The
Meaning of Pesah
Among the three Pilgrimage Festivals, the one which holds the highest
place in the devotion and sentiment of our people today is Pesah, Passover.
This holiday begins on the fifteenth day of the Jewish month of Nisan,
and, according to Torah law, extends through the twenty-first of the month;
the first and seventh days are considered full holidays, and the intermediate
days are half-holidays. Outside of the Land of Israel, according to rabbinic
tradition, the sixteenth of Nisan (second day) is observed as a full holiday,
and the twenty-second of Nisan is observed as the eighth day of Pesah,
and a full holiday.
The holiday has a number of designations: The festival of Matzah, the
Festival of the Pesah (the Passover sacrifice), the Season of our Freedom.
The first of these refers to what was formerly the main observance of
the holiday. We read in Exodus l2, that, on the eve of their going out
from Egypt, our ancestors slaughtered a kid on the fourteenth of Nisan,
and ate it roasted whole, smearing the blood on the doorposts and lintels
of their houses. Exodus l2:8 gives us the main elements of the observance
"They shall eat the flesh that same night; they shall eat it roasted
over the fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs."
Since the destruction of the Second Temple, we have continued to eat
the unleavened bread and bitter herbs, with the roast lamb being replaced
by the afikoman. The Samaritans, however, a sect of Jewish origin who
live mostly in Shekhem in northern Israel, continued to roast a whole
lamb as a Passover offering today. The matzah that we eat on Pesah suggests
several thoughts. First among them is that given in the Haggadah itself:
"What is the reason for this matzah that we eat? The dough of our
ancestors did not have time to ferment before the supreme King of Kings,
the Holy One, Praised be He, revealed Himself to them and redeemed them."
The matzah which must be completely baked within l8 minutes of the time
that the flour and the water are mixed, is a reminder of the hasty exodus
of our ancestors from Egypt. The matzah is also called the "bread
of affliction," reminding us of the servitude of our people and their
suffering.
The traditional association of fermentation with the evil inclination
yields the idea that during Pesah we demonstrate, by abstaining from leavened
food, our mastery over the evil impulse. Through this last thought we
come to the third designation of Pesah, the season of our freedom. There
is no limit to the types of freedom which we may celebrate on Pesah. Obviously,
we recall the deliverance of our ancestors from bondage in Egypt. We remember
also the struggle of the Jewish people throughout history to maintain
its existence and identity, and we keep in mind the struggles that still
stand before us: for the liberation of the Jewish people where they still
may be in danger, for the safety and development of Israel.
We should bear in mind that the servitude of our ancestors in Egypt had
a spiritual as well as a physical aspect, and that, spiritually, many
of our people are enslaved today - in Western Europe, Israel, the United
States - enslaved by assimilation, indifference and ignorance. We should
remember, too, that freedom is for all people, and we may recall that
the founders of the United States and the African-American people have
derived particular inspiration from the story of our liberation from Egypt
over three thousand years ago
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