PASSOVER

Begin the Ceremony before dark by blowing the shofar and lighting the lamps. According to the biblical calendar, the Meal is eaten in the evening of the 15th of Aviv, the first biblical month.⁽¹⁾ This is the First day of Unleavened Bread, a holy Sabbath (Lev. 23:5-7). Here’s my Passover Ceremony outline (with some of Ruti’s recipes at the end). If you want to know more about the Passover Ceremony, see the article, Passover.

The blowing of the shofar, announces of the beginning of the Feast (Num. 10:10).⁽²⁾

Light the oil lamps⁽³⁾ and bless Papa God for Yeshua, the Light of the World (John 8:12).

The First Cup is called the Cup of Sanctification. It ceremonially sanctifies or ‘sets apart’ the Passover Ceremony at the express command of Yahveh (Ex. 12:14).

‘Blessed are You, Yahveh our God, for creating the Fruit of the Vine. Blessed are You, Yahveh our God, Eternal King, for You have chosen us from among all the peoples of the Earth and have sanctified us by Your Living Word. You have given us the Holy Feasts and appointed seasons of gladness.

Thank you for this first day of Unleavened Bread, a holy Sabbath, which pictures the season of our freedom. It remembers both our departure from slavery to Pharaoh into the Promised Land, and from slavery to Satan into the promised Kingdom of Your Son.

We ask You, Yeshua, our Passover Lamb, that Your Presence, by Your Spirit, would be at this Table with us. Ah-main.’

Foot washing: Yeshua spring boards off the traditional hand washing ceremony (which we don’t do; Mt. 15:1-20), to start His own tradition: read John 13:1-17. Then become a servant like Him and wash the feet of your spouse or someone else. (Generally, males with males, and females with females if there’s a large assembly.) This sets the tone or attitude for the Passover.

If the group consists of more than two or three people, ‘background’ singing, praising Yeshua, can go on while people take their turns to wash feet. After everyone is done, continue with the Four Questions.

The Four Questions: These questions are usually asked by the youngest child, old enough to read. Over the years, it allows for each child to be a significant part of the Passover.

We (Ex. 13:8) left Egypt in haste (Ex. 12:39). There was no time to wait around for the dough to rise. This Bread is called the Bread of Affliction. We see that both Israel and Yeshua were afflicted or humbled (Deut 16:3). We too must be humbled if we want to be like Yeshua.

It’s also called the Bread of Freedom as we eat it in remembrance of our Freedom from Egypt. As such, it aligns itself with the Bread that Yeshua referred to in John 6, when He spoke of Himself as being the True Bread or Manna from Heaven. This Bread would not be leavened, as leaven can be symbolic of sin (1st Cor. 5:6-8), and there was no sin in Yeshua. That’s why God originally commanded that no leavened bread be eaten at Passover. It reflects Yeshua, the sinless Bread from Heaven. When we eat Yeshua, we are truly free, the essence of Passover.

Three times in Scripture (Dt. 4:20; 1st Kgs. 8:51; Jer. 11:4), Egypt is called an ‘iron furnace’ which Yahveh delivered us from. An iron furnace was a furnace that was so hot, it melted iron. It symbolized the intense suffering and bitterness we felt as slaves of Pharaoh.

In this life, before we gave ourselves fully to Messiah Yeshua, we walked in deception, confusion and the bitterness of this world. We trusted in ourselves which is a very bitter slavery to Satan.

Now we bless Yahveh for taking us out of a life of anger and bitterness. We take and eat some bitter herbs tonight with a piece of matza to remember the life of grief, hostility and heartbreak we led before coming to Messiah Yeshua. Tears should come to the eyes, to remember the slavery and affliction of Egypt and Satan.⁽⁴⁾ We eat it with the matza to show us that even if there is suffering in Messiah, He is always with us to temper it and us.

