For Christians this week is referred to as Holy Week and for members of our Jewish community, Passover begins on Wednesday. Passover is a major Jewish Holiday that celebrates the biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt.
Joining us today on AM Buffalo is Rabbi Sara Rich, executive director of Hillel of Buffalo who shares the traditions of Passover!
Jewish families have a special meal called the Passover seder. It’s more than just a feast. There are symbolic rituals that they do throughout the meal, which help to tell the story.
Seder customs include drinking 4 cups of wine or grape juice, telling the story of the Exodus, eating matzah, asking questions, and singing songs. There are basic shared customs, and every family makes it their own with their own traditions.
Rabbi Sara tells us they eat spicy horseradish called Maror which represents the bitterness of slavery. Another food they eat is called Haroset which represents the mortar the Israelites used in their slave labor. It is sweet, and the custom is to dip the spicy maror in the sweet charoset, because the sweetness of freedom takes away the bitterness of slavery.
Another food eaten is Matzah which is unleavened. You only have 18 minutes from the time the water and flour are mixed to make the dough until it comes out of the oven in order to make kosher.
Rabbi Sara brought in some of the foods eaten to show us and explained the tradition of Passover.
