Phrases
Passover seder:
Judeo-Greek in Ioannina, Greece: chova (duty)
Judeo-Arabic in Mossul, Iraq: fassaḥ (verb- conduct the seder)
Yiddish in Lvov/Lemburg, Ukraine: praven/uprichtn dem sayder, saydern (verb- conduct the seder)
(The evening of) searching for and getting rid of chametz:
Yiddish in Bialystok, Poland: di nacht tsi chumets batlen (the night to void chametz); boydek chumets zaan (search for chametz [to be])
Haketía in Tetuan, Morocco: dechamezzar (de-chametz - infinitive verb)
Ladino in Salonica, Greece: des·hamesar (de-chametz), badkamiento (search [badkar]-ing), día de kal hamirá (day of kal chamira - formula renouncing posession of chametz)
Judeo-Arabic in Bengazi, Libya: lilet qto‘ el-ḥamiṣ (night of stopping the chametz)
Judeo-Arabic in Ksar Es-Souk, Morocco: bdikt ḥamiṣ (searching for chametz – also used by women as a curse, meaning ‘may [the person being cursed] become extinct’)
Kosher for Passover food and utensils:
Western Yiddish in Amrichshausen, Germany: yontefdig
Yiddish in Warsaw, Poland: paysechdik
Judeo-Georgian in Tbilisi, Georgia: kasheria pesaxistvin
Jewish Malayalam in Chennamangalam, India: pesaholle sadhangle
Judeo-Arabic in Sana‘a, Yemen: altavaqa almufatra (kashered room for preparing/storing Passover grains)
Matzah:
Jews in most communities use variants of מצה, but here are some additional names for Passover unleavened bread:
Judeo-Tat/Juhuri in Derbent, Dagestan: qoqol
Judeo-Provençal in Comtat Venaissin, France: coudolo
Ladino in Salonika, Greece: sensenya
Judeo-Arabic in Baghdad, Iraq: jərduqayi
Judeo-Arabic in Cairo, Egypt: faṭīr
Judeo-Arabic in Ḥugariyyah, Yemen: mašummōr
Proverbs:
Jewish Neo-Aramaic in Zakho, Iraq: ‘ez moshe, qazele mnoshe (Holiday of Moses, He provides Himself [God helps needy people celebrate Passover])
Yiddish in Vilna, Lithuania: Matses un vayn muz zayn, shmalts un eyer – nit zeyer (matzah and wine are a must, chicken fat and eggs – not so much)
Wordplay:
In Judeo-Italian, shefok can mean “to vomit,” based on shefoch chamatcha (pour out your wrath) from the seder.
In Ladino the high costs of the holiday are summarized by interpreting Pésah as an acronym for Parás sin hazbón – Money [expenditures] without [keeping an] account.
Some Jews in Arabic-speaking lands avoid eating chickpeas on Passover, even though they eat other kitniyot. One explanation is that hummus (chickpea) and hametz (leavened products forbidden on Passover) sound very similar in Arabic.
Favorites 2020
- Introduction
- Commentary / Readings
- Kadesh
- Urchatz
- Karpas
- Yachatz
- Maggid - Beginning
- -- Four Questions
- -- Four Children
- -- Exodus Story
- -- Ten Plagues
- -- Cup #2 & Dayenu
- Rachtzah
- Motzi-Matzah
- Maror
- Koreich
- Songs
- Shulchan Oreich
- Bareich
- Hallel
- Conclusion
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Passover Guide
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