Jews mark weeklong Passover holiday with traditions and symbolism inspired by the biblical exodus from slavery to freedom.
By Paul Shindman, World Israel News
Every spring Jews around the world celebrate the festival of Passover that commemorates the biblical exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt more than three millennia ago to freedom and becoming masters of their own destiny.
Called the “time of our freedom,” Passover is looked at as the watershed event that gave birth to the Jewish nation. It is one of the three pilgrimage festivals that include Shavuot (Feast of Weeks) and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles).
In Hebrew it is called Pesach, meaning ‘pass over’ and derived from the last of the 10 plagues in which God “passed over” the homes of the Jewish slaves and killed only the firstborn Egyptians.
The many biblical precepts and their interpretations make the holiday one that is full, filling and fun.
The Bible specifies that the holiday begins on the 15th day of Nissan in the Hebrew calendar, which corresponds in 2020 to sundown on April 8, and continues for seven days.
The first and last days are consecrated and no “servile work” can be done, while the interim days are marked by eating matzah – the same “bread of affliction” that had no time to rise in the haste the Israelites fled to freedom.
Central to Passover is the prohibition on eating or even owning “chametz” – food products containing wheat, barley, rye, oats or spelt that has in any way fermented or been allowed to rise after coming into contact with water.
Matzah (unleavened bread) and other Passover foods are made from specially milled flour that is guarded so that it remains totally dry.
“Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; howbeit the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses; for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.” (Exodus 12:15)
Religious law forbids Jews from owning any chametz during Passover, even if they lock the foods away and out of sight. This is problematic not just for individuals with an expensive collection of Scotch, but also for food producers who over Passover cannot own the raw ingredients for baked goods.
Homes are cleaned top to bottom to remove all breadcrumbs, bakeries are closed and restaurants either super-clean and modify their menus to remove anything chametz (like sandwiches and pastas), or close for the holiday.
But not everything has to be thrown out, as unused chametz can be kept. The traditional workaround developed centuries ago is to “sell” the chametz to a non-Jew who “owns” the goods for the duration of Passover, with the sale nullified afterwards.
The holiday begins after sundown with the “Seder” meal at which the “Haggadah,” the story of the exodus is read aloud in which it is written that “in every generation a person is obligated to regard himself as if he had come out of Egypt” from slavery to freedom.
The word Seder in Hebrew means order, and the Haggadah has an order of the evening’s 15 different steps from start to finish and filled with symbolism in the ritual storytelling. According to Jewish custom, outside of Israel an extra day is added so that two Seder meals are held on the first two nights of Passover.
The Seder itself is a traditional gathering of extended family and its not uncommon for dozens of people to be present. The Chabad organization is known for holding Seder meals around the world attended by hundreds of Jewish travelers.
The many symbolic features in the Seder include:
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eating of Matzah, known as the “bread of affliction” or “bread of the poor”
eating of bitter herbs to remind of the bitterness of slavery
asking four questions to learn about the significance of the Exodus
spill a drop of wine when reciting the 10 plagues on Egypt, reminding that joy cannot be complete when some of God’s creatures had to suffer
ending the Seder with the saying “Next year in Jerusalem” in the hope for unity
singing Passover hymns to remind of God’s gift of delivering the Jews from slavery
sitting while leaning on a pillow, as slaves did not have that luxury
Normally one of the most festive times of the year, the coronavirus pandemic has drastically changed the way people are celebrating Passover in 2020.
In order to prevent a resurgent outbreak of the virus, the government and rabbinical authorities in Israel banned people from going out of the house for the Seder, restricting the evening to immediate family only.
A government-ordered curfew was put into place to ensure compliance. Medical workers will be missing the Seder as they continue to treat Israelis infected and carry out more tests.
The virus also caused the cancellation of the traditional priestly blessing at the Western Wall of the ancient Jewish Temple, the Kotel, that would normally see tens of thousands of Israelis crowd shoulder-to-shoulder to be blessed.
