Pesach (Passover) in Israel Over the Ages

The war against Iran that started on Shabbat Zachor (the Shabbat on which we read the commandment to remember and annihilate Amalek, the ancestor of Haman the Aggagite) and is also the Shabbat just before Purim, when the Jews in Persia, modern-day Iran, faced total annihilation, only for the decree to be countered, ultimately leading to Jewish victory over their enemies.

The war continues, and Israel is facing ongoing bombardment from Iran as we enter the month of Nissan and are preparing for Pesach, a festival known as "The Time of Our Freedom".

Since Israel's entry into the land, the fight has been ongoing for millennia. In our Pesach article on our sister website, Israel in Their Land, we explore how the Jews have celebrated Pesach through the millennia and even more so in the Land of Israel.

Oldest Pesach Seder account: 10th-century CE fragment found in the Cairo Genizah, currently preserved at the University of Pennsylvania (Annenberg Research Institute).credit: Metadata is ©2017 University of Pennsylvania Books & Manuscripts

Here is what we are covering:

• Jews celebrating Pesach in Egypt 1,000-years after the Exodus?

• What is Pesach?

• Letters of straw and brick-making dating back to the time when Israel was slaves in Egypt.

• Pesach Celebrated in Ancient Israel:

  • the pilgrimage

  • why a lamb for the Pesach sacrifice?

  • the Half-Shekel, what was its purpose? and more

• Key Rituals

• The Seder and the Haggadah - standing central to Pesach celebrations.

• The Counting of the Omer

• Why does Pesach matter - its importance even today

• The Merneptah Stele - the oldest extra-Biblical proof of Israel as a people in the Land of Israel, dating to the time of the exodus from Egypt and the entrance into the Land of Israel.

Read the article here:

PESACH ARTICLE

Mitzrayim (Egypt in Hebrew) means narrow places. The month of Nissan and especially Pesach are auspicious times to move from that which limits you into a place of liberation and freedom.