Elements of Religious Traditions

The Jewish Holiday Passover

Sher-Lynn Berry

REL/134

April 12,2011

Doctor Randall Jordan

The Jewish Holiday Passover

“Hurry Isaac!” The older woman cries out in the night to her husband, a bucket of

blood and a brush in hand. “I am, I am.” The older man calls back to his wife as he purposely

follows direction on how to guard his house from the gift their God will deliver unto Egypt.

Inside a meal is prepared, the family sits together singing, praying and eating this special meal.

The older woman smiling at her first born son and the woman he took who cradles close the first

born son in her arms. The night comes along with the last plague that would free the Jewish

people from 400 years of slavery in Egypt. The meal is the beginning of the Jewish Nation’s

forty year journey into the wilderness to find its “Promise Land”. The holiday Passover, it is

celebrated every year on the fifteenth day in the Jewish month of Nissan. (April 19,2011) This

meal shared by Jews all over the world is called The Passover Seder. The following is the

traditional celebration and its meaning.

“The Passover Seder

The text of the Passover seder is written in a book called the Haggadah. The content of the seder

can be summed up by the following Hebrew rhyme:

Kaddesh, Urechatz,

Karpas, Yachatz,

Maggid, Rachtzah,

Motzi Matzah,

Maror, Korech,

Shulchan Orech,

Tzafun, Barech,

Hallel, Nirtzah

Now, what does that mean?

1. Kaddesh: Sanctification

The word is derived from the Hebrew root Qof-Dalet-Shin, meaning holy. This is a

blessing over wine in honor of the holiday. The wine is drunk, and a second cup is

poured.

2. Urechatz: Washing

A washing of the hands without a blessing, in preparation for eating the Karpas.

3. Karpas: Vegetable

A vegetable (usually parsley) is dipped in salt water and eaten. The vegetable symbolizes

the lowly origins of the Jewish people; the salt water symbolizes the...