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At first it made me angry, according to Jewish Law non-Jews are not supposed to attend Passover Seders and the President was hosting one. Then it became a Joke, "Do you know that when President Obama became the first President to host a Seder, it also was the first time that Pharaoh hosted a Seder?" Today is Tax Day, Tea Party day as well as the 7th day of Passover the day Jews celebrate our final break with the Pharaoh's Oppression by crossing through the Reed Sea (not a typo, the Torah calls it Yam Suf, which means sea of...

Barack Obama devoted his Saturday weekly address to Passover and Easter greetings to Jews and Christians. That was nice. But listen to what he said. "These are two very different holidays with their own very different traditions," he explained. "But it seems fitting that we mark them both during the same week. For, in a larger sense, they are both moments of reflection and renewal. They are both occasions to think more deeply about the obligations we have to ourselves and the obligations we have to one another, no matter who we are, where we come from, or what faith...

The church I belong to has a unique but incredibly scriptural tradition for this time of year. Most Christians know the stories of the night Jesus was betrayed and “The Passion” by heart , but many (including me for a long time) never took the time to read it in detail. From the scriptures, we can see exactly when Jesus was betrayed, when the Last Supper (Passover) took place, and when Jesus died and was resurrected. It all revolves around the spring Holy Days of the Old Testament, or, more appropriately, God’s Appointed Times. You can see a video series...

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas telephoned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday morning and wished him a happy Passover. The telephone conversation was the first between the two since Netanyahu entered office as prime minister. Netanyahu reminded Abbas that the two men had cooperated in the past and said he was planning to do so again toward the goal of peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Abbas said that both sides must make moves to promote peace. Netanyahu's office said Sunday's conversation was initiated by Abbas. Abbas' office said the call was a gesture of courtesy to the new Israeli prime...

Easter and Passover, signal celebrations in Christianity and Judaism, are linked through the calendar and through long tradition. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that they show other kinships, including some that might be surprising to some who are merely passive believers. The most striking similarity is that both holidays represent liberation from and triumph over the powers that be in this world – the governmental/political structures of the times they commemorate – and, by implication, a sense of independence from the powers that rule this world in any era. According to scripture, the people of Israel had been slaves...

(I mean, after all, were not the first disciples of Jesus, Jewish?) Friday evening I attended a lengthy but beautiful Christian Seder Service starting at about 6 PM on what is known as Jewish Passover.It was pretty much an exact copy of traditional Seder, but the focus was on the Messiah Yeshua. Christian Jews and Gentiles were in attendance, and we all in one accord celebrated the Passing Over of God of the Israelites who in Egypt obeyed Him and painted their doorways with the blood of a Lamb. Thereby, they were saved from having their firstborn killed, while the...

The "first" first family is proving themselves worthy of the title, indeed. In addition to seeding the first ever White House vegetable and herb garden (I'll have more on today's planting festivities, which are set to kick off momentarily) the AP reports that the Obamas are hosting a Seder tonight to celebrate the first night of Passover. For those not up on their Old Testament, the Jewish holiday remembers the sparing of Hebrew lives during slavery in ancient Egypt. On the eve of Easter, the Obamas nod to interfaith communion—one of the four priorities of the president's new Faith Office—will...

Hamas terrorists in Kalkilya built a large supply of bombs and stored them in a local mosque without raising suspicion from local Palestinian Authority armed forces who represent the rival Fatah faction. However, the terrorists were out of luck on Wednesday, Passover eve, when a simple electric shortage gave away their plans. The shortage caused a small fire in the mosque, bringing PA forces to the building, where they found bombs ready for use and large cannisters of bomb-making materials. The mosque was closed down, and PA sappers removed the explosives.

I've been invited to a Seder this Saturday, at the home of friends. Theirs is a "mixed" marriage, she being Reform Jewish and he being somewhat Catholic. I've been to a Bar Mitzvah and a Bat Mitzvah for their children, but am sort of stumped as far as any expectations of me, as a guest, and hope to avoid having to ask them what I'm supposed to do, lol. Gift? Attire? Thanks for any help you can offer.

Most regular church-goers have heard their less scrupulously observant fellows called “Christmas and Easter Christians.” Well, they also have their counterparts in the mainstream media: “Christmas and Easter Anti-Christians.” How else to explain the spate of skeptical, negative stories that inevitably accompany the two most important Christian holy days? This Holy Week has been typical. Newsweek proclaimed “The Decline and Fall of Chrisitan America” on its cover. The Washington Post/Newsweek “On Faith” blog featured a post that belittled the significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Discovery Channel aired a documentary that painted Jesus as little more than an opportunistic...