Read Ex. 12:1-28. God commanded Israel to sacrifice a lamb for Passover. When God saw the blood of the lamb over our doorposts, He spared our first born sons, but He killed all the first born sons of Egypt because Pharaoh wouldn’t let us go. God had warned him many times but Pharaoh, a type of Satan, was stubborn and resistant and it cost him his first born son. The only difference between the first born of Egypt and the first born of the Sons of Israel was the blood of the lamb.

The first Passover lamb in Egypt was a picture of the Second Passover Lamb in Jerusalem who would take our sins upon Himself (Is. 53:3-7; John 1:29). God took His own Lamb, His own Son, Yeshua, and sacrificed Him for both Jew and Gentile, that we might not be condemned to Hell on Judgment Day. The only difference between those sent to Hell, and those brought into the New Jerusalem, will be those who eat of the Lamb of God. And that’s why we eat lamb on Passover.

Haroset is a traditional (not biblical) dish of the European Rabbis. It’s a mixture of sweet things such as apples, honey and raisins. But its appearance reminds us of the mortar we used, to make Pharaoh’s building projects.

Why would anything that would remind us of the mortar, taste good? The Rabbis say that even in the slavery of Egypt we had sins of pleasure. There are many pleasures in Satan’s Kingdom, mixed with slavery. That’s what traps most people. The Journey through the Wilderness was designed to remove that desire from us. Our Journey may not be in a literal wilderness, but life in this world is likened unto a wilderness with it’s temptations to various sins of pleasure. We must put an end to them, in Yeshua’s Name (Rom. 6; 8:1-2).

Place some haroset on matza and thank Yeshua for giving us a heart like His, that will not succumb to the sins of pleasure. In Yeshua, our sorrows and mourning are turned into Joy and sweetness.

Hagada means ‘story.’ It’s the telling of the Passover story. Usually I begin with Creation, Adam, Eve and Satan. Then I go to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and his 12 sons who went down into Egypt and became slaves of Pharaoh. Then to Moses and the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, the Red Sea split open, and their Wilderness wandering because of unbelief. Under Joshua, they enter the Land and conquer the giants. Then on to King David whose Son would sit on the Throne forever. And then to Messiah Yeshua, Son of David the King, who came as the Lamb of God, an Eternal Sacrifice, that we might live with Him in Glory in the New Jerusalem.

The Three Pieces of Matza. They represent the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The middle one is broken to picture the breaking (death) of Yeshua, the Second Person of the Deity.

Break the middle matza in half; wrap it in a linen napkin (Mt. 27:59) and hide it during the meal. This pictures the burial of Yeshua.

(We don’t need to dip our finger in the wine or grape juice, as that is a rabbinic tradition that our Joy at being freed by Yahveh, is ‘diminished ever so slightly because the Egyptians suffered.’ Taking this concept and paralleling it with Yeshua, we can see that the Rabbis would have us to acknowledge the Satan has suffered at the Hand of Yahveh and grieve for Satan. I don’t see Israel holding back on their Joy at the Red Sea upon witnessing the death of Pharaoh’s Army that was coming to murder them (Ex. 14:1-15:21). Do you?

The Egyptians drank deeply of the wrath of Yahveh and so will Satan and all that follow him. We recount with joy, the plagues that Yahveh performed against Egypt on our behalf, culminating in the Red Sea crossing. Yahveh made a way for us to go, where there was no way. This parallels the Way He made for us to dwell with Him forever, by the sacrifice and resurrection of His Son:

In the book of Revelation we see similar plagues upon the whole Earth. And as for Satan’s end:

‘And the Devil who deceived them was thrown into the Lake of Fire and brimstone, where the Beast and the False Prophet are also. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever’ (Rev. 20:10).

Look what God has done for us! He has sent Yeshua to die for us that we might have forgiveness of sin and Life forevermore. Yeshua has destroyed death for us! Let us Rejoice! Sing (or read) the first two Psalms of the Hallel⁽⁶⁾ (Psalms 113 and 114).

The Passover Meal: Bless Yahveh for the lamb and eat the meal. (Hide the matza during the meal.)

