Passover Meal

The first Passover meal was held by the Jews in Egypt, before escaping their enslavement. The Jewish Bible, in the narrative of the Exodus, says that before the birth of their first child, they were to sprinkle, on their doorsteps, the blood of the lamb and lintel and they were to eat in haste. Since then, this Jewish and Samaritan festival has evolved, while maintaining many of the new customs and adding a few new. In the present times, every year before the Passover, an Orthodox Jewish family eats up all the foods in the house that are not processed or packaged for Passover. This is done to remove all the leaven from the house, like fermented grain product, starter dough, breads, cakes, cookies, yeast etc.

Leaven is considered to be symptomatic of sin and corruption. A Jew is not supposed to eat any leaven during the Passover week. He cannot even have any leaven in his house or own any of it. The final search for leaven in the house is made before the Passover night, traditionally using a candle, feather and a bag for the search. Every member of the family has to participate in this search. The eatables that the family cannot consume are given to a non-Jew. Freshly made traditional foods are eaten by a Jewish family on the first two nights of the Passover. As the festival passes, Jews go and buy back their products. Below given are some food items that are eaten in the Passover Feast.