Passover - Pesach : History and Meaning of Freedom in Faith |
Happy Passover !
Happy Pesach !
With Matzo Love !
Welcome to our Pesach website. In our Pesach website, we cover all topics Pesach-related from a trans-denominational, Jewish viewpoint since among other things, Pesach is a festival of community. We also have a section that briefly discusses the other Jewish festivals and holidays. So wherever in the world you are, sit back, relax, and get set to train your brain in all things Pesach ! :)
If you don't have much knowledge about Pesach, our website will enable you to discover many aspects about the festival including the history and story of Pesach, how to prepare for Pesach, the Seder meal that is the highlight of the festival and is standard for all Jewish communities, the Haggadah book that is used to conduct the Seder meal, a summarized calendar of all Pesach activities, and more.
In our website, you will also learn about the "Fours" of the festival, meaning the Four Questions, Four Cups of Wine, and Four Sons; the Ten Plagues, the different names for the festival, and the role of Elijah the Prophet in the rituals of the festivities. We always update our website with new information, so it's a good idea to bookmark it or subscribe via RSS to it.
To reinforce the knowledge you gain from learning about Pesach, we have also created some educational games and quizzes that will add to the fun of learning about this festival.
If your knowledge of Pesach goes beyond a beginner's level to either a moderate or advanced level, perhaps you will add to your knowledge through learning about the different local traditions among different Jewish communities worldwide and you might even discover some great food ideas in our Pesach recipes section! You can also check out future dates for Pesach on our website so that you will be able to plan in advance for the Seder.
In addition to the aforementioned information about the festival, we have ideas for activities for children to enhance their knowledge of the festival on our "For Kids" and "For Children" web pages, a countdown clock to the next Pesach, poems that mention various themes of the festival, art depicting scenes in the story of Pesach, information about prayers, and tactful humor related to the festival. We even have information about a "Second Pesach" that was commemorated in biblical times. We add new topics about this festival year round so you can either link to us if you have a website or bookmark us for future reference.
You obviously notice that I've been mentioning the word Pesach and not Passover as the name for this festival. This is because the name Pesach has become the colloquial name used for this festival among the Jewish people, particularly among Orthodox-Jewish people. Key on the words "has become" because Pesach as the name for this festival is not found in the Hebrew Bible. Rather, the Hebrew Bible names this festival "Chag Ha-Matzot" ("The Festival of Unleavened Bread" in Hebrew). However, Pesach as mentioned in the Hebrew Bible is associated with "Chag Ha-Matzot" and so the importance of what Pesach represents to "Chag Ha-Matzot" eventually translated into the use of the word Pesach as the name for the festival among Jewish people. In contemporary times, particularly in English-speaking countries, the name Passover has also become quite popular as the name to describe this festival among more religiously liberal Jewish people, that is, among non-Orthodox Jewish people.
You may be wondering at this point: since the word Passover is not mentioned in the original Hebrew version of the Hebrew Bible, what is the origin of the name Passover ? Well, the name Passover did not come into use until the early 16th century C.E. in England. But how did the name Passover become so popular among non-Jewish as well as non-Orthodox Jewish people? The word Passover became popular as the name for the festival because from the 16th century onward, when people began creating English translations of the Hebrew Bible as well as its Greek version, the Septuagint, the word Passover was determined by the translators to be the English approximation of the meaning of the Hebrew word Pasach, which was mentioned in the biblical book of Shemot or Exodus and means either "to skip over (or on)" or to "pass over (or on)". Since the Hebrew word Pasach was linguistically connected to the Hebrew word Pesach in that both are spelled the same way in Hebrew (but pronounced differently by Jewish tradition), the translators concluded that Pesach (and its subsequent Greek equivalent "Pascha" mentioned in the Septuagint) also had the same meanings as Pasach and so Passover became the accepted English translation of both Pesach and Pascha from the 16th century onward in English-speaking countries. The use of the name Passover to describe this festival became so ubiquitous from the 16th century onward in English-speaking countries that the name Passover became and is still used to this day in a colloquial sense by the general population to describe Pesach which in turn is associated with the biblical festival known as "Chag Ha-Matzot".
In our web pages about this festival, the word Passover is the word that is used most frequently to describe the festival, simply due to its familiarity among the Jewish population and those of other faiths. Passover symbolizes monumental change. Passover symbolizes uncertainty for what the future holds. Passover symbolizes the courage to change. Passover symbolizes the soul-searching and realization of one's individual and collective responsibility for the emotional, physical, intellectual, and spiritual development of oneself and all humanity, respectively. But the dramatic events and timeless messages of the Passover story ultimately symbolize and reveal a beacon to all humanity that inherent in the faith in the One, True, Omnipresent (both within and without oneself), purely spiritual G-d - a G-d beyond time and space - is the political, physical, and ultimately, spiritual freedom we all desire.
Since Pesach or Passover represents a new beginning in the history of the Hebrews, occurring in the first month of the Jewish calendar, we also include a section about the history of the Jewish calendar.
We hope you enjoy your stay on our website and feel free to return anytime. You're always welcome on our Passover / Pesach website.
Website Created On: March 8, 1999
Last Updated On: November 18, 2009