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Judaism and the Jewish Community
Jewish Festivals:
Pesach |
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Additional Information |
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Many people are very careful to avoid eating and even owning leavened food(chametz) and go to great lengths before and during Pesach to make sure they don’t accidentially do so. Many people clean their home extra thoroughly to get rid of any chametz, even have separate pots and dishes only ever used on Pesach, and only buy and eat food that a rabbi has specially certified as “kosher for Pesach”. |
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Matzah is made with just flour and water – not even with added salt – and has to be mixed, kneaded, rolled, and fully baked within 18 minutes so the dough doesn’t have any chance to ferment or ‘leaven’, to represent the haste with which the Jewish people fled from slavery in Egypt. |
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Chametz is food made from grain that is ‘leavened’ or has risen, so it is symbolic of being ‘puffed up’ or haughty. Pesach therefore symbolises the opposite – humility, which is considered an important character trait in Judaism. By only eating simple and humble foods for a week, we remember that we were once slaves with no power, no spare time, no material possessions, and no luxuries, and that we shouldn’t take luxury for granted or get too big for our boots. |
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By tradition, Mount Sinai was chosen for the giving of the Torah because it was small and simple, not high and beautiful, as a reminder that humility not grandeur is important. This is also echoed by Moses who had a speech defect, and was a shepherd, but still became a great leader. |
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Many people celebrate two seder nights. Orthodox Jewish communities outside Israel celebrate every festival for two days rather than the one mentioned in the Torah. This is a tradition dating back to when long distance communication was difficult and took a long time, so Jews living far from the Temple were not sure of the correct date, and therefore celebrated on both possibile days to make sure they didn’t get it wrong. |
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The most important purpose of the seder is to pass on the story of the Exodus from Egypt – going from slavery to freedom – to the next generation so that it will never be forgotten. Because of this, much of the seder is designed to interest and engage children with songs and unusual foods and actions, with the highlight being the children singing the song Ma Nishtanah which asks four questions about why the seder night is different from all other nights. |
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The word seder just means “order” because there is a prescribed order of service – like an agenda – for the meal, which includes: |
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Three sheets of matzah – two replacing the normal challah eaten on Shabbat and Festivals, and another for the special mitzvah (observance) of matzah. They also represent the three groups of Jewish people: Cohanim (priests), Levites, and ‘Israelites’ (everyone else). Near the beginning of the seder, the middle matzah is broken and one part is hidden so that the children can find it and hold it to ransom when it is needed to be eaten at the end of the meal, so that it is the lasting taste of the seder. |
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Four glasses of wine (or grape juice) are drunk at different points during the meal. |
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The following items are arranged on the table (most people put them on a decorative platter) and are used or referred to during the meal. |
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Salt water to represent the tears of the Jewish people when they were slaves in Egypt, and a vegetable to dip into the salt water – for no other reason than so the children will ask why! |
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Bitter herbs to represent the bitter life of slaves, and charoset, a mixture of apples, nuts, and honey, to represent the clay the Jewish slaves had to make into bricks. |
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A bone and an egg (which are not eaten) to represent the sacrifices that were offered in the Temple in Biblical times. |
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The final day of Pesach is by tradition the anniversary of the Jewish people finally escaping from Egypt by crossing the Red Sea into the Sinai Desert. |
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Suggested discussion questions and activities |
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What other things could people do to remember to be humble, and not haughty or arrogant? Write a poem, a song, or invent a new activity or annual tradition that would be universally relevant to remind people of the importance of humility. |
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Look at the words of the Mah Nishtanah. Can you answer the four questions as to why Jewish people do these four things differently on seder night? |
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Can you think of things that you do – or eat – in order to remember something of significance to you or your family? |
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Investigate modern day slavery. How can this be prevented? What can you and you friends or classmates to help prevent people being treated in this way? |
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What historical evidence is there in ancient Egyptian sources to support the story of the Jewish people’s slavery in Egypt? |
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Focus on Moses as a leader. Why was he not an obvious person for the job? What made him a good leader in the end? |
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Before the tenth plague, G-d told the Jewish people to put a sign on the doorposts of their houses to show that this was a Jewish home. Nowadays Jewish people put a mezuzah on the doorposts of their houses. What message or life motto would you choose to put on your doorpost or wall to be reminded of every day? |
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Additional resources |
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