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How do you say “Happy Passover”? Jews around the world have come up with diverse Passover greetings, often involving creative blends of Hebrew and local languages. Many of these phrases were originally written in Hebrew letters or other alphabets. Judeo-French in Bordeaux, France: Bonne fête (good holiday) Judeo-Provençal in Avignon, France: Bon tsantou (good holiday [yom-tov]) Western Yiddish in Alsace, France: Bauet gut (build well, likely a reference to rebuilding of the Temple because of the song Adir Hu) Judeo-Georgian in...

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The Eleventh and Twelfth Commandments: Don't Change! Change By Yehuda Amichai My father was a god and did not know it. He gave me The Ten Commandments neither in thunder nor in furry; neither in fire nor in cloud But rather in gentleness and love. And he added caresses and kind words and he added “I beg You,” and “please.” And he sang “keep” and “remember” the Shabbat In a single melody And he pleaded and cried quietly between one utterance...

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by Julie Iny     Some Jews prepare for Pesach by getting rid of all their hametz. Last year, I inadvertently created a ritual for a near reenactment of the 40 days and 40 nights our people spent wandering in the desert when I decided to learn how to make halaik, the date syrup that is the critical and divine ingredient of Iraqi charoset.  In years past, my Aunt Rachel, keeper of many Iraqi and Indian-Iraqi culinary and cultural traditions, would, because she...

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[Yiddish for: In Struggle]     by Margot Meitner     Passover is my favorite chag (holiday). It’s the one in which I have always taken the opportunity to make a STATEMENT: Sometimes a political statement about my personal life; other times a personal statement about my political life. There was the time I plopped an orange on the Seder plate (representing the role of women in Judaism), or the time I nervously placed a crust of bread there (representing Queers in Judaism). There was...

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Jews from Spain, Italy, Sicily, Morocco, Tunisia, and Sardinia would bring the Seder plate to the table with ceremony. Sometimes, they would cover it with a nice scarf and sing as it arrived to the table. They would pass it from person to person around the table, and place it on each head for a moment. This demonstrates that we were once slaves in Egypt and carried heavy burdens on our heads. In Hungary, they go even further by decorating the...

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The Jews of Ethiopia strongly identify with the story of Passover. In 1985, they had an exodus of their own, where they took almost 8,000 Jews from Sudan to Israel. They commemorate this by breaking all of their dished and making new ones. This symbolizes breaking from the past and starting over. Some Ethiopian Jews have no Haggadahs so they read about the Pesach story directly from the Torah. They make their own matzahs from chickpea flour. On the morning of...

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What are the requirements for karpas? It needs to be fruit of the earth, not of the tree or vine. Where does it come from? From the Greek word karpos, meaning fresh raw vegetable. Karpas also comes from similar words for the color green in a number of different ancient languages. For example, karpas was the denotation for the color green in Farsi, and was the name for the color green according to Rashi (old French). Karpos was one of the...

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Three Questions There is a Sefardic (Iraqi or Afghani) custom of turning to the person beside you, asking these three questions, and offering the three brief answers. Try this, and see what opens in you.  Who are you? (I am Yisrael.)  Where are you coming from? (I am coming from Mitzrayim.)  Where are you going? (I am going to Yerushalayim.) from the Velveteen Rabbi

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Sephardim recite the Four Questions in the following order:  1. "On all other nights, we do not dip even once. Why on this night do we dip twice?" 2. "On all other nights we eat bread or matzah. Why on this night do we eat only matzah?  3. "On all other nights, we eat all kinds of herbs. Why on this night do we eat only maror?  4. "On all other nights, we eat either sitting or reclining. Why on this...

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YiddishTate ich vil bei dir fregen di fir kashes:Vos iz Anderesh fun der Nacht fun Pesach fun ale necht fun a gants yor?1) Di ershte kashe iz,Ale necht fun a gants yor tunken mir nisht ayn afileh eyn mol, ober di nacht fun peysach, tunken mir ayn tsvey mol — ayn mol karpas in zaltz vasser, di tsveyte mol maror in charoses.2) Di tsveyte kashe iz,Ale necht fun a gants yor esn mir chomets ader matseh, ober di nakht fun peysakh,...

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Below the Four Questions with a translation into Ladino (Medieval Spanish) Abajo las <<Cuatro Preguntas>> traducidas en Ladino (el judio-espaÃnol medieval) “Kuanto fue demudada la noshada a esta mas ke todas las noshadas? Ke en todas las noshadas non mos entinyentes afilu vez una  la noshada la esta dos vezes. Ke en todas las noshadas mos komientes levdo o sesenya i la noshada la esta todo el sesenya. Ke en todas las nohadas mos komientes resto de vedruras i la noshada...

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Ma Nishtana in Luganda Tranlated by Gershom Sizomu Compiled by Murray F. Spiegel and Rickey Stein Lwakyi ekyiro kyino kyanjawulo kubiro ebilala byonna? Mubiro ebilala byonna tulya emigati emizimbulukuse oba egitali Mizimbulukuse; mukyiro kyino tulya emigati egitali mizimbulukuse zokka Mubiro ebilala byonna tulya enva zonna zonna; mukyiro kyino tulya enva Ezikawa zokka. Mubiro ebilala byonna tetukoza omulundi nogumu mukyiro kyino tukoza emirundi ebiri. Mubiro ebilala byonna tulya tutudde oba nga tweganzise; mukyiro kyino tulya tweganzise. Why is this night different from...

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¿Qué hace diferente a esta noche de todas las [demás] noches? ¿Ma nishtaná haláila hazé micól haleilót... 1) En todas las noches no precisamos sumergir ni siquiera una vez, ¡y en esta noche lo hacemos dos veces! ...shebejól haleilót éin ánumatbilín afílu paám eját, haláila hazé shtéi peamím? 2) En todas las noches comemos jametz o matzá, ¡en esta noche solamente matzá! ...shebejól haleilót ánu ojlín jamétz umatzá, haláila hazé kuló matzá? 3) En todas las noches comemos cualquier clase de...

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English What makes this night different from all [other] nights? 1) On all nights we need not dip even once, on this night we do so twice? 2) On all nights we eat chametz or matzah, and on this night only matzah? 3) On all nights we eat any kind of vegetables, and on this night maror? 4) On all nights we eat sitting upright or reclining, and on this night we all recline? Hebrew Mah nishtanah halyla hazeh mikol halaylot...

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The first hand-washing of the seder is unusual. The rabbis point out that even a child would wonder at least two things: why do we wash without a blessing and why do we bother to wash when we will not be eating our meal for some time. They suggest that we wash our hands here in order to raise questions. Questions, both of wonder and of despair, are crucial to our time at the seder and, really, our growth as human...

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Passover combines the celebration of an event from Jewish memory with a recognition of the cycles of nature. As we remember the liberation from Egypt, we also recognize the stirrings of spring and rebirth happening in the world around us. The symbols on our table bring together elements of both kinds of celebration. We now take a vegetable, in this case parsely, to represent our joy at the dawning of spring after our long, cold winter. Whatever symbol of spring and...

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As we rejoice at our deliverance from slavery, we acknowledge that our freedom was hard-earned. We regret that our freedom came at the cost of the Egyptians’ suffering, for we are all human beings. We pour out a drop of wine for each of the plagues as we recite them.Dip a finger or a spoon into your wine glass for a drop for each plague.These are the ten plagues which God brought down on the Egyptians:דָּם Blood | dam |צְפַרְדֵּֽעַ Frogs...