Every Year My Family Celebrates the Jewish Feast Called Passover

Every year my family celebrates the Jewish Feast called Passover. It is celebrated on the 15th day of the Jewish month, Nisan, which is usually between the months of March and April. This year, Pesach (the Hebrew word for Passover), starts the 18th of April and ends the 26th of April, 2011. Passover is celebrated in remembrance of the time that the people of Israel were freed from slavery and wondered the wilderness after leaving Egypt. G-d gave Moses instructions to tell the people of Israel that on that night, the 15th of Nisan, they should sacrifice a lamb and put the blood on the lampposts of their homes. Traditionally, the celebration begins two weeks before as the women in each household dedicates herself to cleaning the house and eliminating completely the “chametz” (leaven) , which includes breads, pasta, cookies, etc. The children participate in the cleaning of the house, playing a sort of ‘treasure hunt’, to find any “chametz” that might be hiding in the house. On the day of the Passover meal, a very special ceremony is performed, which includes singing liturgical songs, drinking of wine, breaking the “Matzah” (unleavened bread), the children sing the ‘four questions’, and later play a game called “the afikomen”, which is a piece of the middle “Matzah” that has been hidden for the children to find. There is a unique tradition that involves leaving an empty plate and cup on the table for the prophet Elijah “just in case” he shows up at the door to eat with everyone; that is why at the end of the ceremony the front door of each home is opened in hopes that Elijah is actually standing at the door. Passover is a very special event that is celebrated in every Jewish home, no matter where in the World they might live.
Jocelyn