passover | Story behind rituals

passover | Story behind rituals

Passover, which begins at sundown today, celebrates freedom. Jewish families mark the observance with Seder rituals in their homes and at synagogues. Passover focuses on the retelling of the story from Exodus about the Israelites’ liberation from slavery in ancient Egypt. Each generation is instructed to retell the story of deliverance.

Passover Seder: The Jewish ritual feast marks the beginning of Passover. Customs include drinking four cups of wine or grape juice that symbolize four promises made by God to the Jews; eating matzah, unleavened bread that symbolizes the Israelites’ rush to leave, hence they didn’t let bread dough rise; and symbolic foods on the Seder plate.

Seder tray: The ke’arah contains unique foods used at the Seder. Maror, bitter herbs such as horseradish and romaine lettuce, are symbolic of the bitterness of slavery in Egypt; charoset, a sweet mixture of apples, nuts, dates and wine, is symbolic of the clay the Israelites used to make bricks for the pharaoh; z’roa, roasted bone of the sacrificial lamb brought to the temple in Jerusalem as an offering to God; karpas, fresh vegetable such as parsley, celery or potato to remind participants that Passover occurs in the spring and is dipped in saltwater, vinegar or lemon juice to recall the tears shed by Israelite slaves; beitsa, roasted (hard-boiled) egg is symbolic of an offering brought to the temple in honor of a holiday; matzah or matza, three crackers remind participants of three kinds of people — those who are not yet free, those who don’t care about the freedom of others and those who are free and work to help others become free; hazeret, additional bitter vegetable, is used for the korech sandwich of matzah and maror; and yayin, four cups of wine or grape juice to remind participants of four of God’s promises of freedom to the Jewish people.