Pass the Matzah:
Pesach Trivia You Never Knew
Passover (“Pesach”) 2024 begins the evening of Monday, April 22, and runs through Tuesday, April 30.
For practicing Jews, this is a time to commemorate their liberation from captivity in ancient Egypt. It’s an important holiday in the Jewish calendar, requiring much ceremonial cleansing and dietary preparation.
Let’s examine four little-known facts about Passover that you won’t learn from an annual viewing of “The Ten Commandments” or “The Prince of Egypt.”
The Firstborn Fast
The “passing over” in Passover refers to the last of the ten biblical plagues at the time of Moses when the Angel of Death traversed Egypt, disregarding the homes of observant Israelites and targeting their captors’ firstborn sons.
The newly liberated Hebrew people were unwilling to celebrate the suffering of the innocent but instead were humbled by it. Therefore, they began a custom for the firstborn child in every Jewish family to fast on the eve of the Passover festival.
In Jewish households with no children, the responsibility for fasting typically transfers to the oldest family member.
Against the Grain
Because the Israelites left Egypt so quickly, they had no time to leaven their bread. To commemorate that experience, practicing Jews banish five grains (wheat, barley, rye, spelt, and oats) from the house during Passover.
This ritual cleaning in preparation for Pesach is extensive and highly specific. The goal is to remove every trace of “chametz,” or leavened food. Even the tiniest bit must go.
As a result, observant Jews can spend weeks ensuring that their dwellings are perfectly clean.
Professional chametz cleaning services will boil toys, clean books, dismantle and reassemble chairs, and clean kitchen areas with a Q-tip. All this cleansing, however, does not mean the house is without dirt. A common saying in Jewish households: “Dust is not chametz.”
And Your Little Dog, Too
Traditional Jewish households must derive no benefit from chametz during Passover — not even for their pets. To remain compliant, families have a few options:
- Purchase Passover-friendly pet foods.
Switch the pet’s diet for a few days to straight meat or a variety of approved vegetables.- Transfer pet ownership to a gentile for the pet’s care and feeding for the duration of Passover under the guidance of a qualified rabbi.
We’re Gonna Need More Matzah
The world’s largest Passover Seder is not held in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, or New York City. Instead, the Nepal capital of Kathmandu has maintained that honor since 1989. Last year, the seder attracted about 2,000 celebrants.
The Kathmandu Seder was started by the Israeli ambassador to Nepal, who quickly realized that the crowd would be much larger than the 100 or so guests he was prepared to handle. (Hundreds of young Israelis travel to the area each year to celebrate the end of their army service.) The ambassador dispatched a rabbi friend and two rabbinical students to aid in the preparations, and the world’s largest seder was born.
Nowadays, preparations for the Kathmandu Seder begin months in advance, with the importing of 1,000 bottles of wine and 1,500 pounds of matzah from the United States and Israel.
Happy Passover from AG Law!
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