Toward the end of the Meal, redeem the buried (hidden) matza. Let the children go to search for the hidden matza. Give the child who finds the hidden matza a silver coin. Silver pictures redemption (Ex. 30:11-16; 38:25-28), which speaks of us being redeemed by the Death and the Resurrection of the Lamb of God. This piece of matzah now becomes half of the next ceremony; the Body of Yeshua.

The Third Cup: The Cup of Redemption. (Fill it but don’t drink from it yet).

The blood of the lamb is pictured in the wine. That’s why it should be red. And just as the grapes were crushed in order to make the wine, so too, Yeshua was crushed (by His Death), that we might drink of His Blood. In Ex. 12:14, Yahveh calls us ‘to remember’ the Passover:

REMEMBER: The word ‘remember’ (or memorial) in Hebrew means ‘to re-experience’ and at Passover it means to enter into the First and the Second Passover (by the reality of the Holy Spirit). Consider yourself as coming out of Egypt with Moses, and at the Red Sea (Ex. 12:21-27; 13:8; Heb. 7:9-10); and also being at the Table with Yeshua and the Apostles, at the Tree, and at the Resurrection. This is what it means ‘to remember.’ Realize that we have come out of the Kingdom of Satan and into Messiah Yeshua’s Kingdom because of His love for us.

FRIEND: Because we are eating with Yeshua, (at the Passover Table), He calls us His friends. This is an ancient Middle Eastern concept. Anyone who breaks bread with another is considered their closest friend. And now we, like Father Abraham (Is. 41:8), are God’s friends.

HEALING: Another Work of the Holy Spirit. The matza pictures Yeshua being pierced through and crushed for you:

Read Isaiah 53:5: Matza is a perfect picture of Yeshua crucified, the True Bread from Heaven or the Matza of Heaven. Matza is always pierced through in the baking process. Yeshua was pierced through for our transgressions, our open rebellion to God. He took our punishment.

As grain is crushed into flour, so Yeshua was crushed by His Death that we might eat of Him. He was crushed for our iniquities, our perversions and crookedness. Notice the burn marks on the matza. These are called bruises or stripes. Isaiah says that by His stripes, we are healed! Oh, what a mighty Messiah we serve!

At the Table, Yeshua has washed our feet Jn. 13:3-17). If we have any bitterness or resentment or unforgiveness, whether toward another or ourself, Yeshua asks us to give it to Him. This is what Paul means when he says we must discern Messiah’s Body (1st Cor. 11:29). Unforgiveness is poison. Let us put away from us all the poison of Satan, all the leaven of sin (1st Cor. 5:6-8), by the Blood and Spirit of Yeshua our Messiah. Ask Him to take it from you. This is why He died. And we must believe that He has heard us and that He will do it. Now we are ready to eat of His Body and to drink of His Blood. Now we are properly discerning His Body; Who He is and who we are, in Him.

REJOICE! Bless our Father for His Son who sets us free and gives us Life! In Ex. 12:14 God commands us to rejoice! He has destroyed our greatest enemies; our carnality, Satan and Death, by the death of His Son. This is the Great and Mighty Deed of our God! Enter into what Yeshua has done for you!

Read Matt. 26:26-28: Yeshua describes Himself who is Freedom, as being pictured in the Matza and the Wine which already meant freedom from Egypt. Now we see that the matza also pictures our Messiah King. God set it all up this way so when Messiah came, He could walk into, and expand, the symbolism of the First Passover.

Yeshua gives us to eat of His Body and His Blood that we might be free and delivered from sin, sickness, Satan and death.

Bless our Father for the Bread and the Wine, The Body and Blood of His Son, the New Covenant that God promised Israel (Yeshua IS the New Covenant; Is. 42:6; Jer. 31:31-34).

Eat the Matza and drink the Wine. Receive the New Life that is Yeshua. Let us experience Abba El’s (Papa God’s) great Redemption now, today, this moment!

