Passover

How old is the Haggadah? The Haggadah has had close to its present form for at least 2000 years; large parts of it are quoted in the Mishnah. The first seder was held in Egypt, just before the Exodus.

What is the Seder? What is the Haggadah? The Seder has two origins: The festive meal at which the Passover sacrifice was eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs (Ex.12:8), and the requirement to tell children the story of the…

Where do we get the recipe for Charoses? The Tur (Sec.473) says that the ingredients of Charoses are things mentioned in the Song of Songs; these things include apples, nuts, and wine.

Why is Moses' name hardly mentioned in the Haggadah? Moses' arguments with Pharaoh, and his bringing all the plagues on the Egyptians, didn't result in the Exodus until G-d Himself stepped in and smote the firstborn. As the Haggadah emphasizes,…

What is the spirtual significance of leaven? Leaven is forbidden on Passover to remind us that our ancestors left Egypt in a hurry and didn't have time for their dough to rise (Ex.12:34,39). In addition, leaven has become symbolic of…

Can a non-Jew attend a Passover Seder? Non-Jews were forbidden to participate in the Passover sacrifice (Ex. 12:43-48), but that doesn’t imply that they’re forbidden to attend a Passover Seder nowadays.

What is the reason for the sequence of the Torah readings on Pesach and Sukkos? On the second day of Pesach and the first two days of Sukkos, we read from Emor; on the eighth day of Pesach and on…

Should we celebrate on the tenth of Nisan? The tenth of Nisan isn’t celebrated in any special way nowadays, but at the time of the Exodus it was the day on which the Hebrews put aside lambs for the Passover…

What is the origin of “Shefoch chamascha” that we say at the Seder? Shefoch Chamascha is mentioned in one manuscript of the Siddur of R. Amram Gaon, but it’s not mentioned by R. Saadia Gaon or Maimonides, so it probably…