Pesach

Literally means pass over - Festival of unleavened bread - 15th day of the jewish month of Nissan

Theme of redemption - physical and spiritual redemption - 'sense of history and contemporary identity

Rooted in the exodus story - Moses demanded freedom for the isrealities - pharoh refused - 10 plagues - last plague - the first born in every egyption would be killed - isrealites smeared the blood of a lamb on the door posts of their houses - angel of death would pass over them

Anderson - it is the event of the creation of a people

De Lange - Contemporary political implications of freedom as well as its moral and psitual dimensions

Seder meal held on the eve of pesach - clear due to the pesachim that the ritual of the seder meal was already established prior to the destruction of the temple - Seder meal begins with the youngest child asking the four questions - all begin with the phrase 'why on this night' - essential part of the seder meal and must be asked if there is no child present

Matzah - unleavened bread - 3 matzot - act a reminder that there was no time to wait for the bread to rise - connection with their ancestors

Roasted lamb shank bone commemorates the lamb sacrfice made the night before

Maror - better heb, usually horseradish - recall the bittnerness - Charoset - sweet paste made of apple cinnamon and rasinisn - sweetness of depemption - Karpas - green vegatable which is a symbol of spring - dipped into salt water that symbolises the tears of slavery- Roasted egg is present but not eaten - recalls the sacrfice that would've been made in the temple

Cup of wine is set aside for the prophet Elijah - the front door is opened- ritual drinking of four cups of red wine- Elijah is believed to herald the messiah - meal ends with the words 'next year may we be in Jerusalem; next year may we be free'