Here are the Facts and Traditions of Passover:
1. Passover is the Most Widely Celebrated Jewish Holiday: the first holiday given to the Jewish people by G‑d, that speaks deeply to the Jewish soul.
2. Passover for all: Giving to those less fortunate is the hallmark of Judaism and the Jewish people. Before Passover, funds are collected to ensure that everyone can celebrate the Holiday of Freedom in style. The Jerusalem Talmud records that Jewish communities would make collections of maot chitim, literally “wheat money,” before Passover.
3. Live Leaven Free: As Passover approaches, Jewish people can be found cleaning their houses, cars and offices. This is not a mere spring cleaning; it is a mission—to get rid of chametz, anything producedfrom grain that has risen. Even dishes are either purged or put away for the duration of the holiday, ensuring that no one owns or ingests even the smallest bit of chametz.
4. Matzah is The Main Thing: If you can do only one (or two) things to celebrate Passover, it’s this: eat a kezayit (a measure formally described as the size of an olive) of matzah after dusk on the first night of Passover, and then do it again on the next night. We lean while eating the matzah (as well as when drinking the four cups, and eating the korech sandwich and the afikoman) because, in times gone by, eating while reclining was a sign of true freedom.
5. The Most Popular Hebrew Book: The Haggadah, the text around which the Passover Seder is based, is the most popular book in the history of Jewish printing, having gone through thousands of editions. Amazingly, there is very little variance between versions.
6. One Week Later: The Baal Shem Tov taught that while Passover is the holiday of redemption of the Jews from Egypt, the eighth day of Passover is the day we celebrate the future redemption: the era of Moshiach. We celebrate this by ending the holiday with “Moshiach’s seudah,” a meal that contains four cups of wine and matzah
7. The Passover Seder:
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