- Passover is a major, ma-ajor Jewish holiday
that happens every spring
and we keep this Passover party going for eight whole days,
kind of like Hanukkah, but not.
Just because it's a major holiday that most Jews
and even a lot of non-Jews know about
doesn't mean you don't have questions.
I mean, heck, I still have questions.
And this is really exciting.
The company that makes the matzah
and the matzah ball mix and the Tam Tams
and even the Passover cereal
that I have eaten my entire life
is sponsoring this video.
So, Manischewitz is not only
the official sponsor of Passover,
they are the official sponsors of this video.
Yay Manischewitz!
So, let's get started.
Question one, what is Passover?
Great question.
Passover celebrates the Jews' redemption
from slavery in Egypt and their Exodus
out of that narrow place of oppression.
You can read all about it in the Book of,
you guessed it, Exodus.
Question two, how do Jews prepare for Passover?
You didn't think we just, like, celebrate
and enjoy the holiday, did you?
I mean, that would be crazy.
We have to prepare and we have to prepare really hard.
The preparation for Passover is basically
a month-long holiday in and of itself.
It involves the religious equivalent of spring cleaning
whereby we remove all hametz
which is leaven wheat, oats, rye, barley, and spelt,
from our houses.
Hametz, hametz.
It takes some serious effort
to get a Jewish house ready for Passover
all to prevent any grains from touching the surface
of our lives and our souls for eight days.
So this means for eight days, no bread, no pasta,
no pizza, no cake, no cookies.
We throw it out.
Just get it out of our lives.
Get out!
Oh, and also just to really kick things up a notch,
any leftover hametz that we find
hiding in the nooks and crannies of our lives,
the morning that Passover starts, we burn it.
We kill it with fire.
Just torch it.
(bomb exploding)
Serious business.
Very serious.
Burn it.
So, what do we eat if not those crazy grains?
Well, we eat lots of matzah.
That's right, matzah is a fairly pathetic,
crisp, crackery sort of bread product
that we eat for eight days.
It bakes flat because it doesn't have any yeast.
Poor matzah.
There are two main reasons why we eat matzah for Passover.
Tradition holds that matzah is very similar
to the kind of bread that our ancestors ate
when they were slaves in Egypt.
It is thus called the Bread of Affliction.
What it really afflicts these days
is your intestinal tract.
(laughs)
And also, when the Jews left Egypt for freedom,
they left in haste and they didn't have time
for their bread to rise so it kind of looked
like matzah we think.
We assume.
Side note, for tips on how to make things for Passover
that won't afflict your tummy
and don't involve lots of matzah,
go to groknation.com where I'm publishing
some of my favorite vegan Passover recipes.
Question three, so what do we actually do on Passover?
I'm glad you asked.
We really cut loose on Passover.
We drink lots of wine, then we sing crazy drinking songs,
we stay up late, and it's a gigantic party.
You think I'm kidding, but I'm not.
Woot, woot, Passover, Passover.
The way the Jews celebrate Passover,
even the least religious among us if modified a bit,
is with a formal meal called a Seder.
Seder means order because we're Jews
and we love order and lots of rules.
The Seder has 15 different steps.
And while many Jews cut out after the meal,
which in case you're wondering is item number 11,
traditional Jews do them all
and it can and does take many hours.
At the Seder, we read from this special book
called a Haggadah and we retell the story
of our journey from slavery to freedom.
We recall the 10 epic plagues
that God brought down to set us free.
We drink four cups of wine or grape juice,
and we sing drinking songs you can't help
but sing along with.
(singing in foreign language)
And even though Seders are long,
they are great for kids who stay up late enough
to experience them.
My children like to tell the Exodus story
using Playmobil figures.
Oh ,we didn't do Pharaoh.
It's very powerful to see them make
this ancient story their own.
We also always welcome non-Jews to our Seders
so that they can experience our cultural tradition
and our knack for storytelling.
We also like to show people how impossible it is
to pronounce certain ancient rabbis' names.
They're very long and very impossible.
Eliaz, Ella, Eliz, Azurier,
Azaria, as are ya, Azuriah.
Rabbi Tarfon. - Rabbi car phone?
(laughing)
- Passover makes me very nostalgic.
You know, we all have traditions.
We all have Passover memories.
Mine involve all of us sitting around a table
laughing and singing and eating traditional Passover foods,
a lot of Manischewitz products.
Those are the memories that my family has of Passover.
I want to hear your family's Passover
or Manischewitz memories.
They can be funny.
They can be poignant.
So, go to the link below.
Tell us your memories.
Manischewitz will pick their favorites
to share on social media.
And you will have the opportunity to win
a T-shirt just like mine.
From Manischewitz and my family to yours,
Happy Passover.
Don't forget to like, share and subscribe
and go to my website groknation.com
for Passover recipes and a lot more.