Let any that need healing come forth for prayer. Let any that desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit ask for prayer. Let any that need forgiveness of sin, come for prayer.

We symbolically remove sin from us by removing all the yeast or leaven from our homes. This is what Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures: God removing sin from us so we can be holy, pure and modest (which is a facet of purity and holiness). Leaven is a picture of sin in our life. Passover is a living reminder that God delivered us from Egyptian slavery and the Kingdom of Satan, not to do his own thing, but to be holy unto Him, like His Son.

Now it’s time for our remaining sin to be consumed by the fire. After having taken of His Flesh and His Blood, it’s time to symbolically remove the last remnant of sin (pictured in a slice, half-slice or smaller piece of regular leavened bread, or anything with leaven in it). Place it in the fire of either a fireplace or a barbecue grill so that it totally goes up in flames (or flush it down the toilet if you can’t burn it). (Don’t put it in the garbage as leaven is not to be found in your home.)⁽⁷⁾

In recognition of what He has done for us, and His Presence with us, we have a place setting for Yeshua. Traditional Jews have a place setting for Elijah because they believe that Elijah will come before the Messiah (Malachi 4:5), to announce the Messiah’s coming. But we know that Messiah has already come.

What better time for Elijah to have come, announcing Messiah who is freedom, than at the Feast of Freedom; Passover? And it seems from Scripture, that John came six months before Yeshua appeared, as John was six months older than Yeshua (Luke 1). With Yeshua coming at the Feast of Trumpets, it seems that John came six months earlier, at Passover, proclaiming to all Israel, ‘Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’ (Mt. 3:1-13; 11:14; Lk. 1:17) And all saw this as the proclamation for Messiah. Therefore, we honor Yeshua our Messiah by having a place setting for Him at our Passover Table.

Tell Him how much you love Him and how grateful you are for what He has done for you, as though He were sitting at the Table with you.

The Fourth Cup: The Cup of Praise. It praises God for His completed Work of Redemption; Passover and the Red Sea. But in Matt. 26:29 we realize that Yeshua doesn’t drink from this Cup. After the Third Cup, Yeshua says:

‘But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you, in My Father’s Kingdom.’

It’s as though Time itself has stood still for 2,000 years, and allowed us, who weren’t literally at that Passover Table with Yeshua, to sit and eat of the matza, and drink of the wine from that Third Cup, that He gave out that night. This is the Passover Table that we invite all to eat from. It’s a Table of Life and Freedom.

This open-ended time period will cease on the Day of Yahveh, the Day of Judgment, when all those who have really eaten of His Flesh and His Blood will be glorified, and be just like He is now. Then we will then drink of this Fourth Cup with Him, when our Redemption is complete, to the Glory of Papa-God at the Eternal Passover, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:6-9).

Hallelu-Yah! Matt. 26:30 tells us that, ‘After singing the Hallel, they went out to the Mount of Olives.’

Hallel means praise. It’s a specific reference to Psalms 113-118. These Psalms are sung at Passover because they exalt God, His Creation and His Salvation. Matthew Levi tells us that Yeshua and the Apostles sang praise to the Father after they ate the Passover.

As we’ve already sung Psalms 113-114, lets sing Psalms 115-118 now. Hallelu-Yah means ‘Praise Yahveh!’ (Let the Holy Spirit lead you in making up the tunes for the Psalms.)

The Passover Ceremony is officially over now but there is more. Till dawn we read Scripture, sing praises and pray for one another and others, and try and encourage each other to stay awake. (Praise and worship music will help us to keep awake and focused on Yeshua, when we grow tired and weary.)

Stay alert! Yeshua commands us! (Mt. 24:42; 25:13; 26:38, 40-41; Mk. 13:33-37; Lk. 12:38) And stay awake! God commands us (Ex. 12:42). Why?

On this night, the 15th of Aviv, Yahveh moved in Egypt in such a way, that He never did before, and would never do again. At the First Passover, He freed the Sons of Israel from Egyptian slavery by the blood of the lamb and the death of Egypt’s first born sons.