犹太人在为期一周的逾越节庆祝活动中，以圣经中从奴隶制到自由的逃亡为灵感，采用传统和象征手法。
世界以色列新闻报记者保罗·辛德曼
每年春天，全世界的犹太人都会庆祝逾越节，以纪念三千多年前圣经中以色列人从埃及的奴隶制度中解脱出来，走向自由，成为自己命运的主人。
逾越节被称为“我们自由的时代”，被视为犹太民族诞生的分水岭。这是三个朝圣节日之一，包括沙武特（星期节）和苏科特（住棚节）。
在希伯来语中，它被称为Pesach，意思是“过去”，源于上帝“过去”犹太人奴隶的家，只杀死长子埃及人的10个瘟疫中的最后一个。
许多圣经的戒律和它们的解释使节日充满了乐趣，圣经规定，这个节日从希伯来日历中的日产15日开始，相当于2020年到4月8日日落，持续7天。
头几天和最后几天是神圣的，不能做任何“奴仆的工作”，而过渡期的日子则是以吃玛撒为标志的——这是同样的“苦难的面包”，以色列人没有时间仓促逃往自由。
逾越节的核心是禁止食用甚至拥有“chametz”-含有小麦、大麦、黑麦、燕麦或燕麦片的食品，这些食品以任何方式发酵或接触水后被允许上升。
无酵面包（Matzah）和其他逾越节的食物都是用特别磨碎的面粉做成的，面粉要有保护措施，使其保持完全干燥。
“你们要吃无酵饼七天，但头一天要把酵从你们家里除掉，因为凡从头一天吃有酵饼到第七天的，那人必从以色列中剪除。”（ 出埃及记12:15 ）
宗教法禁止犹太人在逾越节期间拥有任何查米兹，即使他们把食物锁在外面看不见。这不仅对那些收藏了昂贵苏格兰威士忌的人来说是个问题，对那些逾越节不能拥有烘焙食品原料的食品生产商来说也是个问题。
家家户户自上而下地打扫，以清除所有面包屑，面包店关闭，餐馆要么超级清洁，修改菜单，以清除任何沙美滋（如三明治和糕点），或关闭假日。
但并不是所有的东西都必须扔掉，因为不用的沙米兹可以保存。几个世纪前发展起来的传统解决办法是把查梅兹“卖给”一个在逾越节期间“拥有”货物的非犹太人，而在逾越节之后，这种买卖就作废了。
太阳下山后，节日以“Seder”餐开始，在这顿饭上，人们大声朗读《出埃及记》，其中写道，“每一代人都有义务把自己看作是从埃及出来的”，从奴役到自由。
在希伯来语中，Seder 一词的意思是秩序，Haggadah有一个从开始到结束的15个不同的步骤的秩序，并且充满了仪式故事的象征意义。根据犹太人的习俗，在以色列境外多加一天，这样在逾越节的头两个晚上就可以吃两顿晚餐。
家宴本身是一个大家庭的传统聚会，数十人出席家宴并不少见。查巴德组织以在世界各地举办有数百名犹太旅行者参加的聚餐而闻名。
莎草的许多象征性特征包括：
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吃玛撒，被称为“苦难的面包”或“穷人的面包”
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吃苦味的药草来提醒奴隶制的痛苦
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问四个问题来了解出埃及记的意义
当你背诵埃及的十大瘟疫时，洒上一滴酒，提醒你，当上帝的某些造物遭受苦难时，快乐是不可能完全的
以“明年在耶路撒冷”结束煽动，希望团结唱逾越节的圣歌，提醒上帝的恩赐，把犹太人从奴役中解救出来
像奴隶一样靠在枕头上坐着通常是一年中最喜庆的时刻之一，冠状病毒大流行已经彻底改变了人们在2020年庆祝逾越节的方式。
为了防止病毒再次爆发，以色列政府和犹太教当局禁止人们走出家门参加盛宴，只允许直系亲属参加。
政府下令实行宵禁以确保遵守。医务人员将失踪，因为他们继续治疗以色列人感染和进行更多的测试。
这种病毒还导致了古老的犹太庙宇Kotel西墙传统的祭司祝福被取消，这座庙宇通常会有数万以色列人聚集在这里。