The Feast of Passover & Unleavened Bread
Passover Timeline
What is Passover?
Passover is a Hebrew holiday commemorating the Hebrews’ liberation from slavery in Egypt and the “passing over” of the forces of destruction, when the Lord “smote the land of Egypt” on the eve of the Exodus. Passover begins in the evening of the 14th, and is celebrated for 7 days, from the 15th to the 21st of the first month. On these seven days, all leaven, whether in bread or other mixture, is removed from the house, and only unleavened bread, called matzo, may be eaten. The matzo symbolizes both the Hebrews’ suffering while in bondage and the haste with which they left Egypt in the course of the Exodus. Passover is also called the Festival of Unleavened Bread.
How to celebrate Passover?
The celebration of Passover includes purging our homes of all leaven and eating unleavened bread, called matzah, for 7 days.
The preparation season for Passover is twofold. It starts with the 12th month dedicated to fasting which is a time of penance and of cleansing before the Passover week. The second fold of this preparation is ushered by the beginning of the year, leading to 14 days of deep spring cleaning. The spring cleaning for Passover means more than the general cleaning of one’s home after winter is done.
The search for leaven throughout the house is symbolic of the search for what is bad in our lives and wanting to get rid of it. This leads to a deep house cleaning, decluttering, reorganization and deeply sanitizing one's house, after having done the same first in our bodies. The preparation time for the Passover is a time of internal and external purification.
Passover is ushered on the first night, by a special meal, called the Seder, during which thanksgiving prayers are performed, and during which the traditional story of liberation of the Hebrews is being rehearsed. At the seder meal, foods of symbolic significance commemorating the Hebrews' liberation are eaten: unleavened bread, bitter herbs and red wine. This is also how Messiah celebrated his last Passover, before his betrayal. Passover is to continue thru the night, towards the 15th, as a vigil. The Israelite remained awake, watched & waited all night to leave Egypt.
The following 7 days of Passover are filled with fun recipes, challenging our culinary habits with new items which are leaven free. For ex. home made pasta, gnocchis, matza balls, flat breads, and any other delicious recipes that do not include leaven.
Terminology
The expression "Passover" can refer to the feast of 7 days but also only the 14th day in the evening.
Indeed, in Torah, the term "Passover" refers exclusively to the 14th of the 1st month, as it is when the angel "passed over" the land of Egypt:
Numbers 33:3-5 3On the fifteenth day of the first month, on the day after the Passover
Joshua 5:10-11 The day after the Passover, on that very day (15th), they ate unleavened bread
The day of Passover being intertwined with the feast of Unleavened Bread, the two terms merged by the time of the first century,becoming linguistically interchangeable: the 7-day Feast of Unleavened Bread was given the name of the Feast of Passover.
Mark 14:1 ... the Passover namely Unleavened Bread …
Luke 22:1 ...the Feast of Unleavened Bread, being called Passover...
The Feast of Passover, or the Feast of Unleavened Bread, is therefore composed of Passover (the day the angel passed over) + a 7-day Feast.
The count is sometimes counted some times as a 8 day feast, if the 14th is counted as a full day added to the 7 day feast. The Feast can be seen as being composed of 1 evening of the 14th + 6 full days of Unleavened Bread + 1 morning of the 21st, which totals to 7 twenty-four hours cycles.
Originally, the "1st day" of the 7-day Feast of Unleavened Bread was anchored to the 15th of the 1st month.
By the 1st century, to ease the communication, the "first day of Unleavened Bread" became the 14th, the Feast totaling to a 8 day festival:
Mark14:12 ... on the first day of the Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover (that is the 14th)...
Luke 22:7 ...the day of the Unleavened came, on which the Passover must be slaughtered (that is the 14th)...
"Eating the Passover" means to eat the young clean animal, a male lamb or a he-goat, slaughtered during the day of the 14th before twilight. The Passover is to be picked on the 10th, 4 days prior to its slaughter. It must be a year old.
The 14th day of the 1st month always falls on the 3rd day of the week (or Tuesday), year after year.
Calendrical Document C (4Q326) "On the 14th (day) in it is Passover on the third (day of the week)."
The 14th day therefore starts in the morning, but the Feast starts exceptionally in the evening, being set apart from the other regular days.
The requirement to eat unleavened bread starts at sundown on the 14th (Lev 23:6). From the evening of the 14th to the end of the 21st, no leaven should be found in the food, the house or the land that is being set apart.
As the Feast ended at sunset on the 21st, the Israelite could make new leaven (mixing flour and water) at the end of the Unleavened Bread Feast, in order to have leavened bread ready for the 22nd.
There are many debates concerning what "leaven" is, and is supposed to be removed from the house. It is assumed that the requirement should not be extended to fermented food, like kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, tempeh, kombucha, and yogurt. Leaven is defined as being a substance causing expansion of doughs and batters by the release of gases within such mixtures, producing baked products with porous structure. Such agents include yeast, baking powder, and baking soda. The requirement of not using "leaven" is therefore commonly extended to any chemical products, like yeast or bicarbonate, that would make bread raise like leaven. However, because these products are not considered actual "leaven", they can remain in the house, and not be discarded (while not being used) during the Unleavened Bread week. The unleavening the house is also extended to thoroughly cleaning the house, commonly called the Spring Clean-Up, and purging it from all unused or broken items. Spiritual unleavening is also required, renouncing old bad habits and purging one's mind from polluted sources of influence.
Rest: The requirement to rest does not start on the 14th, for the 14th is not a sabbath. The High Sabbath are the Sacred Assembly are however mandated to occur on the 15th & the 21st.