At the Second Passover, Yahveh sacrificed His First born Son for us, to free us from slavery to sin, sickness, Satan, death and Hell, and to give us Life Eternal with Him and Yeshua in the New Jerusalem.

Yahveh commanded that Israel remain awake all night (Ex. 12:40-42), in honor of what He did that First Passover, and in recognition that the Hebrews didn’t get any sleep either, as they began to leave before the dawn. This is a way of identifying with our Fathers in ancient Israel, and with our Messiah in His agony.

This time period, of being awake all night, figures prominently into the Second Passover with Yeshua also. He remained awake all that night. He wanted His friends to do the same and pray for Him (Matt. 26:36-46), but they were very tired, and probably had too much wine, and thought that this was just going to be ‘another Passover.’ They didn’t realize that what was about to happen was the ultimate historical event of the Universe, and would never be repeated (Rom. 6:10: Heb. 7:27; 9:12; 1st Pet. 3:18). The Creator Son was about to be sacrificed, for His Creation.

Remaining awake for us is a symbolic picture that we won’t be asleep in the darkness of this coming year, when the Lord by His Spirit would want to move upon us in a way that the Spirit never did before, and might never do again. These are the reasons we remain awake all night, singing praise, reading Scripture and praying. It’s commanded for Passover and is also symbolic of our not being ‘asleep in the dark’ when the Spirit of Messiah would want to move upon us during the coming year. One day (a unit of time), symbolizes the coming year (another unit of time). And the darkness of this night symbolizes the darkness of the world that we live in, for the coming year, even when the sun is shining brightly.

At the Passover Meal we eat the Bread of Affliction which is a perfect picture of Yeshua crucified. Isaiah 53:5 says that Messiah was pierced through (NASB). (This is the correct translation of ‘wounded’ in the KJV.) He was crushed (KJV, bruised; NASB, crushed) and bruised, and with His stripes (KJV, stripes; NASB, scourging), from the lashes of the Romans, we are healed. We are commanded to stay awake all night as Yahveh did when He brought Israel out of Egypt (Ex. 12:40-42), and as Yeshua did. This begins our ‘affliction.’ Affliction or humbling makes us like Yeshua and in the natural, as we do our part, by obeying Yahveh, He does His part, making us like Yeshua.

This is the Bread that pictures our crucified Messiah. This is what the Feast of Matza is all about: Yahveh making us holy, like Yeshua, as we humble ourselves before Him, pictured in the eating of the Bread of Affliction and the drinking of the Wine of His Sacrifice. Yeshua, always obedient to His Father, stayed up all night (Matt. 26:26-30, 36-50ff). He was very much discomfited that night, for us.

The ‘affliction’ continues for the seven day Feast of Matza or Unleavened Bread, (the Bread of Affliction), where we are commanded to eat this Bread every day (Ex. 12:15, 17, 20; 13:6-7; 23:15; Num. 28:17; Deut. 16:3). This ‘seven days’ is God’s perfect, holy number and symbolizes that He will cause us to become like His Son.⁽⁸⁾

P.S. There are a few things that we don’t do, according to the traditional Passover ceremony. Here are some of them and the reasons why:

I used to do this, and also, the traditional washing of the hands before any and every meal, but I believe the Holy Spirit showed me that it wasn’t what Yeshua or His Apostles did (Mt. 15:1-20; Mark 7:1-23), and therefore, we shouldn’t. Why not? What could be the harm in washing the hands, especially as it seems to stem from Psalm 24:

The Rabbis say that he who doesn’t wash their hands, and say their blessing, is sinning (by not ceremonially cleansing themselves their way), and therefore, their food is defiled. It doesn’t matter if the food is an apple, or a banana (which Scripturally, would always be ‘clean’ food).

