Pesach

Passover celebrates the quest for freedom — in ancient times, in recent memory, and today.

• Oraynu welcomes the community for the First Night Seder, using our own haggadah, Roots and Branches: A Humanist Haggadah for Passover, written by three Oraynu leaders.
• A School and Family Seder is held on the Sunday prior to the first night of the holiday, using a haggadah developed especially for our school.

Passover, which begins on the evening preceding the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Nissan, is the great spring celebration of the Jewish people. It began as a nature holiday, celebrating new life and became the commemoration of the legend of the biblical exodus and escape from slavery in ancient Egypt.

The holiday begins with a seder (meaning “order,” as in the order of events at the Passover dinner) — a gathering of family and friends for a holiday meal. We view the Exodus story as a foundational myth of the Jewish people — a tale that relates the courage and determination of a people fleeing slavery for freedom.

For Rabbi Eva Goldfinger’s PESACH 101 – Handbook for a Cultural Celebration of Passover, click here.