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Passover Seder

 
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Passover Seder
 
 
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The Passover Seder Meal (Hebrew
Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Modern Hebrew is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jews communities around the world....
: ?????, , "order", "arrangement") is a Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
ish ritual feast held on the first and the second nights of the Jewish holiday
Jewish holiday

A Jewish holiday or festival is a day or series of days observed by Jews as a holy or secular commemoration of an important event in Jewish history....
 of Passover
Passover

Passover is a Jewish and Samaritan holy day and festival commemorating God sparing the Israelites when He killed the first born of Egypt, and is followed by the seven day Feast of the Unleavened Bread commemorating the Exodus from Ancient Egypt and the liberation of the Israelites from Judaism and slavery....
 (which begins on the 15th day of Hebrew month of Nisan
Nisan

Nisan is the seventh month of the civil year and the first month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. The name of the month is Babylonian; in the Torah it is called the month of the Aviv, referring to a stage in the ripening of barley which occurs during the month....
). For Reform Jews and in Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
, the Seder is held only on the first night.

According to the Gregorian calendar
Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom it was named, on 24 February 1582 by the papal bull Inter gravissimas....
, the holiday comes out in late March or in April. Families and friends gather around the table on the nights of Passover to read one of the many versions of the Haggadah, the story of the Israelite exodus from Egypt.






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The Passover Seder Meal (Hebrew
Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Modern Hebrew is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jews communities around the world....
: ?????, , "order", "arrangement") is a Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
ish ritual feast held on the first and the second nights of the Jewish holiday
Jewish holiday

A Jewish holiday or festival is a day or series of days observed by Jews as a holy or secular commemoration of an important event in Jewish history....
 of Passover
Passover

Passover is a Jewish and Samaritan holy day and festival commemorating God sparing the Israelites when He killed the first born of Egypt, and is followed by the seven day Feast of the Unleavened Bread commemorating the Exodus from Ancient Egypt and the liberation of the Israelites from Judaism and slavery....
 (which begins on the 15th day of Hebrew month of Nisan
Nisan

Nisan is the seventh month of the civil year and the first month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. The name of the month is Babylonian; in the Torah it is called the month of the Aviv, referring to a stage in the ripening of barley which occurs during the month....
). For Reform Jews and in Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
, the Seder is held only on the first night.

According to the Gregorian calendar
Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom it was named, on 24 February 1582 by the papal bull Inter gravissimas....
, the holiday comes out in late March or in April. Families and friends gather around the table on the nights of Passover to read one of the many versions of the Haggadah, the story of the Israelite exodus from Egypt. Seder customs include drinking of four cups of wine, eating matza and partaking of symbolic foods placed on the Passover Seder Plate
Passover Seder Plate

The Passover Seder Plate Hebrew language: ke'ara is a special plate containing symbolic foods used by Jews during the Passover Seder. Each of the six items arranged on the plate has special significance to the retelling of the story of the exodus from Ancient Egypt, which is the focus of this ritual meal....
. The Seder is an intergenerational family ritual, although communal Seders are also organized by synagogues, schools and community centers, some open to the general public. With a Haggadah serving as a guide, the Seder is performed in much the same way all over the world.

The Seder is integral to Jewish faith and identity. If not for the Exodus, as explained in the Haggadah, the Jewish people would still be slaves in Egypt. Therefore, the Seder is an occasion for praise and thanksgiving and for re-dedication to the idea of liberation. The Seder goes on until late at night, with the participants reading the Haggadah, studying the meaning of various passages, and singing special Passover songs
Passover songs

Passover songs are songs traditionally associated with the end of the Passover seder, the festive meal associated with the Judaism festival of Passover....
.

While many Jewish holidays revolve around the synagogue, the Seder is conducted in the family home. It is customary to invite guests, especially strangers and the needy, though very few non-religious Jews do so. The Seder as family-based ritual is derived from a verse in the Bible: Vehigadta levincha' bayom hahu leymor ba'avur zeh asah Adonay li betzeyti miMitzrayim - "And you shall tell it to your son on that day, saying, 'Because of this God did for me when He took me out of Egypt'" (Exodus 13:8). The words and rituals of the Seder are a primary vehicle for the transmission of the Jewish faith
Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
 from grandparent to child, and from one generation to the next.

Attending a Seder and eating matza on Passover is a widespread custom in the Jewish community, even among those who are not religiously observant.

Sephardi
Sephardi Jews

Sephardi Jews are a subgroup of Jews originating in the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa, usually defined in contrast to Ashkenazi or Mizrahi Jews....
 and Oriental
Mizrahi Jews

Mizrahi Jews or Mizrahim, , also referred to as Adot HaMizrach are Jews descended from the Jewish communities of the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and the Caucasus....
 Jews call the service the Haggadah, as it constitutes the act of narrating. The full name for the ceremony is Seder Haggadah, "the order of narration"; the word "Seder" is applicable to any ceremony with a set order, for example Seder Leil Shabbat (the Friday night service) or Seder Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah is a Jewish holiday commonly referred to as the "Judaism New Year." It is observed on the first day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, as ordained in the Torah, in ....
 (the service for the eve of the Jewish New Year).

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