As you might guess from the title, today is the first day of Passover. As you might guess, this is a Jewish festival. The festivial is about commemorating God for sparing the Hebrews when he killed the first born of Egypt and is the seven day Feaste of the Unleavened Bread which commenorates the Exodus from Egypt and the freedom of Isaelites from slavery. 

Along with two other festivals Shavuot (Pentecost) and Sukkot (Tabernacles), it was when the Jewish populace would make a pilgrimage to Temple in Jerusalem. This doesn’t happen no more but likely will happen again with the 3rd Temple.

As with all Jewish festival, it starts on a Hebrew date. Passover over begins on the 15th of Nisan which is the first month of the Hebrew calendar (According to the Hebrew Bible). Now, I can’t talk about Passover without telling the story of Exodus. So, a long time ago …..

כפי שאתה אולי מניח את הכותרת, היום הוא היום הראשון של פסח. כפי שאתה אולי חושב, זה חג יהודי. הפסטיבל עומד לזכור לאל מקמץ את העברים כאשר הוא הרג את בכור מצרים והיא שבעה ימים של פסטיבל מצה אשר זוכרים את יציאת מצרים ממצרים ואת החופש של העברים מן העבדות.

יחד עם עוד שני פסטיבלים חג השבועות (חג השבועות) ו סוכות (משכן), זה היה כאשר היה המון העם היהודי צלינות כדי להפוך את בית המקדש בירושלים. זה לא יקרה יותר, אך ככל הנראה לא יקרה שוב עם 3 המקדש.

כמו בכל ×—×’ יהודי, הוא מופעל על תאריך עברי. פסח מתחיל ב רחבי ×” -15 ניסן, שהוא החודש הראשון של לוח השנה העברי (לפי התנ”ך העברי). עכשיו, אני לא יכול לדבר על פסח בלי לספר את סיפור יציאת מצרים. לחץ כאן כדי להאזין יציאת מצרים.

זה נקרא פסח בשל הרוח כאשר הגיעו להרוג כל בכור, את העברים לשים דם על הדלת, כך חלפו על פני הרוח.

The Story of Exodus

The story of Exodus tells that God inflicted ten different plagues upon the equptains so that the Pharaoh would release his slaves (the Israelites) with the tenth plague being the killing of the firstborn sons.

The beginning of the curses (Ex. 5:1 – 5:9, 7:8 – 7:13)

It started with Moses and Aaron talking to the Pharaoh and demanding God command that the Israelite should be around to leave Egypt so that they are abel to worship God freely in there own way. Initially, the Pharaoh refused and God sent Moses and Aaron back to show a sign of warning. This warning was Aaron’s staff turns into a serpent. However, Pharaoh’s sorcerers also done the same however Aaron’s swallowed theirs and then turned back into a staff. And now, we go onto the different plagues.

Blood (Ex. 7:14 – 7:25) דָם

The very first plague that hapens was blood (Ya, you will notice a pattern with blood in Judaism). God instructed Moses to tell Aaron to go to the river Nile and raise his staff high. This caused the river to be turned into blood. This killed off all the fish. However, the Pharaoh’s sorcerers demondtrated that they too, could do the same. Thus, the Pharaoh made no concession to Mose’s demands.

Frogs (Ex. 7:26-8:11) צְּפַרְדֵּעַ

So now, we get into the second of the ten plauges.With this one, it was frogs. God commanded Moses to tell Aaron that is is to strtch his staff over the water and once this happened, horders of frogs came out and overran Egypts. However, and once again, the Pharaoh’s sorcerers was able to recreate the plague however was unable to remove it. To prove this was a divine punishment, the Pharaoh was allowed to pick a time for it all to end to prove that it was a divine punishment. The next day was picked and on that day, all the frogs died however the Pharaoh went back on his word.

Gnats (Ex. 8:12 – 8:15) כִנִּים

And now, we get onto the third plauge which was Lice (Techincally, it was Kinim which has been translated to Gants, Fleas or Lice). This time, Moses was commaned to tell Aaron to take this staff and to hit the dust. When this happeend, the dust turned into a mass of lice which the Egyptains couldn’t remove. This plague was delcared an act of God as they was unable to recreate it.

Beasts (Ex. 8:16 – 8:28) עָרוֹב

And now, we get into the fourth plague. This one was wild animals which was able to harm people and livestock. Within The Torah, it is clearly emphasied that the swarm only affected the Egyptains and didn’t affect the Land of Goshen (This is where the Israelites lived). Due to this plague, the Pharaoh promised Moses that he will allow the Israelites to worship God only in the wilderness in return of removing the plague. Once this happened, the Pharaoh went back on his promise.

