When Is Pesach This Year: On April 22, 2024, at dusk, Passover begins. Annually celebrating the deliverance of the Israelites is a very important event. Experience the real meaning of Passover by learning how to make well-known dishes like charoset and beef meat.
Similar to Easter, Passover doesn’t have set times, so each year, people choose when it starts and ends. Depending on family customs, Passover will end on either Monday night, April 29, 2024, or Tuesday morning, April 30, 2024. I am starting on Monday, April 22, at dusk. On April 5, the first Passover series takes place in the evening, and on April 6, the second begins in the same way.
Like all Jewish holidays, Passover starts and ends at sundown, based on the moon and sun’s stages. Jewish tradition says that it always happens on the same day, which makes sure that it happens during the spring season marked by the full moon. By planning the holidays around certain seasons and phases of the moon, the Jewish schedule makes sure that all of the celebrations are in line with the rules.
What is Passover and How to Celebrate the Holiday?
People who are Jewish celebrate Passover, which happens in the spring, very seriously. There is a lot of excitement and meaning around this holiday in the Jewish calendar because it remembers the historic exit of the Jewish people from Egypt. As described in the book of Exodus in the Old Testament, Passover is a celebration of the Jews’ freedom from Egypt’s terrible conditions.
Additionally, Passover marks the start of spring, a time of rebirth and hope. During the Seder, people say blessings, especially before eating foods that represent important memories. Usually, families choose “Mesorah” or Passover meals that are full of traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation. Meanwhile, starting new eating habits that everyone at the table enjoys promotes acceptance and makes eating more enjoyable.
As a mainstay of Passover cooking, matzah is unleavened bread that you can easily find in shops or make at home. In addition to tzimmis and gefilte fish, classic Passover meals include sponge cake, macaroons, and gefilte fish.
Passover 2024: When Does Passover Start?
On April 22, 2024, at dusk, Passover begins. For more than a week, Jewish communities all over the world enjoy Pesach, which is also known as Passover. This holiday is very important to their religion and culture. Biblical stories say that Pesach is a celebration of the Jews’ freedom from slavery in Egypt. The Hebrew word for “Pesach” means “to pass over,” which is a reference to the momentous event when a plague went over the homes of Israelite children, sparing their lives but killing the firstborn children of other families. The Jewish people’s strength, faith, and salvation are powerfully remembered at this feast.
Explore the deeper meaning of Passover by tasting its traditional foods, like beef brisket and charoset, a mix that stands for the mortar that Jewish enslaved people used. Throughout the ages, these special meals have been passed down from generation to generation, adding to the cultural and culinary richness of Passover.
When is Passover in 2023?
The first Seder for Passover is on April 5, and the second is on April 6. In 2023, Passover starts at sunset on April 5 for most Jews living outside of Israel and finishes at sunset on April 13 for those same Jews.
Selahs are usually held on the first and second nights of Passover. This year, they will be on April 5 and 6. The Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt, and this holiday was a big deal for the Jewish community.
At Passover, people think about their history and faith, give thanks, and reconnect with each other through traditions, prayers, and communal feasts. Sharing the Exodus story again at the seder table is a way for families to enjoy the timeless themes of freedom, strength, and redemption that have been passed down from generation to generation.
How many days is Passover?
Some Jews celebrate Passover for longer than others, based on where they live. Israeli Jews celebrate for seven days, while Jews living in Israel celebrate for eight days. Seven days are called for in the Torah, but in the past, an extra day was needed to match the lunar schedule.
Adherents followed strict dietary rules during this time and didn’t eat leavened foods like bread (known as chametz), which is meant to represent how quickly the Israelites left Egypt, leaving no time for their bread to rise. Beef brisket, gefilte fish, and matzah, an unleavened flatbread made just for the holiday, are all common foods served at Passover meals.
Mattah is where the matzo meal comes from. This versatile ingredient is used in many non-leavened meals, such as matzah ball soup, a famous Passover dish made with savory broth and light matzah dumplings. In addition to making Passover more enjoyable, these culinary traditions also help keep important cultural identities and practices alive for future generations.
What to say to someone during Passover
“Wishing Friends and Family a Genuine ‘Happy Passover’ is a Lovely Way to Honor the Holiday.” A common welcome in Hebrew is “Happy Pesach,” which is pronounced PEH-sach (with the stress on the “ch” sound, like the surname Bach).
Alternatively, “Chag sameach,” which means “happy holidays,” can also be used. It’s not just for Passover. Wishes like these spread the warmth and coziness that comes with Passover events, bringing people together and encouraging kindness both inside and outside of the Jewish community.
With their warm and meaningful meanings, these greetings, whether written in Hebrew or English, are real memories of the Passover season.
What are the rules for Passover fasting?
For eight days (seven in Israel), Jews traditionally avoid eating food made from leavened grain. Most significantly, this means avoiding any bread or bread products, with some Jews additionally abstaining from any grain product, including beer, pasta, oatmeal and most liquors.
Many Jewish groups around the world consider Passover to be one of the most important holidays. In spite of big differences between communities and even between families, many Jews still follow certain Passover traditions.
Along with honoring Passover’s historical importance, these deeply rooted traditions and activities help Jews around the world feel like they have a common identity and a feeling of unity. With traditions like sharing the story of the Exodus at the seder dinner and eating unleavened bread (matzah) instead of leavened bread (chametz), these holidays connect people to the rich tapestry of Jewish history and faith.
