Pesach (Passover) – 15 Nisan

“In the past our ancestors were worshippers of idols, but G-d has since brought us near to serve him.”
“We were slaves unto Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord our G-d brought us out with a strong hand and an outstretched arm.”

– The Haggadah.

Pesach (Passover) falls on the night of the fifteenth day of the month of Nissan and lasts for eight days. This year Pesach begins Wednesday, March 27.Pesach marks the birth of the Jewish people as a nation, led by Moses (Moshe) around 3000 years ago.This holiday of Pesach or Passover commemorates the Exodus of the nation of Israel from Egypt.The meaning of this celebration is our the physical liberation from Egyptian slavery as well as our spiritual freedom.

The highlight of Pesach is the observance of the Seder, a unique ceremony performed on the first two evenings of Passover.At the Seder, we eat different special foods, we tell the story of our departure from Egypt, we sing songs and praises, and say special prayers.There is a commandment to remember our departure from Egypt every day.

The Sages have told us this obligation is satisfied by our daily recitation of Sh’ma, which explicitly states the remembrance of the exodus.If the Sages in B’nei B’rak had continued their discussion after the time they were allowed to commence saying the morning Sh’ma, they would have discharged their obligation of remembering the exodus, albeit in a method not proscribed by the Sages. To assure that their teachers realized that they had to curtail their discussion so as not to perform the commandment of remembering the departure in other than the ordained fashion, the students let the Sages know that the time for Sh’ma arrived, and Sh’ma should be said before any discussion continued.

We reproduce the entire text of this prayer below:

Courtesy of: LearnHebrewPrayers.com.

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 A Sephardic kantiga  for Pesach:                 "Pesah a la mano". Nala!                                  Purim Purim Purim lanu                 Pesah Pesah a la mano                                  Las masas si stan faziendo                 Los yaprakis si stan koziendo                                  Aman aman aman aman                 Il Dio bendicho mos da mazal                                  La nona sta diziendo a los nyetos                 Alimpya il puelvo kantones i los  techos                                  Aman...                                  Il sinyor Rubi disho a las tias                 No kumer il pan ocho dias                                  Aman... 

The Flory Jagoda Songbook – Memories of Sarajevo, Tara Publications, U.S.A. 1993)sent by Matilda de Yerushalayim