WASHINGTON (ABP) -- The U.S. Army Chief of Chaplains is being criticized for a proclamation calling for prayer and fasting on April 8, which coincides with the first night of Passover, a high holy day on the Jewish calendar celebrated by a traditional feast called the Seder. Maj. Gen. Douglas Carver, a Southern Baptist, issued a proclamation March 2 urging Army chaplains to pray and fast April 8 during a 120-day "stand down" period beginning Feb. 15 to focus on suicide-prevention awareness among soldiers. "As spiritual leaders we are called to be a people of prayer," Carver explained in Internet...

As you may know, tonight at sundown is the start of the Jewish holiday of Passover. We hold ceremonial dinners the first two nights to commemorate our slavery in Egypt and redemption into freedom by G-d. So, it's ironic that the President--who is the worst President for us ever and the one who pandered to the West's and the Jews' worst enemy all this week in Europe--is holding a Seder. It's sickening. Sadly, the ignoramus the fancy high-dollar Jewish donors who get to spend this evening with the couple that followed anti-Semitic Jeremiah Wright and employed Farrakhan acolytes, don't even...

Tonight Jews celebrate the beginning of Passover. We remember when God took the Jews out of Egypt and made us a free people. Even most non-Jews know that part of the Passover celebration is the Seder meal. We use a book called the Haggadah as a "road map" to the Seder. Moses is not mentioned in the Haggadah. The sages wanted us to remember that it was God that took us out of Egypt, Moses was only an instrument of the Lord's will. So to make it up to Moses, below are Seven different movie clips showing 7 different Moses'...

US President Barack Obama will celebrate Passover Thursday night with staff and friends in what is believed to be the first White House Seder attended by an American president. Obama prays at the Western Wall on his visit to Israel. Photo: AP [file] The event was slipped onto the president's public schedule Tuesday night with little fanfare, following a letter signed by Obama earlier in the day wishing Americans who mark the day a "peaceful and relaxing holiday." While presidential proclamations in honor of Passover have been common throughout the administrations of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, this year's...

US President Barack Obama will celebrate Passover Thursday night with staff and friends in what is believed to be the first White House Seder attended by an American president. The event was slipped onto the president's public schedule Tuesday night with little fanfare, following a letter signed by Obama earlier in the day wishing Americans who mark the day a "peaceful and relaxing holiday."

A 28-year-old yeshiva student was arrested late Sunday for the second time after undressing completely in a Tel Aviv supermarket with only a sock to cover his genitals, to protest the store's sale of chametz during Passover. The same student was arrested for pulling the same stunt last year in a Bat Yam store, after the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court passed a controversial ruling which permitted the sale of chametz (foods Jewish law prohibits on Passover) in some businesses. The court ruled then that the matzot law, which prohibits the display of chametz, in public places during the holiday, does not...

          .....He sent two of the disciples saying, "Go into the village opposite you, in which no one yet has ever sat; untie it, and bring it here. "And if anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' thus shall you speak, 'The Lord has need of it.'" .......And they brought it to Jesus and they put Jesus on it. And as He was going, they were spreading their garments in the road. And as He was now approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to...

(IsraelNN.com) A new tequila is being introduced to the U.S. market for all those who want to celebrate the Mexican holiday Cinco De Mayo with a high-end kosher-for-Passover drink in hand. Martin Silver, owner of Long Island-based Star Industries, says Mexican-made Agave 99 is being unveiled right in time for both the anniversary of Mexico's defeat of France in 1862, as well as the holiday celebrating the redemption of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt in 1440 BCE – Passover. Though a product launch featuring Yiddish and Spanish renditions of Mexican songs is set for early May, Agave 99...

For the past several years I've been putting out a light-hearted '18 Ways You Know Pesach is Coming In Israel' piece to describe the frenetic days leading up to Pesach in the holy city. This year, there are a few additional notable events that are driving the news cycles over here. Apart from the upcoming Mid-East visit of the pope and the ongoing saga of whether Gilad Shalit will be home for Pesach, there's the controversy over the Chametz Law. Never heard of it? Well, since 1986, Israel has had a law on the books that forbids leavened products from...

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. This used to be the most popular scripture in the entire world of Christianity. I can remember watching football games on TV and seeing men in the freezing cold with no shirts on holding up a sign that said, simply, John 3:16. When I was a kid, I had no clue what that meant. I hadn’t a clue about the numbering of the Bible or even an inkling of the gravity of that verse uttered...