Pestilence (Ex. 9:1 – 9:7) דֶּבֶר

The fifth plague was a epidemic disease that killed all the livestock of the Egyptians (houses, camels etc). The Israelites’ cattle was left unharmed and once again, the Pharaoh doesn’t allow them to go.

Incurable boils (Ex. 9:8 – 9:12) שְׁחִין

The sixth plague that fell was a skin disease that is normally translated as boils (It is known as Shkhin). In this plague, God commanded Moses and Aaron to both take two handful of soot from a furnace which Moses then scattered towards the Pharaoh’s presence. This caused an mass infection on both the Egyptians people and livestock. 

Even more, the Egyptians sorcerers was afficted like the others and was unable to heal themselves or anyone else. Regardless, the Pharaoh doesn’t budge.

Hail (Ex. 9:13 – 9:35) בָּרָד

And now we get into the seventh plague which was a very destructive storm. God commanded Moses to hold his staff skyward as high as he can at which point, a storm was created. This storm was a powerful shower of hail mixed with fire which badly damaged the Egyptian’s crops, orchards, people and livestock. Once again, it didn’t affect the Land of Goshen. This time, the Pharaoh said “This time I have sined; God is righteous, I and my people are wicked”. When Moses begain to pray to God, the hail stopped. However, once again the Pharaoh stopped and refused to keep the promise.

Locusts (Ex. 10:1 – 10:20) אַרְבֶּה

And now we get onto the eighth plague which was locust. It was also before this that God informed Moses that from here on, the Pharaoh wouldn’t change his mind and not give in so that the remaining miracles would happen. Moses went to inform the Pharaoh of the plague however the Pharaoh offered a compromise. He would allow the Isralite men to go while the women, children and livestock (kinda odd why he would do that, but hey I wasn’t there). Moses then said that God demaned is for every person to go and every animal but once again, the Pharaoh refused.

Moses stretch his staff over Egypt which caused a wind and the end day, it brought a locust swarm. It consumed the whole of the Egyptains, leaving no plant or no trees left. The Pharaoh again asked Moses to remove the plague and allowed all the Israelites to worship God in the desert however dur to God’s promise, the Pharaoh didn’t allow them to leave.

Darkness (Ex. 10:21 – 10:29) חוֹשֶך

And now, we get into the ninth plague (Wow, starting to sound like Genesis) and with this one, God commaned Moses to stretch his hands high into the sky which caused darkness to be brought over Egypt. This darkness was so heavy that it could be felt. However, there was light within the homes of the Israelites. Once again, it was asked to be removed in return they could leave other then the sheep and the cattle.Moses said no and said that before long, the Pharaoh would offer to provide animals for sacrifice. The Pharaoh was outraged and then threatend to execute Moses if he appears before him again. Moses promised he wouldn’t see him again. 

While not said within the Torah, this plague was a direct attack which was aimed at the Pharaoh’s God – Ra. Ra was the Egyptain Sun God. This was done by Moses to show that the Israelites God was more powerful. Now, due to this, The Torah doesn’t say that there is only one God. Now, either this says that Moses is showing them that God is either more powerful then the Eqyptian’s Gods or that God is the one God. I am sure others will debate this better then I. This view is also backed up when it is said within the Torah to have God before any other dieties. So, you can debate that yourself and if anyone has a good answer, do let me know.

Death of Firstborn (Ex. 11:1 – 12:36) מַכַּת בְּכוֹרוֹת

And now this was the most harstest and most powerful of all the plagues and no one escaped (unless you was an Israelite). After this plague, the Pharaoh given up (likely due to his own son was killed). The Israelies was commaned to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a spring lamb and upon seeing this, the spirit of the Lord passed over (You might see why it is called Passover now ) After this, Pharaoh ordered the Israelites to go away and that they could take whatever they wanted. Just that night, the Israelites left.

It is said that they left in a hurry that they couldn’t wait for the bread to rise. In commemoration for the time of Passover, no leavened bread is eaten. Also the reason for why you might have heard it as the Festival of the Unleavened Bread.

However and while will not be explained here (another post for another day), the Pharaoh actually decided to follow them and when they got to the Red Sea, Moses asked God for help and God commaned to hold his staff over the Red Sea and this causes it to spilt for enough time to allow the Israelites to escape.

And thats Passover

Btw, for the people that wanna actually read about the book of Exodus then following this link (4,18).