The Passover Story
A long time ago, in the land of Egypt, there was a ruler called Pharaoh. The Pharaoh was a very mean man, and he made all the Jews living in Egypt his slaves.
A long time ago, in the land of Egypt, there was a ruler called Pharaoh. The Pharaoh was a very mean man, and he made all the Jews living in Egypt his slaves.
To be slaves meant that the Jews had to work very, very hard and were beaten by their Egyptian masters. They worked all day under the hot sun making clay bricks to build pyramids and buildings for the Pharaoh; they worked the fields to produce food for the Egyptians; and they built houses for the Egyptians to live in. The slaves did not get paid for their work, and they could not buy toys for their children. They hardly had enough food to feed themselves. They were not free to go to wherever they wanted, or to do whatever they wanted. The Jews were very unhappy and suffered a lot.
“I am here!” answered Moses, and he was scared because he never heard the voice of God before.
And God told Moses: “ I want you to go back to the land of Egypt and free all the Jews from slavery, and lead them back to the Promised Land, the home of the Jews!” Today we call this Promised Land Israel.
So, Moses went back to Egypt and he went to see the Pharaoh. Moses told the Pharaoh that God had commanded the Jews to leave Egypt. The Pharaoh said: “No way! I will not let the Jews go.” And instead of letting the Jews go, the Pharaoh decided to make them work even harder. But Moses warned the Pharaoh that if he did not let the Jews go, God would punish him and all the other Egyptians. But the Pharaoh just laughed and did not believe Moses.
And sure enough, God’s punishment came about in the land of Egypt:
But the Pharaoh was stubborn and would not let the Jews go.
But the Pharaoh was still stubborn and would not let the Jews go.
There was very little time, and the Jews had to hurry and left so quickly that they did not have time to bake any bread for the road. Instead, they ate flat bread, called matzah, as they were going through the desert. Then, as the Jews, lead by Moses, reached the Red Sea the Pharaoh changed his mind and decided to go after the Jews and make them become slaves again. And now the Jews were trapped between the Egyptian army chasing them in their chariots, and the Red Sea in front of them.
But suddenly there was a miracle. The Red Sea parted, and there was a dry path through the sea all the way across to the other side. The Jews were happy to escape the Egyptians and started to cross the Red Sea. When the Egyptians saw that the sea was parted, they too decided to cross chasing after the Jews. But as soon as the Egyptians started to cross the Red Sea, the sea closed again, and they could not reach the Jews on the other side of the sea.
During Passover we have a feast called the Seder. We read a book, called the Haggadah, which tells the story of Passover that I just told you, so that we will always remember our history. And we put special symbols on the Seder table to remind us of what our ancestors went through many-many years ago when they escaped from Egypt:
Bitter herbs – to remind us how bitter life was for the Jewish slaves in Egypt
Salt water – to remind us of the tears of the slaves
Haroset – this mixture of apples, nuts, wine and cinnamon, to remind us of the mortar the Jews used to put the bricks together
Matzah – we eat this in memory of the flat bread the Jews had to bake in a hurry when they escaped from Egypt
Sweet herbs to remind us of the hope and freedom in the Promised Land
The lamb bone and the egg to represent spring and a new beginning.
Another thing we do at this time is to take pieces of Matzah, called Aphikomon, and hide it for the children to find it after dinner. The child that finds the missing matzah gets a present.
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