Explaining the Passover Symbols to Teens
Passover is a Jewish holiday and annual, weeklong celebration commemorating the biblical story of the Exodus. After generations of slavery in Egypt, Moses led his people to freedom. As the story goes, Moses parted the Red Sea and the Jews fled to the safety of the desert, where they wandered for 40 years before entering the Promised Land, Israel. The story is colorful and rich with symbolism. Programs teaching non-Jewish teens about Passover should include the three most important symbols: the pesach, the matzo and the maror.
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Seder
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The word "seder" means "order." On the first (and sometimes second) night of Passover, Jewish families gather together to retell the story of the Exodus. This event happens over dinner and includes numerous rituals that must be performed in a specific order; hence, it is called the Passover seder. There are three main symbols of Passover that must be correctly included in the seder, or the family has not completed the "mitzvah" of the seder. Mitzvah translates as both "good deed" and "obligation."
Pesach
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The Pesach is the paschal lamb. Before G-d sent the Angel of Death to Egypt, He told Moses to tell the Jewish people to sacrifice a lamb that evening, and smear its blood on their front doors. The Angel of Death moved through Egypt and took the life of every first-born son, but she skipped over homes with lamb's blood on the door. When the Egyptians awoke to find their children dead, Pharaoh told Moses to take the Jews and leave. The Pesach is symbolized on the seder plate by a roasted shank bone. Some vegetarians substitute a red beet, because the color is reminiscent of lamb's blood.
Matzo
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Matzo is considered "the bread of affliction." It is flat and baked in a hurry with no leavening, because it symbolizes the bread the Jews took to the desert. Pharaoh had changed his mind many times about freeing the Jews from slavery. When he told Moses to leave that last morning, the Jews knew they had to hurry. They grabbed loaves of bread that had no time to rise. This is why Jewish families eat matzo during the week of Passover; because it is what their ancestors ate right after they fled Egypt.
Maror
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Maror means "bitter herb." Horseradish root is included on the seder plate. Horseradish is also eaten as part of the seder to remind Jews of the bitterness of slavery. The bitter taste of the horseradish is also to remind seder participants not to become embittered by the difficult times they endure, but rather to rise above them.
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