A campaign to persuade major booksellers to move missionary-generated holiday Passover Haggadahs off the "Judaism" shelves has won the first round. The Jewish anti-missionary organization Outreach Judaism raised the alarm about Passover Family Pack: Everything You Need to Enjoy a Passover Seder Dinner earlier this week, warning Jews the so-called Haggadah was really a Christian text. Rabbi Tovia Singer, director of Outreach Judaism, called on Jews who unsuspectingly purchased the book to return it at the point of sale, and to lobby the bookstores and corporations to remove the tome from the "Judaism" section of the shelves. Singer also called...

A Jewish outreach organization has called on mainstream booksellers including Barnes & Noble and Amazon to remove a Christian missionary version of the traditional Passover Hagaddah from the Judaism sections of online and conventional bookstores. Rabbi Tovia Singer, director of Outreach Judaism, said, "Despite the innocent-sounding title 'Passover Family Pack: Everything You Need to Enjoy a Passover Seder Dinner,' the guide quickly departs from the traditional holiday message once it is opened." Jewish families seeking to celebrate the ancient exodus of the Jewish People from Egyptian slavery find once they open the package that they are encouraged to express their...

Limhi, Alma, and Passover PatternsBy John P. PrattThe Book of Mormon and sacred calendars provide keys to understand the patterns of the Biblical Exodus.One of the strongest types or patterns in the Book of Mormon is that of an exodus similar to that of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. This recurring pattern is interesting both because of the similarites to the archetype for which the book of Exodus was named, but also because of many differences. Some of those differences are now explained in this article because the Lord's sacred calendars provide the keys to understand two...

Short Passover video from Israel. This was really well done. Worth a look. Click on link.

The ancient question "Why is this night different" may have a different and somewhat unexpected connotation this year. A ruling on April 3 by Local Affairs Court Judge Tamar Bar-Asher-Tsaban limiting the extent of the 1986 Prohibition on the Display of Hametz Law has infuriated religious leaders and lawmakers and threatens to upset the delicate balance between secular and Orthodox in the capital. Last year the municipality filed lawsuits against four non-kosher eateries and a mini-market for failing to pay fines issued for selling hametz (leavened products). Bar-Asher-Tsaban's ruling, however, determined that the allegations in the charge were incorrect and...

Every presidential campaign has to produce a stream of appropriate statements for religious holidays, patriotic commemorations, and the like. Campaigns don’t expect to win votes with these messages. They produce them because there’s a risk of giving offense to some group or other if they don’t. And candidates do it because it looks presidential. After all, a substantial portion of any White House’s output consists of official messages recognizing various national milestones, group anniversaries and dignitaries’ birthdays. So, last week, in the midst of the excitement over the pope’s visit, the Clinton, Obama and McCain campaigns found time to issue...

President Bush spoke this morning at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington. (Transcript) This has been a joyous week. (Applause.) It's been a joyous time for Catholics -- and it wasn't such a bad week for Methodists, either. (Laughter.) The president later called Rush Limbaugh’s radio show. Rush wanted to thank the president personally for the moving ceremony at the White House earlier this week for Pope Benedict XVI. (Transcript) Rush: We're in a presidential campaign … candidates are telling us what's wrong with the country, and that day, you and the Pope brought God to Washington on public...

Just in time for Passover, the Jewish Music Group (a division of Shout Factory) has released "Exodus: An Oratorio in Three Parts," performed by the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. It is conducted by David Itkin, who created and composed the Oratorio, sung by baritone Paul Rowe and includes dramatic readings from the Bible and from the haggadah, spoken by none other than Shatner... (there is an excerpt at the site)

Happy and Kosher Passover to all FReepers from Alouette & family. May Israel enjoy a blessed and peaceful holiday. Please post your holiday greetings here.

Greeting of the Jewish Community in Washington, D.C. and Message for Pesah     My dear friends, I extend special greetings of peace to the Jewish community in the United States and throughout the world as you prepare to celebrate the annual feast of Pesah. My visit to this country has coincided with this feast, allowing me to meet with you personally and to assure you of my prayers as you recall the signs and wonders God performed in liberating his chosen people. Motivated by our common spiritual heritage, I am pleased to entrust to you this message as a testimony...

MOSCOW, Russia – In the lead-up to Passover, the recently-opened 'Shaarei Tsedek' Charity Center is teeming with activity. "It was only just a month ago that we last got a call, telling us that we have the opportunity to pick up another care package," explained one the Center's beneficiaries contentedly. "These are really good packages. We each received one for Purim and thank G-d we got the call again". This holiday campaign aims to distribute 15,000 packages to Moscow Jews, each of which bears a special mark indicating that the food products are 'kosher for Passover'. All items have been...

