PASSOVER. Passover celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt in the second millennium B.C.E.as narrated in the Bible (Exod. 1–15). According to the Jewish calendar, the holiday begins on the evening of the fourteenth of Nisan, which falls in late March or early April. Passover is observed for seven days in Israel and eight days elsewhere. On the first one or two evenings of the holiday, Jews are required to recite the Exodus story (Exod. 13:8) at a family feast called the seder and to eat matzo, an unleavened flat bread. They are prohibited from eating foods containing leaven (hametz) during the entire holiday.

History of Passover

The eating of a sacrificial animal, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, was central to Passover observance until the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. However, the paschal sacrifice and...