On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the passover broccoli souffle title. This article is about the Jewish holiday. Pessach Pesach Pascha Judentum Ungesaeuert Seder datafox.

49 days from the second night of Passover. I came forth out of Egypt. The wave offering of barley was offered at Jerusalem on the second day of the festival. Nowadays, in addition to the biblical prohibition of owning leavened foods for the duration of the holiday, the Passover Seder, at which the Haggadah is read aloud, is one of the most widely observed rituals in Judaism. During the day on the 14th of Nisan, they were to slaughter the animal and use its blood to mark their lintels and door posts.

Before midnight on the 15th of Nisan they were to consume the lamb. The English term “Passover” is first known to be recorded in the English language in William Tyndale’s translation of the Bible, later appearing in the King James Version as well. It is a literal translation of the Hebrew term. In the Book of Exodus, the Israelites are enslaved in ancient Egypt.

Yahweh, the god of the Israelites, appears to Moses in a burning bush and commands Moses to confront Pharaoh. About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. The biblical regulations for the observance of the festival require that all leavening be disposed of before the beginning of the 15th of Nisan. 14th Nisan ends in preparation for the 15th of Nisan when it will be eaten after being roasted. The literal meaning of the Hebrew is “between the two evenings”.

Nothing of the sacrifice on which the sun rises by the morning of the 15th of Nisan may be eaten, but must be burned. The biblical requirements of slaying the Paschal lamb in the individual homes of the Hebrews and smearing the blood of the lamb on their doorways were celebrated in Egypt. However, once Israel was in the wilderness and the tabernacle was in operation, a change was made in those two original requirements. Passover lambs were to be sacrificed at the door of the tabernacle and no longer in the homes of the Jews. The sacrifices may be performed only in a specific place prescribed by God.

21 records the celebration of the passover by the Jews who had returned from exile in Babylon, after the temple had been rebuilt. Some of these details can be corroborated, and to some extent amplified, in extrabiblical sources. Elephantine papyri, an Aramaic papyrus from 5th century BCE Elephantine in Egypt. The Passover begins on the 15th day of the month of Nisan, which typically falls in March or April of the Gregorian calendar. The 15th day begins in the evening, after the 14th day, and the seder meal is eaten that evening. To ensure that Passover did not start before spring, the tradition in ancient Israel held that the lunar new year, the first day of Nisan, would not start until the barley was ripe, being the test for the onset of spring.

Jews outside the Land of Israel celebrate the festival for eight days. The main entity in Passover according to Judaism is the sacrificial lamb. Because of the Passover sacrifice’s status as a sacred offering, the only people allowed to eat it were those who had the obligation to bring the offering. Chametz does not include baking soda, baking powder or like products. Although these are defined in English as leavening agents, they leaven by chemical reaction, not by biological fermentation. To refrain from eating chametz or mixtures containing chametz during Passover. Observant Jews spend the weeks before Passover in a flurry of thorough housecleaning, to remove every morsel of chametz from every part of the home.