Passover

Passover, also called Pasch () or Pesach (; Biblical Hebrew: חַג הַפֶּסַח, romanized: Ḥag hapPesaḥ, lit. 'Pilgrimage of the Passing Over'), is a major Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.

According to the Book of Exodus, God commanded Moses to tell the Israelites to slaughter a lamb and mark their doorframes with its blood, in addition to instructions for consuming the lamb that night. For that night, God would send the Angel of Death to bring about the tenth plague, in which he would smite all the firstborn in Egypt. But when the angel saw the blood on the Israelites' doorframes, he would pass over their homes so that the plague should not enter (hence the name). The story is part of the broader Exodus narrative, in which the Israelites, while living in Egypt, are enslaved en masse by the Pharaoh to suppress them; when Pharaoh refuses God's demand to let them go, God sends ten plagues upon Egypt. After the tenth plague, Pharaoh permits the Israelites to leave. Scholars widely believe that the origins of Passover predate the biblical Exodus, with theories suggesting it evolved from earlier semi-nomadic or pre-Israelite rituals and was later transformed through religious and cultic traditions.

This story is recounted at the Passover Seder by reading the Haggadah. The Haggadah is a standardized ritual account of the Exodus story, in fulfillment of the command "And thou shalt tell [Higgadata] thy son in that day, saying: It is because of that which the LORD did for me when I came forth out of Egypt." Jews are forbidden from possessing or eating leavened foods (chametz) during the holiday.

Pesach starts on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, which is considered the first month of the Hebrew year. The Rabbinical Jewish calendar is adjusted to align with the solar calendar in such a way that 15 Nisan always coincides with Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday. The Hebrew day starts and ends at sunset, so the holiday starts at sunset the day before. For example, in 2026, 15 Nisan coincides with Thursday, April 2. Therefore, Pesach starts at sundown on Wednesday, April 1, 2026.

Etymology

Biblical Hebrew: פֶּסַח is rendered as Tiberian [pɛsaħ] , and Modern Hebrew: [ˈpesaχ] Pesaḥ, Pesakh. The verb pāsaḥ (פָּסַח) is first mentioned in the Torah's account of the Exodus, and there is some debate about its exact meaning. The commonly held assumption that it means "He passed over" (פסח), in reference to God "passing over" (or "skipping") the houses of the Hebrews during the final of the Ten Plagues of Egypt, stems from the translation provided in the Septuagint (Ancient Greek: παρελεύσεται, romanized: pareleusetai in Exodus 12:23, and ἐσκέπασεν, eskepasen in Exodus 12:27.) The Targum Onkelos, written in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, translates pesach as Hebrew: וְיֵחוֹס, romanized: wəyēḥos, lit. 'he had pity', coming from the Hebrew root חסה, meaning "to have pity". Cognate languages yield similar terms with distinct meanings, such as "make soft, soothe, placate" (Akkadian passahu), "harvest, commemoration, blow" (Egyptian), or "separate" (Arabic fsh).

Pesach may also refer to the lamb or goat which was designated as the Passover sacrifice. Four days before the Exodus, the Hebrews were commanded to set aside a lamb, and inspect it daily for blemishes. During the day on 14th Nisan, they were to slaughter the animal and use its blood to mark their lintels and door posts. Before midnight on 15th Nisan, they were to consume the lamb.

The English term Passover is first known to be recorded in the English language in William Tyndale's translation of the Bible, later appearing in the King James Version as well. It is a literal translation of the Hebrew term. In the King James Version, Exodus 12:23 reads:

For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.

Origins and theories

The Passover ritual is "a mitzvah commanded by Torah (rather than of rabbinic origin)."

Apotropaic ritual

The Passover ritual is thought by modern scholars to have its origins in an apotropaic rite unrelated to the Exodus to ensure the protection of a family home, a rite conducted wholly within a clan. Ezov was employed to daub the blood of a slaughtered sheep on the lintels and door posts to ensure that demonic forces could not enter the home.

Barley harvest plus Exodus narrative

A further hypothesis maintains that once the Priestly Code was promulgated, the Exodus narrative took on a central function, as the apotropaic rite was, arguably, amalgamated with the Canaanite agricultural festival of spring which was a ceremony of unleavened bread, connected with the barley harvest. As the Exodus motif grew, the original function and symbolism of these double origins was lost. Several motifs replicate the features associated with the Akitu spring festival of ancient Mesopotamian religion, which celebrates the sowing of barley. Scholars John Van Seters, Judah Segal, and Tamara Prošić disagree with the merged two-festivals hypothesis.

Biblical narrative

In the Book of Exodus

In the Book of Exodus, the Israelites are enslaved in ancient Egypt. Yahweh, the god of the Israelites, appears to Moses in a burning bush and commands Moses to confront the Pharaoh. To show his power, Yahweh inflicts a series of ten plagues on the Egyptians, culminating in the plague of the death of the firstborn.

Moses said, “Thus says יהוה: Toward midnight I will go forth among the Egyptians, and every [male] first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the first-born of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; and all the first-born of the cattle. And there shall be a loud cry in all the land of Egypt, such as has never been or will ever be again;

Before this final plague, Yahweh commands Moses to tell the Israelites to mark a lamb's blood above their doors so God will pass over them and the plague of the death of the firstborn will not afflict them.

The biblical regulations for the observance of the festival require that all leavening be disposed of before the beginning of the 15th of Nisan according to Exodus 13:7 An unblemished lamb or goat, known as the Passover sacrifice or "Paschal Lamb", is to be set apart on 10th Nisan, and slaughtered at dusk as 14th Nisan ends in preparation for the 15th of Nisan when it will be eaten after being roasted. The literal meaning of the Hebrew is "between the two evenings". It is then to be eaten "that night", 15th Nisan, roasted, without the removal of its internal organs with unleavened bread, known as matzah, and bitter herbs known as maror. Nothing of the sacrifice on which the sun rises by the morning of the 15th of Nisan may be eaten, but must be burned.

The biblical regulations of the original Passover at the time of the Exodus only also include how the meal was to be eaten: "your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly: it is a passover offering to יהוה."

The biblical requirements of slaying the Paschal lamb in the individual homes of the Hebrews and smearing the blood of the lamb on their doorways were celebrated in Egypt. However, once Israel was in the wilderness and the Tabernacle was in operation, a change was made in those two original requirements. Passover lambs were to be sacrificed at the door of the Tabernacle and no longer in the homes of the Jews. No longer, therefore, could blood be smeared on doorways.