Pesach

Pesach
A Seder of Passover in a kibbutz in the 1950s
Official Name	Hebrew : Pesach , yid. : lat.
Alternate Name	Feast of Unleavened Bread ( ) Feast of the germination of wheat ( ) The Time of Our Freedom ( )
Observed	the Judaism , the Karaism and Samaritanism
Type	Bible (Historical / Agricultural)
Meaning	Feast commemorating the Exodus and the beginning of the agricultural year.
Begins	on 15 nissan
Ends	nissan on 22 (21 in the land of Israel )
Date 2010	from March 30 to 5 / 6 April
Observances	Seder , reading the Haggadah , matza , maror , Paschal offering , early counting of the omer
Related	Shavuot

Pesach ( Hebrew , Latin: "Easter") is the name of one of the three pilgrimage feasts of Judaism prescribed by the Bible (though it only means originally a sacrificial ceremony ), during which celebrates the Exodus and the beginning of the annual agricultural cycle.

It begins on 14 Nissan (which corresponds, according to the year, at the end of March or April in the Gregorian calendar ) and lasts seven days (six in the land of Israel and in Reform Judaism ) which only the former are completely holidays. It also opens the countdown 'omer after which is celebrated the feast of Shavuot.

Particularly rich in customs and rites, the festival originally was distinguished by the Paschal offering , impractical since the destruction of the Temple (the Samaritans , however, continue to offer it on Mount Gerizim ). The obligation to eat matzot (unleavened foods) and banish the chametz (foods made of dough and / or fermented) throughout the festival continues to operate.

Summary 1 Pesach in Jewish sources 1.1 In the Hebrew Bible 1.2 In rabbinic literature 2 Observance of Passover in Rabbinic Judaism 2.1 Preparations for the feast 2.2 Watch Day 2.3 The seder 2.4 Festival and Mid-Day 2.5 The Seventh Day of Passover 2.6 Rite and Liturgy 2.6.1 Hallel 2.6.2 Reading the Torah 2.6.3 Additional Office (Musaf) 2.6.4 The counting of the omer 2.7 Reading of Ecclesiastes 3 Links with the Christian festival of Easter 4 See also 5 Notes and references 6 Source 7 Annexes 7.1 External Links 7.2 Bibliography

/ / Passover in Jewish sources

In the Hebrew Bible

Passover is the first ceremony prescribed in the Bible. While nine wounds have already fallen on Egypt and Moses and Aaron promise deliverance soon, YHWH told them to fix the month of wheat germination in which the Exodus take place .
The requirements of the festival are repeated twice : the events are to be forever remembered each year at the same time, seven days, only unleavened bread may be eaten, the leaven ( chametz ) is absolutely prohibited, even home, on pain of retrenchment from the people , the first and the seventh day of this "feast of unleavened bread" are holy convocations, during which only the activities required to lift are permitted.

Passover is brought up again when Moses lists the annual holy convocations and their offerings in the wilderness. However, the ceremony of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are presented as two distinct entities : The first celebrates the deliverance from Egypt on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month, consuming the offering Easter festively while the second, observed for seven days from the fifteenth day, is related to the germination of wheat and annual agricultural cycle; associated with it including the ceremony of balancing the omer taken from the first fruits of the harvest and the period seven full weeks starting from the day of Passover, after which we celebrate a new holy convocation, the Feast of Firstfruits .

It's still in the desert, on the occasion of the Passover ceremony at the foot of Mount Sinai that is established the second Passover , allowing those who have not had the opportunity to realize the rite at the appointed time ( due to ritual impurity, for example) to do a month later .

Celebrated after the victory of Joshua at Gilgal , Pesach is not mentioned in the following years, nor Hamatzot Hag. Both seem to be obsolete or forgotten. They reappear at the royal era, during the reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah , in a climate of popular fervor and religious reforms.
The Passover of Hezekiah would have caused an unprecedented jubilation in Jerusalem since the reign of Solomon and met with such enthusiasm that a second popular Passover, was held for lack of sufficient number Kohanim in Jerusalem during the first .
That of Josiah , held the eighteenth year of his reign, would not have been unparalleled since the days of Samuel .
Another celebration was held during the return to Zion , in accordance with the Act and in a joyful spirit .

In rabbinical literature

The various observances tied to the feast of Passover are detailed in the Mishna and the Talmud , particularly in the Treaty Pesachim (so called because it also deals with Pesach Sheni ), third in the order Moed (Laws on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays ):

• the first four chapters cover the laws regarding chametz which should eliminate the home until any dust ( the Sages chametz define as anything that originates or is derived from the fermentation of wheat, barley, Spelt, rye and oats in contact with water .
• five chapters deal with Easter offerings ; celebration of Passover in the Second Temple period are recounted with nostalgia
• the tenth and last chapter is devoted to scheduling seder , a ritual designed to observe the night of 14 Nissan.