Why Should Christians Keep the Passover? Do you really know why Jesus had to suffer and die? What should the Passover mean for Christians today? by Allen Stout Only 3 1/2 years after He began His ministry, Jesus of Nazareth was apprehended by the religious authorities at the time of the Passover feast (Matthew 26:2; Mark 14:1). After a brief trial-while mocking Him, spitting on Him and beating Him-they took Him before the Roman authorities and accused Him of "perverting the nation, . . . saying that He Himself is Christ, a King" (Luke 23:2; Matthew 26:59-68).Pontius Pilate, the Roman...

Pope Benedict XVI will visit a synagogue led by a rabbi who survived the Holocaust during his first papal trip to the United States, the nation's bishops said Thursday. Benedict's visit will be just the third visit by any pope to a synagogue in the 2,000 year history of the Roman Catholic Church. It is his second visit to a synagogue as pontiff. On his first papal trip abroad in 2005, Benedict visited a synagogue in Cologne, Germany. Pope John Paul II was the first pope to visit a synagogue. The pontiff will make a brief stop April 18 at...

Concluding the Passover Seder half an hour after it began was almost a family tradition for the Sifens. Larry and Pam Sifen, together with their children and parents, would sit around the table in their Norfolk, Va., home as the aroma of holiday foods warming in the neighboring kitchen competed with the text of the Haggadah for attention. In recent years, however, the Sifens have taken a new approach to the annual Passover ceremony and feast, ditching the house altogether to embark on an inspirational holiday learning experience away from home. The experiences of other families suggest the Sifens are...

When army forces arrived at his house, 57-year-old Omar Jaber, the leader of the group's Tulkarem branch, tried to escape through a backdoor, but was caught by the soldiers. A military source told the radio station that Jaber's capture so close to Passover was symbolic and brought the issue full circle for the attack's victims and for the IDF. The bombing, carried out during the first night of Passover, killed 29 Israelis and wounded more than 150.

Counter Terrorism Bureau warns against possible abductions, cautions Israelis to refrain from gathering in large groups ynet Published: 03.24.08, 18:53 / Israel News Just a little over three weeks remain until Passover Eve, and on Monday the Counter Terrorism Bureau issued travel warnings and published a statement giving a general overview of the situation abroad. The Bureau emphasized that there was nothing new in these warnings, but in light of the new circumstances brought on by the 40-day anniversary of Hizbullah commander Imad Mugniyah’s assassination in Damascus, Israelis abroad must be more alert. First and most importantly, the Bureau recommends...

"Easter, Passover and the KJV"By Fred Butler There exist in American Christianity a rather vocal group of advocates who defend the King James Version as being the only true, infallible English translation.  Their contention is that it contains absolutely no transcribal or translational errors and can rightly be called the pure, inerrant Word of God.  Donald A. Waite, the director of Bible For Today ministries sums up the KJV only position when he writes:“If we really want to know what the Hebrew in the Old Testament says and what the Greek in the New Testament says in the English language...

Biblical Liberation from Liberalism By Michael Medved Wednesday, April 11, 2007 With the arrival of the eight day Passover Festival on Monday night, I was preparing some material for our family-reunion Seder meal (Diane and I will be together with all three of our children, plus my visiting father from Jerusalem) when I stumbled across one of the most important of all verses in the Hebrew Scriptures. Leviticus 19:15 declares: "You shall not commit a perversion of justice: you shall not favor the poor and you shall not honor the great, with righteousness shall you judge your fellow." About fifteen...

Due to circumstances which are not yet known, a massive Hamas terror attack intended to take place in the Tel Aviv area during the Passover Seder was averted. A similar attack five years ago killed 30 people in Netanya and triggered the IDF's Operation Defensive Shield. The General Security Service (Shabak) has acknowledged that a Hamas terrorist successfully entered the Greater Tel Aviv area in a car laden with 100 kg. (220 lbs.) of explosives before Passover. Besides the explosives, it contained large amounts of shrapnel material, intended to maximize carnage. For reasons that are not yet known, the attack...

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 6, 2007 (Zenit.org).- It is likely that Jesus followed the calendar of the Essenes of Qumran, possibly explaining some contradictions within the Gospel accounts of the Passover, says Benedict XVI. The Pope made this observation Holy Thursday in his homily during the Mass of the Lord's Supper at the Basilica of St. John Lateran. In his address, the theologian commented on the historical investigations on the manuscripts of Qumran, found in the Dead Sea in 1947. "In the narrations of the Evangelists, there is an apparent contradiction between the Gospel of John, on one hand, and what,...

