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Passover

Solly’s family, from Manchester, celebrate the Jewish Passover with a meal that includes lots of symbolic foods to remind them of their story of freedom.

Solly, 10, from Manchester uses his diarycam to share his family life at the time of Passover, which is also called ‘Pesach’ in Hebrew. God sent Moses to the Pharoah to demand freedom for his people, but the hard hearted Pharoah would not relent until ten terrible plagues devastated his people. Then he told Moses ‘get out this very night.’ The escape happened so quickly in the end that there was no time for the bread to rise. To remember this, at Passover, only unleavened bread is eaten. There are 6 symbolic foods of the table for the Seder meal on Passover night. Each piece of food on the Seder plate is a symbol, a reminder of part of the story of Exodus and of what it was like for the Jewish slaves in Egypt. For example, charoset is a paste made from sugar, cinnamon, apple, wine and ground almonds. Charoset represents the mortar, or cement, used by the slaves to stick the pyramids together. Bitter herbs like horseradish are for the bitter suffering of the slaves in Egypt. Karpas is a vegetable we dip in salt water, to represent the tears of the slaves. During the Seder, everyone drinks wine or grape juice to symbolise the joy of the Almighty rescuing our people from slavery.
Solly’s family recreate Seder night. Cameras can’t film the real Passover Seder because Solly’s family observe rules which say you can’t switch on electrical things.

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