The laws contained in the Mishnah are amplified in the Tosefta and discussed in the Babylonian Talmud and Jerusalem. These are the source of many rituals and customs further. The coincidence of Passover with the Sabbath is the subject of special discussion. On the other hand, the eviction of chametz is so important that some Ashkenazi show their zeal by avoiding the gebrochts (obtained when adding water to the matzo meal ) to remove smaller doubts. According to another widespread custom in the mainly Ashkenazi Jews, it should also avoid kitniyot (legumes) that could ferment in contact with water, although they have not been defined as chametz.

Aspects of the festival that are not suitable for Passover, as the general laws of the holidays, the status of the intermediate days of the festival ( Chol Hamoed ) and the general laws on the pilgrimage festivals (not applicable in absence of a Temple built), are the subject of separate treaties, Beitz , Moed katan and Haguiga , seventh, eleventh and twelfth of the order Moed, respectively. The counting of the omer is discussed in the tenth chapter of the Treaty Menahot.

Observance of Passover in Rabbinic Judaism

Preparations for the feast

Preparations for Passover in the particular research chametz in the home, usually begin after the Feast of Purim. The kitchen should also be cleaned by passing boiling water or heating to white , those utensils that can not undergo such processes must be put aside and a special dish for Passover use.

Upon entry of the month of Nissan , mourning is not appropriate and various passages austere or severe are removed from the liturgy .

It is customary to throw a quest called kim'ha dePis'ha ( Judeo-Babylonian Aramaic : "Passover meal") to enable the poor to buy flour for matzos. A month or, more commonly, at the Shabbat before Passover , the rabbi delivers a sermon synagogue to teach the laws of Passover, because of their numbers and importance, it is also customary to read a portion of the haggada after the office of Mincha .

Eve of the Feast

The prohibition to possess chametz starting from the morning of the fourteenth of Nissan , the father of family research, the evening of 13 nissan chametz with a pen and a spatula in the light of a candle or a torch (continued maniacal care taken to remove the home, it is most often pieces of bread in a hermetically sealed bag). He then pronounces a blessing, saying that the chametz is left in its possession as "dust of the earth."
The chametz is burned and found the morning of 14 nissan, some sell the chametz they want to recover from the party to non-Jews by means of a rabbinical authority. Once the house is stripped of his chametz, we avoid eating matza for the sake of the party.

It is customary since Talmudic times not to perform any activity (apart from those necessary for the preparation of the festival) from half the day at the latest. Indeed, at the time of the Temple, they brought his offering Easter since the middle of the day, the Sages felt that it was from that moment began the holiday for each pilgrim and the need to retain this use in remembrance of the Temple.

Another usual outcome is Talmudic times to observe a fast for the firstborn of every family in memory of the tenth plague of Egypt, both by compassion for the Egyptians whom gratitude by YHWH. Orders this fast, however flexible and can be broken by a feast as those who stand at a circumcision at the completion of a study , so much arrange to complete a study on this day.

The seder

The Seder ( Hebrew : "order") is a highly symbolic ritual to revive its participants, especially children, the sudden accession to freedom after years of slavery (some Sephardic families grow even more dramatic ). It is celebrated tonight in the land of Israel , two out of it because the second holiday of the diaspora communities (which is not observed in Reform Judaism ).

One of the seder plate is placed on the table. Three matzot, the Jews most practitioners have cooked the morning of 14 nissan flour from a lifeguard from the harvest , there enthroned, surrounded by a roasted lamb bone, bitter herbs, a mixture apples and walnuts, boiled egg, radish and a bowl of heavily salted water, each evoking different aspects of life of the Israelites in Egypt and the Paschal offering.

The leader, often the father, becomes the one night the "priest" of YHWH (some even like to wear a white dress reminiscent of the High Priest ). The children are kept awake by a distribution of nuts and other sweets.
Four cups of wine (traditionally red but some Ashkenazic authorities have allowed the wine to the following accusations of blood libel against Jews , they are supposed to drink the blood of a freshly sacrificed Christian child as an offering Easter . Sephardic Policy makers only allow red ) is drink reclining on the left side, "according to the custom of kings."