“The Meal, Christ’s Suffering, and the Coming of the Kingdom” (Luke 22:7-20)Our text is the Holy Gospel, from Luke 22, the account of our Lord’s institution of his Holy Supper. Specifically we want to look at these words from our Lord which Luke records, where Jesus says to his disciples: “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Likewise Jesus says to them, “For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the...

Court nixes Passover lamb sacrifice at Temple Mount By Nadav Shargai and Amiram Barkat In their efforts to sacrifice a live animal at the Temple Mount, the New Sanhedrin Council adopted an almost underground modus operandi. Rabbis Adin Steinsaltz, Israel Ariel, Yishai Baved and their associates secretly located a butcher, found a Cohen hailing from a lineage 1,000 years old and worked out a plan to quickly erect an alter on the Temple Mount. They tried to revive the customs of the ancient Sanhedrin tribunal, which was the highest judicial body for the Jewish people in Israel some 1,600 years...

Christians Who Don't Celebrate Easter: What Do They Know? Easter is the most important holiday for hundreds of millions of believers around the world. Yet thousands of Christians don't observe it. Do they know something that others don't? by Jerold Aust Every spring, the anticipation and excitement of Easter is electrifying for many people. Churches prepare elaborate Easter programs that illustrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Parents take time to color Easter eggs and hide them so their children can hunt for them. It's typical for TV movies this time of year to depict Easter as an enjoyable...

Dear FReepers, Wishing everyone (Jewish and non-Jewish) a joyous Passover. Please post your pictures and greetings here. This year I am celebrating with my family in Moscow, so we are 8 hours ahead of most of the rest of you. My son is hosting a seder for 130 English-speaking expats, and Chabad of Moscow is hosting 7000 guests at other seders throughout the city. In addition there are tens of thousands more attending seders at other congregations and in their own homes. Chabad has distributed 1,000,000 lbs. of matzah throughout the former USSR.

Single Parents - Are You Free On This Passover? By Sara Silber Family Affairs Editor Israel News Agency Jerusalem ---- April 2, 2007..... As the holiday of freedom, Passover or as it is known in Israel as Pesach, approaches, it is desirable to contemplate the themes of this Jewish holiday thereby enhancing your and your family's emotional and spiritual growth. You and your loved ones may want to ponder and discuss the various aspects of freedom – both external and internal. Questions for divorced and single parents to think about: are you free from subjugation of others, from abuse and...

MOSCOW, Russia (JTA) — If all goes according to plan for Russia's largest Jewish organization, it won't be long before Israel-baked matzah becomes a luxury item in the former Soviet Union — nice to look at but not really necessary. With its new matzah bakery ramping up for this Passover season, the Chabad-led Federation of Jewish Communities is hoping to gradually replace imported Israeli matzah with a domestic product. "Some people will always want matzah from Israel because they think it's somehow holier," said Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz, the FJC's executive director. The group's effort to distribute more than 500,000 one-kilo...

What Really Happened at ''Easter''? Most reasonably informed Christians are well aware that many of the traditions that surround the Christmas holidays have pagan origins and very little correlation with the actual events as recorded in the Bible. However, most of us are surprised when we discover that some of what we have been taught about “Easter” is not only in error, but deliberately so! Many, of course, are aware that the name “Easter” actually originates with the pagan worship of Ishtar (or Astarte) that was traditionally observed at the time of the vernal equinox, nominally about March 21 or...

Marijuana is not kosher for Passover, a pro-cannabis advocacy group says, advising Jews who observe the week-long holiday's special dietary laws to take a break from smoking the weed.

To keep her perfect attendance record, Tahera Ali's 13-year-old daughter used to go to school for only a couple of hours on the Islamic Day of Ashurah, getting out just in time to attend prayers for what is a holy day of sorrow. "We wear all black on that date, and she would have to change in the car on the way" to the mosque, said the Bridgewater mother. This year it will be different. Using a little-known process that intertwines education and religion, Ali petitioned her district and this year the day was placed on New Jersey's approved list...

"It's not a question of 'maybe' or 'if'," says the Temple Institute's Rabbi Yisrael Ariel. "Bringing the Paschal sacrifice is a Torah obligation incumbent upon the People of Israel these very days." Speaking with Yoel Yaakobi of the weekly B'Sheva newspaper, Rabbi Ariel said that though there are some grave Halakhic [Jewish legal] problems associated with bringing the Paschal sacrifice, "we have found the solutions, and the obligation is as strong as ever. This is one of the only two positive Biblical commandments that those who forsake it are liable to receive the ultimate karet [cutting off] punishment. From the...