Tag Archives: passover

Spring Holidays

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From KRP’s The Ultimate Holiday Activity Guide. Here are some holidays that are observed in March and sometimes in April.

The Christian observances of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter, and the Jewish Passover are important religious holidays that fall in March or April. The Eastern Orthodox Easter, called Pascha, also falls into this time period.

Spring holy days provide many opportunities for you to discuss such concepts as tolerance and respect for each other’s beliefs. Begin a discussion of tolerance by explaining to students that tolerance means to put up with practices and beliefs that are different from your own. Then ask them to find five items in the newspaper: stories, photos and comics that are examples of tolerance or intolerance. Conclude by asking them to describe the effects of the acts of tolerance or intolerance in each example.

Instruct students to find a newspaper photo that shows diversity among a group of people. Ask: What differences do you see between the people pictured? Have students discuss the level of tolerance or intolerance portrayed in the photo.

Passover

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What is Passover?  Here is some information from McClatchy Tribune. 

The story of Passover starts in the Hebrew Bible in the book of Exodus. “That chapter tells the preparations for the first Passover and describes the first Passover and (the Israelites’) flight from Egypt,” said Rabbi Charles Feinberg, of Adas Israel synagogue in Washington, D.C.

The Israelites endured years of slavery under the Egyptians. Under orders from God, Moses told the pharaoh to let the Israelites go free. When the pharaoh refused, God sent 10 plagues to Egypt — blood in the Nile River, frogs, bugs, wild animals, pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and, finally, death to the all of the firstborns.

However, the Israelites “survived the plague of the death of the firstborn by putting the blood of the lamb on their doorposts,” Feinberg said.

That is where the holiday gets its name — because the plague “passed over” the Israelites. After the plagues, the pharaoh released the Israelites, but they had to leave quickly, so preparing food for their journey was rushed.

“One of the major rituals is eating unleavened bread — matzoh — because they didn’t have enough time to allow the bread to rise,” Feinberg said. “So one of the ways we celebrate the holiday is we don’t eat any leavened products.” “It’s like a cracker … not much different than saltines, but much plainer, so you can put things on it and eat.” That ritual continues to be celebrated during Passover today.

For more information on Passover, click on the following link to view the MCT One Page on Passover:  http://legacy.grandforksherald.com/pdfs/2012PASSOVER.pdf

Note:  if you are going to print this pdf, make sure to adjust your print setting to “fit on page”.  The pdf is bigger than 8.5 x 11 (normal print size.)