After breaking the matza matzot between two, having hidden a half (the afikomen ), have encouraged the needy to participate in the festivities during the ha Lahma anya (This is the bread of affliction ") and have heightened the interests of the children with other unusual rites, or the youngest of them asking the four questions traditional. He replied in the Haggadah where the verses relating to the Exodus are interspersed rabbinic discussions to make them more instructive and memorable. After tasting the three main dishes of the feast, the Passover (symbolized by the Joint matza), the matza (symbolized by one of two other matzot) and maror (bitter herbs, often horseradish) separately and Overall, a festive meal is served. The children are once more put to work to find the afikomen, without which the meal can not be completed. The Thanksgiving post-prandial is enriched psalms of Hallel , after which the seder concludes with the hope that God has approved and that "next year in Jerusalem (modern variant: Jerusalem rebuilt )! "

Festival and Mid-Day

Of the seven days of Passover in the land of Israel, only the first and last are observed. In communities of the Diaspora , Passover is celebrated eight days, under rabbinic institution of the second holiday (and non-working) of diaspora communities, not observed by some Reformed congregations.

Other days (five in the land of Israel, four in the Diaspora), called Chol Hamoed , have an intermediate status: it is possible to achieve them all the necessary activities to fulfill the party but not those that would interfere with the relaxation and celebration. While many orders are related, the Chol Hamoed is crafted in Israel, although it is regarded as a period of relaxation and that schools are closed.

The Seventh Day of Passover

This, according to the Bible, the seventh day after the Exodus from Egypt, has held the Red Sea crossing. This seventh day of Passover, in which a holy convocation is also prescribed to the Israelites, is considered a continuation of the feast of Passover with, however, its own character.

The seventh day of Passover is, like other biblical feasts, extended by one day outside the Land of Israel. This second day is called A'haron shel Pesach ("the last Rite and Liturgy

The Feast of Passover was mainly at the time of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem, a pilgrimage feast , during which Jews were required to travel to Jerusalem for seven days and to make offerings to God according to the biblical ordinances.
While many Jews today make a pilgrimage to the Western Wall , in the absence of the Temple rebuilt, the liturgy focuses primarily, as Sukkot and Shavuot , on the memory of ancient rites and offerings. Emphasis is placed on the acquisition of freedom and celebration of Passover is often referred heroutenou zman ("time of our freedom").

The liturgical ritual of Passover shares with these two festivals:

• a particular version of the Amidah (prayer principal offices in the morning, afternoon and evening) recited during the first day of the festival (the first two days outside the land of Israel)
• reading the Hallel,
• a reading from the Torah special
• an additional prayer service ( Musaf )
• an extra prayer, Yaala veyavo interposed in the Amidah days of Chol Hamoed.

It is different in some features, chief among which is the recitation of the prayer for dew during the first Musaf holiday. Therefore, the blessing of rain during prayer services is replaced by that of the dew, until 7 Heshvan or Musaf of Shemini Atzeret.
On 15 Nissan, the day after Pesach (or his first day in the Diaspora), marks the beginning of the counting of the omer ; this count continues during the evening service of the fifty days between Christmas and Pessa ' h and Shavuot.

Hallel

The Hallel is recited in its entirety (from Psalm 113 to Psalm 118) when (or) first and last days of the feast of Passover, after the Amidah in the morning. It is short on other days.

Torah reading

We read on Pesach the biblical passages relating to the party and its order ( Exodus 12:21-51 and Numbers 28:16-25 as maftir). The Haftarah (reading from a section complementary in the Prophetic Books) is read in Joshua 5:2 to 6:1, describing the celebration of Passover after the victory of Gilgal. On the second day (which exists only in diaspora), Exodus 12:21-51 is replaced by Leviticus 22:26-23:44 and Haftarah is read in II Kings 23:1-9 and 21-25 (the Josiah's Passover).

During the Shabbat of Chol Hamoed we read Exodus 33:12-34:26 (the dialogue between God and Moses, followed by the forgiveness of Israel and the prescription of cutting new tables to receive the Act) and Numbers 28:19 -25 in maftir. The Haftarah is read in Ezekiel 37:1-14 (the prophecy of the dry bones).

At the seventh day of Passover , we read the passage describing the miracle of the Red Sea (Exodus 13:17-15:26) and Numbers 28:19-25 and 2 Samuel 22:1-51, which describes the God's power over the elements. Finally, we read, the last day of Passover in the Diaspora, Deuteronomy 15:19-16:17 (14:22-16:17 or if the eighth day Sabbath is held), Numbers 18:19-25 and Isaiah 10 :32-12: 6 (the prophecy of the Messianic times which, according to Jewish theology, the second divine redemption).

Additional Office (Musaf)