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Passover - (in Hebrew - Pessach or Pessah or Pesah , pronounced Peh' sa'h) (guttural "h") Literally - passing over or skipping.) A Jewish holiday celebrating the exodus of the Jews from Egypt and freedom from slavery in ancient times. The holiday begins with a festive Seder meal and continues for an an entire week, during which Jews must eat only unleavened bread (Matza).
According to Jewish tradition, the Lord ordered the Jews to sacrifice a lamb and smear the thresholds of their doors with the blood. The angel of the Lord then went through Egypt and killed off all the first born sons of the Egyptians, passing over the houses that were marked with the blood of the paschal Lamb. That is the derivation of the name "Passover" or Pesah. The lamb shank is therefore part of the traditional Seder.
The Seder meal is celebrated by reading of the Hagaddah, a book of prayers, parables, chants and rabbinical sayings, compiled over a very long period. The Haggadah closes with the wishes, "This year we are slaves; Next year will shall be free. This year we are here (in the Diaspora) Next Year in Jerusalem." and thus embodied the core of the Zionist idea and made the holiday a vehicle for the transmission of the love of freedom and the love of Zion for 2000 years. Zionism turned the "wishes" into pledges for those who want to take them.
Passover, like Hanukkah, is a festival of national liberation. It is also a festival of liberation from slavery and oppression. The story of Passover therefore became a symbol of the longing of African slaves in the United States for freedom and was incorporated into spirituals. Passover also became a special holiday of the
Labor Zionist movement for that reason.In Israel, and especially in Jerusalem, some modify the final pledge to say "Next year in rebuilt Jerusalem."
Synonyms and alternate spellings: Pessah, Pesah, Pesach, Pessach.
Further Information:See Passover
Hebrew/Arabic pronunciation and transliteration conventions:
'H - ('het) a guttural sound made deep in the throat. To Western ears it may sound like the "ch" in loch. In Arabic there are several letters that have similar sounds. Examples: 'hanukah, 'hamas, 'haredi. Formerly, this sound was often represented by ch, especially in German transliterations of Hebrew. Thus, 'hanukah is often rendered as Chanuka for example.
ch - (chaf) a sound like "ch" in loch or the Russian Kh as in Khruschev or German Ach, made by putting the tongue against the roof of the mouth. In Hebrew, a chaf can never occur at the beginning of a word. At the beginning of a word, it has a dot in it and is pronounced "Kaf."
u - usually between oo as in spoon and u as in put.
a- sounded like a in arm
ah- used to represent an a sound made by the letter hey at the end of a word. It is the same sound as a. Haganah and Hagana are alternative acceptable transliterations.
'a-notation used for Hebrew and Arabic ayin, a guttural ah sound.
o - close to the French o as in homme.
th - (taf without a dot) - Th was formerly used to transliterate the Hebrew taf sound for taf without a dot. However in modern Hebrew there is no detectable difference in standard pronunciation of taf with or without a dot, and therefore Histadruth and Histadrut, Rehovoth and Rehovot are all acceptable.
q- (quf) - In transliteration of Hebrew and Arabic, it is best to consistently use the letter q for the quf, to avoid confusion with similar sounding words that might be spelled with a kaf, which should be transliterated as K. Thus, Hatiqva is preferable to Hatikva for example.
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This work and individual entries are copyright © 2005 by Ami Isseroff and Zionism and Israel Information Center and may not reproduced in any form without permission unless explicitly noted otherwise. Individual entries may be cited with credit to The Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Zionism and Israel
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