In Unity we chose to celebrate, integrate and welcome people from all faith. Personally, as a minister, I like celebrating along with different traditions because I believe that each spiritual tradition, custom or celebration offer an opportunity for us all to look to the Divine Presence and move into deeper communion with IT.
From the 22nd to the 29th of April we are celebrating Passover or Pesach. I would like to invite you to walk this 8-day Passover journey with me doing something different each day – see my next post on the possible activities list – that may support your spiritual unfolding and build a deeper sense of awareness of your connectedness to the Divine Presence.
Today, I am going to introduce what Pesach is… (read more below)
- What is it that has enslaved you so far and you want to become free from?
- How are you going to part the ‘red sea’ of you fears (or what enslaves you)?
- How are you going to call upon the Divine to support you to become free?
- What are you going to do during the next 8 days to support yourself to get free?
Pesach starting on the Evening Of
Mon, Apr 22, 2024 till Mon, Apr 29, 2024
SHORT INTRODUCTION
Passover falls on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan (late March or April). Depending on your tradition, you might celebrate Passover for seven days, while others observe the holiday for eight days.
Passover is both agricultural and historical in origin. Also known as Chag haAviv, the “Festival of the Spring,” it reminds us of the early spring harvest in the former land of Canaan, now Israel. Much more commonly recognized for its historical significance, Passover is also known as Zman Cheruteynu, “The Season of Our Freedom.”
The name Passover is symbolic of the Angel of Death “passing over” the Jewish homes while killing the first born of the Egyptians, the last of the Ten Plagues before Pharaoh let the Jews go.
What is Pesach?
Pesach, or Passover, is an 8-day Jewish holiday during the Jewish month of Nissan- at the beginning of spring. ‘Pesach’ means to pass over, commemorating the miracle God performed for the Jewish people enslaved in Egypt, where He passed over their homes during the 10th plague that killed the firstborn of every Egyptian home.
Any chometz (food made of flour and water that was allowed to rise) is removed from the home, and matzah (flat, unleavened bread) is eaten instead. Maror (bitter herbs) is eaten to remember the brutal conditions that the Jews lived in.
The history of Pesach
The celebration of Pesach is based on the story of Exodus, when God saved the Jewish people from the cruel Egyptian rule and ultimately brought them to the Land of Israel. The story begins when the Egyptians enslaved the Jewish people, forcing the women, men, and children to perform back-breaking labor every day. They were vicious and cruel, enacting new laws to make the lives of the Jews increasingly miserable.
The king of Egypt, Pharaoh, even decreed to kill every Jewish male newborn when he had a dream that a Jewish man would redeem the Jews from their bondage. Ironically, his own daughter Princess Batya saved Moses, a Jewish baby floating in the Nile river, and brought him to her father’s palace.
Batya raised Moses in the palace of his greatest enemy until he ran away. One day, God revealed himself to Moses in a thornbush and sent him as a messenger to Pharaoh, ordering him in the name of G-d to let the Jewish people go. Pharaoh refused, so G-d inflicted the people of Egypt with the first plague- all the water in the land turned to blood for a week.
Pharoah begged Moses to end the plague, promising to release the Jewish people. But as soon as the plague ended, Pharaoh changed his mind and did not relent. So God brought the second plague – millions of frogs all over Egypt. This repeated itself 10 times, with each plague lasting a week). Here are the ten plagues: blood, frogs, lice, wild animals, death of the animals, boils, hail, grasshoppers, darkness, and the death of every firstborn.
Pharoah suddenly realized that he was the firstborn of his family and would therefore die imminently. He ran to find Moses in the middle of the night and ordered him to round up all the Jews in Egypt and leave the country immediately. Thus, the Jewish people were released from their decades of cruel slavery and ultimately were appointed as God’s chosen nation at Mount Sinai in the desert.
How is Pesach celebrated?
For the entire 8 days of Pesach, Jews may not own or consume any chometz. This is because when Pharoah urged the Jewish people to leave Egypt, they were in the middle of baking bread. They flung their doughs over their shoulders and hastily walked out of the land. The bread jostled on their backs as they walked in the hot sun, which didn’t allow them to rise. The dough resulted in matzah, which Jews eat instead of bread during Pesach.
Today, the homes are cleaned extensively to ensure no trace of chometz. Many people use the opportunity of Pesach cleaning to ‘spring clean’ the house simultaneously. There is a special ceremony on the day before Pesach where the final search for chometz takes place, and all remaining foods are burnt.
On the first two nights of Pesach, the family hosts a ‘seder,’ where the Haggadah – the story of the Exodus from Egypt- is read. Several rituals during the seder include eating the maror, eating matzah, drinking four cups of wine or grape juice, and discussing the story in great depth.