Ever felt of celebrating a festival with all its rituals just like as it was celebrated 3000 years ago? It was a similar experience for me to be part of the Jewish Passover (Pesach) at Saturday evening, April 19. The name "Pesach" in Hebrew means to pass through, referring to the fact that the angel of God "passed over" the houses of Israelites when all the firstborn of Egyptians were killed. The Passover or Pesach (Pesahah in Mal) is commemorated as the day in which God liberated Jews under the leadership of Moses from the powerful bondage of Egyptians. For Christians, Jesus had His last supper on one such Jewish Passover night . In fact the last supper also coincided with Shabbath and was a special day that time. Pesach begins at the night of 15th Nissan (Jewish month) and celebrations lasts for 7 days. In this year (5768 of Hebrew calendar; calculated from creation of Adam), Pesach coincided with Shabbath. We were invited by a family in the campus to join them for Pesach celebrations. Pesach continues with a three week holiday period for schools, and thus it’s a time of family get together and traveling for most of the Israelis. The ritual observance of pesach centers around a special home service called the seder (meaning "order") which includes, the eating of matzah (the "poor man's bread"), maror (bitter herbs), charoset (a sweet paste of apple, nuts and wine); drinking of four cups of wine in a reclining position (to left), and dipping of vegetables into salt water followed by a festive meal and dessert. The ritual services include reading from a book called the hagaddah (meaning "telling), which contains prayers, rituals, readings and songs for the celebration.
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