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10 Things You Didn’t Know About Passover

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Passover

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As Jews across the world celebrate the eight days of Passover, they take time to remember the liberation from slavery in Egypt and make promises for equality and peace around the world. The holiday is about survival, celebrated with matza and stories of plagues, flight and miracles. But new or little-known Passover traditions have been added to the old one. Here are 10 things you didn’t about Passover.

Sources: AccordanceBible.com, Religion.Blogs.CNN.com, Content.Time.com

Algemeiner.com
Algemeiner.com

Honoring the Ethiopian Diaspora

Back in 1984, and again in 1991, many Jewish Ethiopians were airlifted out of their country to Israel. A tradition began in which some expat Ethiopian Jews would break their dishes and kitchenware at Passover and replace them with new ones, signifying a new start and hopes for emancipation and religious freedom.

WagingNonViolence.org
WagingNonViolence.org

Feminism and the orange

Some people have added an orange to their seder plates since the late 1980s, and there are varying theories about its origins. In one story, a man famously told Dartmouth College Prof. Susannah Heschel, “A woman belongs on the bimah ( podium in a synagogue traditionally occupied by male clergy) as much as an orange belongs on the seder plate.” And so, cheeky Jewish women everywhere plopped one on there.

SuperHeroLIfe.com
SuperHeroLIfe.com

LGBT rights and the orange

Another theory about the orange on the seder plate reflects a different conflict. Supposedly, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students in Prof. Heschel’s college classes wanted to put bread crusts on the seder plate to represent the marginalization of the LGBT community from Jewish traditions. Bread made with yeast is ostracized during Passover. Herschel couldn’t in good conscience approve this, so she placed an orange on the seder plate instead. The seeds are meant to be spat out to symbolize the banishment of homophobia in Jewish tradition.

GastonGazette.com
GastonGazette.com

Abraham Lincoln was assassinated during Passover

Upon learning of the news of Lincoln’s assassination, some rabbis decided to lead their congregations in solemn Yom Kippur hymns in memorial, rather than singing traditional Passover songs, which are more celebratory.

Commons.Wikimedia.org
Commons.Wikimedia.org

Seder means order

…which explains the fact that the 15-or-so steps of the Passover seder take forever. Jews everywhere struggle to maintain their commitment to upholding tradition — and completing the long seder — even when they’re starving.

Coca-ColaConversations.com
Coca-ColaConversations.com

Only original Coca-Cola is kosher for Passover

Observant Ashkenazi Jews cannot eat corn-based products during the holiday, meaning the delicious corn syrup that is found in the newer version of Coca-Cola is forbidden. So Coca-Cola decided to roll out its original product recipe, complete with real sugar in the place of corn syrup, to please thirsty Jews during Passover.

JTA.org
JTA.org

Some people whip each other with scallions

Iranian and Afghan Jews have a tradition in which they whip one another with scallions during the singing of “Dayenu,” one of the best-known Passover songs. The song honors the various blessings bestowed upon the Jews of Egypt. The scallion tradition is generally thought to represent the whips of the Egyptian slave drivers, though some debate exists about this.

HuffingtonPost.com
HuffingtonPost.com

Crossing the Red Sea

A tradition exist in Gora Kalwaria, Poland, in which Hasidic Jews pour water on the floor and reenact the crossing of the Red Sea. They lift their coats and recite the names of towns that traditionally would have been passed through as the Israelites crossed the Red Sea on the ocean floor, and give thanks for the safe passage of their ancestors.

Quran-the-Truth.Blogspot.com
Quran-the-Truth.Blogspot.com

Eight days of Passover?

The Passover seder on the first night is meant to fall on the 15th day of the month of Nisan, according to the lunar calendar. But due to the Jewish diaspora, that day differed for Jews all over the world. Therefore, an eighth day was added to Passover to ensure none of the international Jews skimped out on the correct timeline.

NMAJH.com
NMAJH.com

Celebrating emancipation and equality for all

A tradition of freedom seders has become part of the norm during Passover. Various minority groups across the world take the opportunity to reflect on their own people’s oppression and celebrate the promise of equality.