Local synagogue prepares for Passover

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The Jewish holiday of Passover begins Saturday evening and lasts for eight days.

“Passover is the holiday of our freedom. It commemorates when Jews were slaves in Egypt thousands of years ago…” said Rabbi Chaya Bender of B’nai Israel Congregation in Wilmington.

One of the main ways families observe Passover is with a special meal called the Seder.

“Seder means order — a highly ritualized and ordered meal — and we start off by embodying the feelings of slavery and eat our way through, or pray our way through, read our way through to liberation…”

The meal includes matzah, or unleavened bread.

“In Hebrew, it is referred to as lecheone, which means either bread of affliction or bread of our humility, and those are the different symbols we try to think about as we eat this bread.”

Another tradition is called The Four Questions.

“We ask the youngest child who is able to to sing this ritualized song asking, ‘Why is this night different from all other nights? Why are we doing all of these strange rituals?’ And that is to inspire anyone — from the very young to the very old — to ask questions. Even if they’ve been to the Seder 80, 90 times, they may have not thought of something before or made a new connection. So it inspires curiosity and playfulness within the tradition.”

B’nai Israel Synagogue will hold its second-night Passover Seder on Sunday at 5:30 p.m.