5 Things to Know About Passover

On Friday evening, Jewish families around the world will hold the first seder to celebrate the first night of Passover. In honor of the upcoming eight-day holiday, we present five things to know about the holiday of Passover.

• Seders—For one or two nights [based on whether or not you're in Israel], Jewish families hold seders to begin the holiday of Passover. Seders, which mean "order," are done among families to allow for the telling of the exodus from Egypt those thousands of years ago. There are different rituals and traditions that go along with the seder, including symbolic foods to represent the sufferings of the Jewish slaves, as well as plenty of songs. The service itself is done in a particular order, hence the name.
• Matzah—To symbolize the fact that the Jewish people had to escape from Egypt quickly and did not have time to allow their bread to rise, they were forced to eat flat cracker-like cakes. Jews eat matzah for eight days to remember the quick exodus. Jews also do not eat any foods with yeast products for the eight days of the holiday to symbolize the speedy exodus from Egypt.
• Moses—Moses was the son of a Hebrew slave, who was sent down to the Nile to avoid being killed after the Egyptian Pharaoh decreed that all newborn males would be killed. He was found by an Egyptian princess and was brought up in the palace. Moses was exiled after killing an Egyptian worker, but was sent back by God to free the Hebrew slaves.
• 10 Plagues—God cast 10 plagues on the Egyptians after Pharoah refused to let the Jewish people leave. But it was not until after the slaying of the first born that he changed his mind [only to want them back later].
• The 10 Commandments—After traveling in the desert with the Jews, Moses led them to Mt. Sinai, where he was given the Ten Commandments by God.