What happens during the 7 days of Passover?
Passover begins with the 15th and ends with the 21st (or, outside of Israel and among Reform Jews, the 22nd) day of the month of Nisan (March or April). On these seven (or eight) days, all leaven, whether in bread or other mixture, is prohibited, and only unleavened bread, called matzo, may be eaten.
According to the following Midrashic text, the seven days of the week are connected to the seven days of Passover.
The seven days between the splitting of the Red Sea and the Israelites’ freedom from Egypt are described in the phrase, “No leavened bread shall be seen with you for seven days.” They will be observed every year, just like the world was made in seven days, and the Sabbath ends every week.
According to some readings, the following links the seven days of creation to Passover: Just as the world’s survival depends on God’s act of creation, the Jewish people’s freedom from Egypt and the following reception of the Torah are critical events. These major events are necessary for the world’s purpose to be realized. This shows how important Passover is for strengthening the core beliefs of Jewish religion and practice.
What do Jews do during Passover?
In Israel, Passover is the seven-day holiday of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, with the first and last days celebrated as legal holidays and as holy days involving holiday meals, special prayer services, and abstention from work; the intervening days are known as Chol HaMoed (“Weekdays [of] the Festival”).
In honor of the Israelites’ freedom from Egyptian slavery, as told in the book of Exodus, Jews celebrate Passover with a number of customs and holidays. Passover celebrations aren’t complete without the Seder, a traditional meal held on the first two nights of the holiday.
Visitors to the Seder read the story of the Exodus from a book called the Haggadah, which explains how the event works. Each food eaten at the Seder represents a different part of the story of the Exodus. For example, charoset is a mix of fruit and nuts, maror is a mixture of bitter herbs, and matzah is unleavened bread. Furthermore, the Seder plate usually has things like a boiled egg (beitzah) and a roasted shank bone (zero) that represent sacrifice and return.
Jewry doesn’t eat chametz (leavened bread) or any other food with leavening agents during Passover. Actually, they only eat matzah. In addition, families can follow traditions like getting rid of all traces of chametz from their homes before the holiday, doing an official search for any leftover chametz (called bedikat chametz), and burning or throwing away any chametz that is found. Keeping these customs alive strengthens the holiday’s themes of freedom, forgiveness, and starting over.
What is a symbol of Passover?
“The lamb shank bone symbolizes the Passover sacrifice and how God extended his arm to the Jewish people,” Helfand said. The egg, meanwhile, exists as a celebratory Passover sacrifice and how the Jewish people were free from paganism, according to Chabad.org.
Blackburn says that matzo bread, bitter herbs, and four cups of wine are the three most important symbols of the Seder meal. Heffand says that wine is the first part of the Seder Meal. While drinking wine, the speaker blesses the event and talks about what it all means.
He continues, “The four cups of wine that are drunk throughout the meal represent the four languages of redemption.” Based on Exodus 6:6-7, these languages, which are sometimes called the “Four-fold Promise of Redemption,” represent God’s promises to Moses and the Israelites.
Once the blessing is over, there is a cup of wine to start the meal. Schwartzberg says that laying back and drinking wine is a practice that represents freedom. This move raises the importance of wine at dinner.
This is followed by a symbolic act of dipping a green veggie into salt water to show how bad it is to be enslaved. Heffand says that kids usually have questions after seeing this show.
Schwabberg says that the bitter plants called “mahror,” which are eaten later in the meal, make it feel even more like a slave.
Why is Pesach important?
Jews celebrate the Feast of Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) to commemorate the liberation of the Children of Israel who were led out of Egypt by Moses. Jews have celebrated Passover since about 1300 BC, following the rules laid down by God in Exodus 13.
Jewish history and faith are strongly connected to Pesach, which is also known as Passover. It celebrates the freeing of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, which was the most important part of the biblical story of the Exodus. For Passover, freedom wins over injustice, and it’s also a way of talking about how God helped His people free themselves from slavery. This event celebrates the Jewish people’s status as a chosen people under God’s promise and shows how strong their faith and endurance have been over time.
Passover holds eternal spiritual and cultural importance for Jews all over the world, in addition to its historical importance. Celebrating the Exodus story with Jewish families of all ages during the Seder, a traditional Passover meal, helps people remember and identify with each other. With its rituals, prayers, and symbolic meals, Passover strengthens important ideas like fairness, kindness, and togetherness, and it also promotes reflection, gratitude, and renewal. As a result of the long-lasting legacy of faith and resilience that has been passed down through generations, Passover is a yearly celebration of freedom and redemption that encourages Jews to live a life of justice and righteousness.
Judaism jokes that things happen in “Jewish time,” which usually means that something will happen later. In contrast, Jewish spiritual and religious beliefs have a deep understanding of time, which can be seen in the way they treat days and months.
Different Jewish groups celebrate Passover for different lengths of time. Tradition-minded Orthodox and Conservative Jewish communities enjoy Passover for eight days but Reform Jewish communities only celebrate it for seven days.
Here are the dates for Passover in 2024 and 2026, with start and end times at dusk: April 22, 2024, through April 30, 2024 (or April 29, 2024, if three days are honored) , April 12–April 2025 (or April 19 if it’s celebrated over seven days). April 1–April 9, 2026 (or April 8 if it’s celebrated over seven days).