The Rabbis have ADDED to God’s Word (Deut. 4:2; 12:32), by declaring something to be sin, when God has not declared it so. And this is sin for them. This is why Yeshua didn’t do it, and why we shouldn’t follow it either. If we practice what the Pharisees, and now the Orthodox Jews do, in the hand washing ceremony, we are lining up against Yeshua. For more on this please see, Law 102 at http://www.seedofabraham.net/law102.html (under the section, Jesus and the Pig).

This bothered me for many years. The Body of Yeshua? Dessert? Really? Quaint, but something just didn’t seem right about it. The Greek word Afikomen is the past tense of Epikomenos. Epikomenos means, ‘He is coming’ or ‘the one who will arrive.’ Since the prefix ‘epi’ signifies ‘fullness’ (of time), it can also read, ‘In the fullness of time, He will come.’

Afikomen, in the past tense, means, ‘He came’ or ‘it (the portion after the meal), came.’ This must have originated with the Greek speaking Jewish and Gentile believers (as the word is Greek and not Hebrew). Yeshua the Messiah, our Redeemer, has come, died, and risen from the dead, just as the Scriptures spoke of (Ps. 16:10; 22:16-31; Is. 53:10-12).

Some Rabbis relate that it’s only recently that they put ‘Afikomen’ into their Passover Seder (Ceremony). But that’s not true as it’s old enough for Jews all over the world to be doing it, so it must be older than ‘recent.’ And it’s alluded to in the Talmud, Pesachim 109a, so it’s at least 1,800 years old. Just old enough to be ‘taken’ from the believers, and used among the traditional Jewish community at their Passover.⁽⁹⁾

Why would the Rabbis insert a Greek word for dessert, signifying a most important time of the Passover Seder for them, where they also invite all to partake of the meaning of the matza (freedom). Obviously, it originally spoke of Yeshua, as the Rabbis to this day don’t have a plausible biblical explanation for the three matzahs, with the middle one being broken, hidden, found, and eaten ‘after the meal.’

Yeshua didn’t do it and neither should we (Matt. 26:29). The 4th Cup, known as the Cup of Praise, thanks and praises Yahveh for His FINISHED Work of Redemption; the Passover from Egypt and the Crossing of the Red Sea (the destruction of the enemies of Israel; Pharaoh & his army).

Yeshua declared that He wouldn’t drink from the 4th Cup. It seems that He’s awaiting the time when we, to the Glory of God the Father, are glorified and made into His Image. Till then, the THIRD CUP is still being held out by the Son, to whomever wants to drink from it.

We weren’t at His Table that night, but because He didn’t drink from the 4th Cup, the symbolism and the reality of the 3rd Cup is still available for humanity. The 3rd Cup will be overturned on Judgment Day, and then the 4th Cup will be drunk for all eternity in the New Jerusalem, to the Praise and Glory of God our Father, who has given us such a great Redemption in Yeshua, His Son.

8 small green apples
5 handfuls of finely crushed walnuts
cut-up pieces of golden raisins (to taste)
5 tablespoons of date honey (or regular honey or sorghum molasses or pure maple syrup)
sprinkle cinnamon
1 small lemon (juice)
light sprinkle of cloves
golden raisins and or a cup of dates
1/3 to 1/4 sweet red wine (optional)

Grate the apples so they look like the straw we had to find for the mortar in Egypt. Grind the walnuts relatively fine. Mix with apples and add the rest of the ingredients and mix. Place in refrigerator one day before Passover so it can meld together. Should serve about six to eight people.
Ruti’s Traditional Maror or Bitter Herbs

Horseradish is a root, kind of whitish-pale-light brown. Just call around till you find a place that has ‘horseradish root.’ You can buy it from a grocery store.

Then find a place, maybe a health food store in their Middle Eastern section, that has a jar of tehina paste (sesame paste), it’s like peanut butter but it's made from sesame seeds).

Take a quarter to a third of a cup of the tehina paste, put it in a semi deep mixing bowl, and add the juice of one lemon and stir. (If serving more than 4-6 people, use more tehina; a little goes a long way.) Mix it with a fork till it’s mixed. then start adding water to it till you get the consistency where you want it (not super thick but a medium-thick paste). (As you use it, you’ll have to add more water anyway.)

