The eight day holiday of Pesach or Passover (seven days in the Land of Israel) begins on the fifteenth of Nissan. It's a celebration of freedom.

More than three thousand years ago the Jews were slaves in Egypt. Pharaoh (the Egyptian king) forced them to do hard labor, to make bricks and to build storehouses and great stone walls around the cities of Pithom and Raamses. Slaves who did not work quickly enough were beaten. Some were killed. And one day Pharaoh declared that every Jewish boy born should be thrown into the river and drowned.

But one Jewish boy was saved. His mother made a tiny ark for him out of reeds, tar and mud. She hid the ark in the bulrushes, along the edge of the river. The boy was Moses, and years later G-d chose him to lead the Jewish people out of Egypt.

G-d spoke to Moses from the midst of a burning bush. G-d would take the Jews out of Egypt and Moses would be their leader.

G-d sent Moses and his brother Aaron to Pharaoh to free the Jews from slavery. Pharaoh refused. Moses warned him that G-d would turn all of the water in the Nile River and throughout Egypt to blood. Pharaoh still refused. So the water turned to blood. The fish died and there was a terrible odor throughout the land of Egypt. That was the first of ten plagues which G-d brought upon Egypt.

Pharaoh refused again and again to let the Jews go free. After the blood in the river turned back to water, frogs covered the land. Then lice and later wild animals attacked Egypt. The Egyptians' animals were attacked by a deadly disease. Boils broke out on the Egyptians' skin. Large hailstones fell on the land. Hungry locusts ate every growing plant. Later Egypt was wrapped in darkness.

Then, G-d told Moses and Aaron to tell the Jewish people that on the fourteenth day of Nissan each family should slaughter a lamb and place its blood on their doorposts. They should roast the meat and eat it that night with matzah and maror (bitter herbs).

At midnight, the last plague came. Candle LightingThe firstborn son in every Egyptian household died. But the firstborn sons of the Jewish households, those with blood on their doorposts, lived.

Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron that the Jews could go free. They left Egypt early in the morning. They left in such a hurry that there was no time for their dough to rise. Instead of the fluffy bread, it was matzah.

Pharaoh and an army of soldiers, horses and chariots chased after them. The Jews ran toward the Sea of Reeds. When they reached it, G-d told Moses to hold his arm over the sea. He did and the waters parted. The Jews walked through on dry land. The Egyptians followed. Moses lifted his arm again and the waters flooded together. Pharaoh's army was drowned. The Jews were free.

Before Pesach we rid our homes of all breads, cakes and other chametz. We will eat no chametz for the eight days of Pesach (seven days in the Land of Israel). The first two days and the last two days we do not work (only the Images of The Haggadafirst and last day in the Land of Israel). The middle days are called Chol Hamoed. They are semi-holidays.

On the first two nights of Pesach (but just on the first night in the Land of Israel), we have a special Seder meal. At the Seder we read the Haggadah, which tells about all the miracles G-d did when He brought our people out of Egypt. We eat matzah and remember the matzah the Jews ate as they left Egypt. We eat maror, bitter herbs, and remember the bitter taste of slavery. We dip the maror into charoses, a mixture that looks like clay, and remember the clay and bricks the slaves used. We drink four cups of wine, and we celebrate our freedom.

Near the beginning of the Seder, is the Mah Nishtanah, the Four Questions, which are asked by the youngest person at the Seder who is able to ask. The Mah Nishtanah begins with the question, "Why is this night different from all other nights" The answer, of course, is the history of the Jews in Egypt and how G-d set us free.

(Courtesy of Artscroll)