Passover (Pesah) 2014 family dinner

Every year we have the family traditional dinner in our place,we read the Haggada and the kids are participating through the whole evening telling the “story” ,passing the tradition from one generation to the next one.

The kids love this holiday especially due to the fact that they can stay late as long as they like,they sing ,dance and play till the small ones start to fall asleep followed by the elder ones.

 

History
At every Passover seder, Orthodox, Reform and secular Jewish families alike recite the story of their ancestors' dramatic redemption from hundreds of years of collective bondage. The haggadah, which is read and sung throughout the meal, tells the tale of the Hebrew enslavement by Pharaoh, the chutzpah of Moses (backed by God, of course) asking the Egyptian ruler to let his people go (Moses' name is not actually mentioned in the haggadah in deference to the ultimate sovereignty of God), the Ten Plagues that inundated Egypt when Pharaoh refused and, finally, the last-second escape of the Israelites through the miraculously parted Red Sea.

So fast was their exodus, the Hebrews had no time to let their dough rise. Thus, to the chagrin of many young and old Jews, the week-long festival is observed in part by eating unleavened bread, aka matzo.

Traditions
Despite this ubiquitous flat cracker, Passover is one of the most widely observed Jewish holidays, perhaps because it is, like Hanukkah, so family- and children-oriented. The youngest person at the seder traditionally ask the Four Questions, highlighting why Passover is such a special time in the year. And toward the end of the meal, children search high and low for the afikomen, a symbolic bit of matzo that brings out the competitive side of even the shyest of kids.

But adults get their fill, too. The commandment to drink four cups of wine (each of which represents one of the times God promised to deliver the slaves into freedom) results in lively, festive banter.

  Happy Holidays