Peel the horseradish root, the ourter-light brownish part, using a paring knife, then grate the horseradish root CAREFULLY. You must be very careful with it in terms of breathing in the freshly grated stuff. It can cause choking and unconsciousness. It’s powerful.

Grate and add the horseradish; a lot of it, and mix it in and add to taste (till your eyes tear). Make it at least one day before Passover, cause it needs to meld with the tehina. It makes an excellent maror.

You can add crushed garlic and or (finely chopped) parsley (or corriander), if you like. You might want to try one plain batch first.

Ruti says you can place some in extra virgin olive oil if you can’t find tehina. The reason we place it in the tehina is because of oxidation and also, it dilutes it so one can eat it. In the tehina one can still draw tears to the eyes when placed on matza. It’s great with the lamb too.

Grind whole grain barley (not pearled barley) into fine flour. (Or buy the barley flour at a health food store.)

Place in a 21 centimeter (8 inch), heavy Teflon pan with the bottom of it about 15 centimeters (6 inch), (or place on a griddle or other pan and just spread out)

Spread it out evenly with a spoon. Sprinkle the top lightly with salt or herbal salt.

(Sesame seeds can be added but not for the Passover Meal’s matzah. The sesame seeds give it an additional taste but were most likely not used for Passover. You can use it for the other days though.)

Now this is the tricky part. Everyone has different burners, gas or electric and so on a gas stove use the smallest burner at the highest flame for five to six minutes. When the bread begins to bubble, poke some holes in the bread with a plastic utensil (like a spatula, so you don’t ruin the pan). In the ancient days, they would put holes in the matza so it wouldn’t ‘bubble up’. Also, you’ll want to cook it until it has light-brown spots; these are the bruises. Flip it and turn heat down to low for about three minutes

Place on a slatted bread board and eat when cooled off. (Without the sesame seeds, this matza is like that which Yeshua and the Apostles ate for their Passover.)

1. In ancient times, when the Temple or Tabernacle was functioning, the lamb would have been slain in the late afternoon of the 14th of Aviv. It would have been roasted in one’s home, and eaten that night, the 15th of Aviv (called Nisan by the Jewish community today).

2. In ancient times, when the Tabernacle or Temple stood, the Feasts were announced by the priests blowing of the silver trumpets. Today, with no Temple, priesthood and sacrifice in Jerusalem, we as a family or community announce the Passover, etc., with the blowing of the shofar.

3. Because it’s a Sabbath, we should light the lights before dark (Ex. 35:1-3). God allows food preparation on annual Sabbaths like this one (Ex. 12:16), and lighting a fire is certainly part of food preparation. But lighting the ceremonial lights (or any other fires), is not, and should be done before dark.

4. The bitter herbs can be parsley, coriander, baby greens, different kinds of bitter lettuce, etc. These may not bring tears to your eyes but they do have a bitter taste. What will bring tears to your eyes is grated horseradish root. Although not an herb, this substitution most likely appeared among Jews living in cold climates, such as Russia and Poland, that didn’t have access to bitter herbs at that time of year.

5. Questions three and four are not in the traditional Jewish Passover. I’ve changed three to reflect a biblical question about the lamb. And question four is a traditional Ashkenazic food with powerful symbolism for us.

7. All the leaven should have been burned or gotten rid of before the Passover ceremony but we need to save one slice of bread or so, per person, till after we eat of His Body and Blood as it’s only now, having eaten of Him, that we are set free (Ex. 12:15). Hence, the burning of the last of our sin nature in testimony to the purging Fire of the Holy Spirit within.

8. You might want to place some songs within the outline, etc. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. This outline is geared for people who already have some understanding of the Passover ceremony, hence the basic outline form. If you don’t, you can read about Passover at www.seedofabraham.net/feasts2.html

THE PASSOVER CEREMONY