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EmailWhen is the start of Passover 2014? See the Passover dates as well as history about this important Jewish day.
Passover History
Pesach (Passover) is an annual weeklong festival commemorating the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt and slavery. The holiday, which begins on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, derives its name from the passing over of the homes of the Israelite slaves during the tenth plague.
First Full Day of Passover 2014
(Passover begins at sundown the day before.)
| Year | First Full Day of Passover |
| 2013 | Tuesday, March 26 |
| 2014 | Tuesday, April 15 |
| 2015 | Saturday April 4 |
Celebrating
In many Reform Jewish communities, Passover is celebrated for seven days, not eight. In more traditional Jewish communities—including both Orthodox and Conservative communities—Passover is celebrated for eight days.
Family and friends gather together on the first and second nights of the holiday for the high point of the festival observance, the Seder. During the Seder, which means "order" in Hebrew, the experience of the Exodus is told in story, song, prayer, and the tasting of symbolic foods. Perhaps the most well-known of these foods is the matzoh (flat, crackerlike unleavened bread), which is a reminder of the haste with which the slaves left Egypt because they did not even have time for the bread to rise.
Do you or your friends observe Passover? Send this free Passover e-card to family and friends.
If you do celebrate Passover, please share your traditions below!
Comments
Thanks be to Elohim for the
Thanks be to Elohim for the Exodus from Egypt.
Praise and Glory to The Lord
Praise and Glory to The Lord God Almighty..!! Thank you for my life, family and continued blessings from You my Lord, my King, my God..!!! :)
Hi, My family and I observe
Hi, My family and I observe Passover. I don't really come from a religious background, but my family would always have the traditional Passover Seders growing up, and now we continue the tradition. It's been harder these days to prepare the Seder ourselves so we usually try to find a kosher restaurant in New York that hosts Seders. We uses to go to Darna, but that is now closed, so we now go to Talia's Steakhouse in Manhattan on the Upper West Side and they've been nothing but great so far. We are looking forward to joining them again this year.
Here is a DVD for children on
Here is a DVD for children on the Exodus: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BR3TWSU/
We have become Jewish by
We have become Jewish by choice and are celebrating Passover this year! I love the wonderful Feasts Of G-d and enjoy preparing Passover Meals. We celebrate the 8 days of Passover & are celebrating with joy at being connected with the G-d of Israel & His Messiah, Y'Shua.
So glad you have made the
So glad you have made the choice. My husband and I are of Jewish decent, but have been believers in Messiah, Y'Shua for many years and attend a wonderful messianic congregation. Have a blessed Passover.
I have noticed there is a
I have noticed there is a little division as to when the passover is. An example is this article. It states that Passover begins with the new moon, which is said to be on the 27th, yet it shows that Passover began the evening before the 26th this year. Does anyone have any clarification on this?
The chronological reckoning
The chronological reckoning between John’s gospel and the synoptics presents a challenge, especially in relation to the time of the Last Supper (13:2). While the synoptics portray the disciples and the Lord at the Last Supper as eating the Passover meal on Thursday evening (Nisan 14) and Jesus being crucified on Friday, John’s gospel states that the Jews did not enter into the Praetorium “lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover” (18:28). So, the disciples had eaten the Passover on Thursday evening, but the Jews had not. In fact, John (19:14) states that Jesus’ trial and crucifixion were on the day of Preparation for the Passover and not after the eating of the Passover, so that with the trial and crucifixion on Friday Christ was actually sacrificed at the same time the Passover lambs were being slain (19:14). The question is, “Why did the disciples eat the Passover meal on Thursday?”
The answer lies in a difference among the Jews in the way they reckoned the beginning and ending of days. From Josephus, the Mishna, and other ancient Jewish sources we learn that the Jews in northern Palestine calculated days from sunrise to sunrise. That area included the region of Galilee, where Jesus and all the disciples, except Judas, had grown up. Apparently most, if not all, of the Pharisees used that system of reckoning. But Jews in the southern part, which centered in Jerusalem, calculated days from sunset to sunset. Because all the priests necessarily lived in or near Jerusalem, as did most of the Sadducees, those groups followed the southern scheme.
That variation doubtlessly caused confusion at times, but it also had some practical benefits. During Passover time, for instance, it allowed for the feast to be celebrated legitimately on two adjoining days, thereby permitting the temple sacrifices to be made over a total period of four hours rather than two. That separation of days may also have had the effect of reducing both regional and religious clashes between the two groups.
On that basis the seeming contradictions in the gospel accounts are easily explained. Being Galileans, Jesus and the disciples considered Passover day to have started at sunrise on Thursday and to end at sunrise on Friday. The Jewish leaders who arrested and tried Jesus, being mostly priests and Sadducees, considered Passover day to begin at sunset on Thursday and end at sunset on Friday. By that variation, predetermined by God’s sovereign provision, Jesus could thereby legitimately celebrate the last Passover meal with His disciples and yet still be sacrificed on Passover day.
The MacArthur Study Bible. 1997 (J. MacArthur, Jr., Ed.) (electronic ed.). Nashville, TN: Word Pub.
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