Passover 2025

In 2025, the first seder will be held on the evening of Saturday, April 12.

By My Jewish Learning

In 2025, Passover begins on the evening of Saturday, April 12 and concludes at nightfall on Sunday, April 20. The first Passover seder is on the evening of April 12, and the second Passover seder takes place on the evening of April 13.

What is Passover?

Passover is a festival of freedom.

When is Passover 2025? Learn all about the holiday here.

It commemorates the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt, and their transition from slavery to freedom. The main ritual of Passover is the seder, which occurs on the first two nights (in Israel just the first night) of the holiday — a festive meal that involves the re-telling of the Exodus through stories and song and the consumption of ritual foods, including matzah and maror (bitter herbs). The seder’s rituals and other readings are outlined in the Haggadah — today, many different versions of this Passover guide are available in print and online, and you can also create your own.

Passover is one of the most important Jewish festivals of the year, and its high point is the seder. Experiencing this wonderful Jewish meal and interactive “happening” is to live through all the varied themes of the Passover festival.

The most obvious theme of the festival is redemption. In the Exodus story, which Jews are commanded to tell their children every year on Passover, the Jews were redeemed physically from slavery. While Pesach (the Hebrew word for Passover) is “z’man heyruteinu,” the season of our freedom, it is also a festival that speaks of spiritual redemption. Jews were freed from mental as well as physical slavery. It was as a physically and spiritually free people that the Jewish nation prepared to receive the Torah on Mount Sinai.  

The notion of spiritual redemption is in part demonstrated by the fundamental Jewish idea that in every generation every individual is obliged to view him or herself as though he or she had actually gone forth from Egypt. Egypt is “Mitzraim” in Hebrew. It stems from the root “tzar,” which means narrow or constrained. In order to leave Egypt, each individual must break out of personal narrowness, becoming free to achieve his full spiritual potential. Another explanation of the root “tzar” is calamity. In this view, “Mitzraim” represents the country of calamities that befall the Jews.

The seder includes many allusions to a future messianic redemption. One of the clearest symbols of the presence and hope of future redemption is the Cup of Elijah that is placed on every seder table. Contained within the salvation from Egypt are the seeds of future redemption, as the Torah states, “This same night is a night of watching unto the Lord for all the children of Israel throughout their generations” (Exodus 12:42). 

Another notable theme of the Pesach seder is the repetition of patterns of four. This is based on the verse in Exodus that states, “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments, and I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to you a God…” (Exodus 6:6-7). Among many other patterns of four at the seder, we drink four cups of wine, ask four questions, and speak about four types of children.

In telling the story of the escape from Egypt and the plagues that preceded it, Jews also highlight God’s role in the redemption. Moses is not mentioned in the traditional Haggadah lest too much focus center on him and his role rather than on God, the Sovereign of the Universe. The Haggadah emphasizes that it was not a messenger or angel, but the almighty God who redeemed the Jews. The events and circumstances of the Exodus, from the calling of Moses at the burning bush to the plagues brought against the Egyptians, proved beyond any doubt to Pharaoh and all humankind that the one God is Sovereign over all the earth. Beyond that, the Exodus is a formative experience for the Jewish people. What was once a group of slaves gains an identity as a nation. This event laying the foundation for a covenantal relationship with God.

What are some Passover practices?

The central Passover practice is a set of intense dietary changes, mainly the absence of hametz, or foods with leaven. (Ashkenazi Jews also avoid kitniyot, a category of food that includes legumes.) In recent years, many Jews have compensated for the lack of grain by cooking with quinoa, although not all recognize it as kosher for Passover. The ecstatic cycle of psalms called Hallel is recited both at night and day (during the seder and morning prayers). Additionally, Passover commences a 49-day period called the Omer, which recalls the count between offerings brought to the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. This count culminates in the holiday of Shavuot, the anniversary of the receiving of the Torah at Sinai.

What foods do we eat on Passover?

Matzah, or unleavened bread, is the main food of Passover. You can purchase it in numerous stores, or you can make your own. But the holiday has many traditional, popular foods, from haroset (a mixture of fruit, nuts, wine, and cinnamon) to matzah ball soup — and the absence of leavening calls upon a cook to employ all of his/her culinary creativity. 
 

**Excerpted from My Jewish Learning