Passover

Hello,
For those of you that do not know about our holiday of Passover I will give you information I found for you. This can explain to you better than I can.H
Here goes:

Passover or Pesach (/ˈpɛsɑːx, ˈpeɪsɑːx/;^[4] from Hebrew פֶּסַח‎ Pesah, Pesakh, Assyrian; ܦܸܨܚܵܐ "piskha"), is an important, biblically derived Jewish holiday. The Jewish people celebrate Passover as a commemoration of their liberation by God from slavery in Egypt and their freedom as a nation under the leadership of Moses. It commemorates the story of the Exodus as described in the Hebrew Bible especially in the Book of Exodus, in which the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. According to standard biblical chronology, this event would have taken place at about 1300 BCE (AM 2450).^[5]

Passover is a spring festival which during the existence of the Jerusalem Temple was connected to the offering of the "first-fruits of the barley", barley being the first grain to ripen and to be harvested in the Land of Israel.^[6]

Passover commences on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Nisan and lasts for either seven days (in Israel and for Reform Jews and other progressive Jews around the world who adhere to the Biblical commandment) or eight days for Orthodox, Hasidic, and most Conservative Jews (in the diaspora).^[7][8] In Judaism, a day commences at dusk and lasts until the following dusk, thus the first day of Passover only begins after dusk of the 14th of Nisan and ends at dusk of the 15th day of the month of Nisan. The rituals unique to the Passover celebrations commence with the Passover Seder when the 15th of Nisan has begun. In the Northern Hemisphere Passover takes place in spring as the Torah prescribes it: "in the month of [the] spring" (בחדש האביב Exodus 23:15). It is one of the most widely observed Jewish holidays.

In the narrative of the Exodus, the Bible tells that God helped the Children of Israel escape from their slavery in Egypt by inflicting ten plagues upon the ancient Egyptians before the Pharaoh would release his Israelite slaves; the tenth and worst of the plagues was the death of the Egyptian first-born.

The Israelites were instructed to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a slaughtered spring lamb and, upon seeing this, the spirit of the Lord knew to pass over the first-born in these homes, hence the English name of the holiday.^[9]

When the Pharaoh freed the Israelites, it is said that they left in such a hurry that they could not wait for bread dough to rise (leaven). In commemoration, for the duration of Passover no leavened bread is eaten, for which reason Passover was called the feast of unleavened bread in the Torah or Old Testament.^[10] Thus matzo (flat unleavened bread) is eaten during Passover and it is a tradition of the holiday.

This explains to you why outside of Israel they have two seders:

The question of holding one or two seders has to do with timing from when the Torah was written. When the Torah was written, the beginning of the new month was determined by observing the moon. This was done in Jerusalem. Word of the new moon did not always arrive in other cities outside of Israel in time to observe the holiday. For communities outside of Israel, the practice developed of observing an extra day of Yom Tov on major holidays to be sure those communities were in sync with Jerusalem. This led to holding two seders in the Diaspora

This part explains what a seder is:

The Seder is a feast that includes reading, drinking wine, telling stories, eating special foods and singing.

As per Biblical command, it is held after nightfall on the first night of Passover(and the second night if you live outside of Israel), the anniversary of our nation’s miraculous exodus from Egyptian slavery more than 3,000 years ago. This year’s Seder(s) will be on April 10 (and 11), 2017.

Explaining about Yom Tov (good day) to you:

1. In the Torah, Yom Tov is called “Shabbos” and melacha is prohibited with the exception of “ochel nefesh” (“needs of feeding”).Therefore, all purposeful creative activity forbidden on Shabbos is forbidden on Yom Tov with the exception of those things permitted because of eating needs.
2. Melacha is defined as the 39 categories of creative activities that serve as prototypes of the activities in the Tabernacle.
3. In Eretz Yisroel, the technical term Yom Tov applies to:
   
   
   1. The first and last days of Pesach.
   2. The day of Shavuos.
   3. The first day of Succos.
   4. The day of Sh’mini Atzeres.
   5. The two days of Rosh HaShana.
   6. The day of Yom Kippur.
   
   Outside of Eretz Yisroel, the technical term Yom Tov applies to:
   
   
   1. The first two days and last two days of Pesach.
   2. The two days of Shavuos.
   3. The first two days Succos.
   4. The two days of Sh’mini Atzeres (Simchas Torah).
   5. The two days of Rosh HaShana.
   6. The day of Yom Kippur.

Now, that I have given you all this information I hope it will help those that do not know about our Passover holiday will understand it more.

I just want to add here some things: During the holiday we have intermediate days that are like regular days where we can go places and do things. 

We have special dishes only for the holiday and so have to put away our other dishes and we sell our food we cannot eat on the holiday and before the hag starts we burn what we did not sell or left over bread. 

So, to all my Jewish friends out there I would like to wish you a Hag Pesach Sameach.