passover, work is not permitted. Many Jewish communities will hold seders the first two nights.
What is Passover?
Passover celebrates the birth of the Jewish nation, according to chabad.org.
The story of Passover comes from the Book of Exodus in the Torah (the Hebrew Bible), which details the life of Moses thousands of years ago and his holy mission to demand freedom for the Israelites, who had been kept in slavery by the Pharoah for 44 years. When the Pharoah repeatedly refused Moses' pleas and ignored his miracles, God sent a series of 10 plagues against the land. The final one slew the firstborn of every family in Egypt but passed over the houses of the Jews. Pharoah released them and then sent troops after them, but Moses led the Jews to freedom. Passover commemorates those events.
According to the Haggadah, a book used during the seder on Passover eve, Moses commanded all Jews to remember the day when God freed them from the house of bondage and made them a free people, and to tell their children.
Passover is celebrated by more than 6 out of 10 U.S. Jews, more so than Yom Kippur, according to a 2021 Pew Research report.
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How is Passover celebrated?
"Why is this night different from all other nights?"
That's the first of the Four Questions traditionally asked by the youngest child attending the Passover Seder, as part of the ritualized feast. The multistep ritual is usually held at the family's home and combines food, prayer, teachings, songs and games for fellowship and to pass on the story to younger generations.
Some Jewish families or groups will display a seder plate with symbolic foods that mark the holiday. Maror, or bitter herbs, represent the bitterness of slavery, for example.
Seders involve moving through a book called a Haggadah, which contains stories, prayers, poetry and other teachings in Arabic and Hebrew, occasionally with English translations. It is based on God's instructions in Exodus 10, "That you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord."
Different families or communities use different Haggadahs, but the point is the same. Jews are urged to imagine themselves as part of the story.
The Seder takes place the first night for Jews inside Israel, and the first two nights for all other Jews around the world.
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What are the Four Questions?
The section of the Haggadah popular with younger attendants is the Four Questions.
During this part of the dinner, the youngest child present (who can read) recites four questions to the rest of the group. Known in Hebrew as "Mah Nishtanah," these questions are:
On all other nights, we eat chametz (leavened foods) and matzah. Why on this night, only matzah?
On all other nights, we eat all vegetables. Why, on this night, maror (bitter herbs)?
On all other nights, we don't dip even once. Why on this night do we dip twice?
On all other nights, we eat either sitting upright or reclining. Why on this night do we all recline?
In a call-and-response format, after each question is asked the remaining dinner guests respond, explaining to the new generations how the traditions came to be and what they mean for the Jewish people.
What foods are eaten (or not eaten) during Passover?
Many Jews during Passover do not eat certain leavened foods, known as chametz, to honor the plight of the Israelites as they left Egypt. "Leveaned" means any food product made from wheat, barley, rye, oats or spelt that has come into contact with water and been allowed to ferment and “rise.” That includes bread, pasta, beer, liquor and more. Homes are thoroughly cleared of all remaining leavened products before the holiday.
The Sedar plate is used to display six symbolic foods that help retell the miraculous story of Moses and the Passover as recorded in the Book of Exodus. The foods are:
Matzo, or unleavened bread, which is broken into pieces to represent the ancient Israelites breaking the shackles of slavery. The pieces also represents priests, Levites and Israelites, and commemorates the story in Genesis when Abraham and Sarah were visited by three angels and bread was hastily baked for their visit.
Parsley, or karpas in Hebrew, represents the slaves' back-breaking labor. It is dipped in salt water, representing the slaves' tears.
The Beitzah, a hard-boiled or roasted egg, represents the life cycle and the meat sacrifices brought to the ancient Temple in Jerusalem prior to the holidays. The egg is eaten after it, too, is dipped in salt water.
The lamb shank or bone represents the lamb sacrificed and eaten on the eve of the Exodus. The lamb's blood was used to mark the Israelite slaves' doorposts so that the final plague − death − would "pass over" their homes.
Bitter herbs, or "maror," traditionally consists of horseradish or romaine lettuce stems, and recalls the bitterness of the Israelites' experiences in captivity.
Charoset is a blended mixture of apples, pears, nuts and wine. It represents the mortar and bricks the Israelite slaves used in building for their Egyptian masters.
Popular Passover dishes include roasted chicken, gefilte fish, matzo ball soup, potato kugel, candied carrots and rack of lamb.
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What is the afikomen?
The afikomen is the last thing eaten at many Passover seders.
The matzo is broken and the pieces eaten at different stages of the ritual. At the end, everyone must eat at least a small portion of matzo.
In some families, the afikomen is either hidden for children to find or "stolen" by the children to be ransomed back.
Should I wish someone a “Happy Passover” or other greetings? Is it appropriate to say "Happy Passover"?
If you want to greet a loved one who is celebrating Passover, “Happy Passover” is an appropriate sentiment.
You could also say “chag sameach,” which means happy holiday in Hebrew, or chag kasher v’semeach, which means have a happy and kosher Passover.
Pronounce the "ch" in these words with a strong H sound, like in "Loch."
I've been invited to a Passover Seder. What should I bring?
Gifts are appreciated, but avoid food unless it's been prepared in a Kosher manner in adherence to Jewish law or is labeled Kosher for Passover, according to Chani Benjaminson of chabad.org.
Safer gifts include fruit, flowers or Passover recipe books, Benjamin said.
What is Shavuot?
During Passover, a 50-day period begins called the Omer. At the end of it, Jews celebrate Shavuot.
According to the Jewish faith, Shavuot celebrates the time when Moses received the 10 Commandments and the Torah by divine revelation — for Christians, in this case, the Torah would be considered the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, or the Old Testament — on Mount Sinai.
"The giving of the Torah was a far-reaching spiritual event—one that touched the essence of the Jewish soul for all times," explains Chabad.org. "'Shavuot' also means 'oaths,' for on this day G‑d swore eternal devotion to us, and we in turn pledged everlasting loyalty to Him."
Jews who observe the holiday of Shavuot typically self-reflect during the 49-day "Counting of the Omer" period and work on their spiritual growth.
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Contributor: Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Passover: Here's when Jewish Festival of Freedom begins in 2024
