What is Passover?

Are you Jewish and you have friends who have no idea what Passover is about? Are you gentile and you have always been curious about exactly what Passover is and wanted to learn more about the holiday? Well, you’re in luck! We at Doozy Cards, want you to be able to impress your friends and family with all of your amazing Passover knowledge. Read on:

What is Passover?

What is Passover?

When and Why

Passover, also known commonly known as Pesach in Hebrew, is one of the most-celebrated Jewish holidays – even by non-observant Jews – and can mean different things to different people. It can represent a celebration of springtime, a chance to gather and eat with family and loved ones, an acknowledgment of birth and rebirth, and, most significantly, can commemorate a journey out of slavery to freedom for the Jewish people.

Passover takes place on the 15th day of the month of Nissan in the Jewish calendar, usually around April, and lasts for seven days. This year it starts on Friday, April 3rd. The holiday commemorates the liberation of the Jewish people from 210 years of slavery in Egypt 3,300 years ago. This is also known as The Exodus and is described in the Torah, the most sacred Hebrew religious text. The English name for the holiday, “Passover”, comes from the final of 10 plagues told of in the story of Passover, in which the homes of the Jews in Egypt were “passed over” by God’s avenging angel and their first born sons were spared.

Food at the Passover Seder and Other Customs

One part of Passover that with which most people are familiar is on the first two nights of the holiday, when a special meal, called a Seder, is prepared and various customs and ceremonies are performed.  Many people look forward to eating the food that is prepared for the Seder, as well as the story that is told and songs that are sung. During the meal, a Seder plate is placed at the center of the table with different foods on it to represent the story of Passover, including bitter herbs for the bitterness of slavery, salt water for tears shed during slavery and a lamb shank bone to symbolize the sacrificial lamb offered to God.

You’ve also probably heard of matzoh, the unleavened bread eaten during Passover, which represents the unleavened bread the Jewish people ate in the desert after fleeing Egypt because they did not have time to let their bread rise as they left in a great hurry. A favorite food eaten in the Seder is Matzoh ball soup. Maybe you’ve even heard some hilarious matzoh ball jokes or even seen some singing matzoh balls! Another favorite is gefilte fish. During the course of the meal four small glasses of wine (grape juice for the little ones!) are drunk to represent the four expressions of freedom in the Torah.

Fun for the Kids

Passover is, importantly, for children in the family, to educate them about Judaism, the meaning of its history and customs. A favorite Passover tradition, especially for kids, is the hiding of the afikomen, a small piece of matzoh that is broken off and hidden somewhere around the house. Children are then asked to search for the afikomen and whoever finds it receives candy or a prize!

Just as part of the Passover tradition involves opening a door to the house to welcome the prophet Elijah, it is also traditional to invite guests to a Seder, Jewish and gentile. Are you planning to celebrate Passover this year or attend a Passover Seder with a friend? Tell us about some of your favorite Passover traditions in the comments section, and remember to send a hilarious Passover eCard.

Disco Gefilte Fish – Now You’ve Seen it All

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You’ve seen ecards. You’ve probably seen many ecards in your virtual lifetime. But how many Passover ecards have you seen that star disco-dancing Gefilte fish? Not many, not many at all, we’re guessing.

But we think outside of the Passover box here at Doozy. We like your holidays to be distinctive and creative (as well and reverent and spiritually fulfilling, of course).

If you don’t like gefilte fish (it can be an acquired taste, to say the least), disco-dancing gefilte fish may be as close as you get to the dish this year.

Pass this ecard along to your loved ones this Passover. Or peruse our collection of funny Passover ecards for one that suits your tastes.

Maybe it will make up for the gefilte fish?

Simplifying Passover

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The problem with most holidays? We create more work than is needed and often feel stressed out by it, instead of feeling connected to our family or spiritually rewarded. Passover can easily fall into that category with an extensive menu and many layers of ritual.

Here are some tips to keep it simple this year:

Prepare dishes in advance. Spread out the labor by making dishes like the matzoh-ball soup, brisket and cakes in advance. Set the table in advance as well.

Save the work. Keep grocery lists and recipes from the previous years stored in one spot so you don’t have to re-invent the wheel each year.

Keep the focus where it needs to be. When it’s all said and done, Passover is a deeply religious holiday where families and friends connect and reflect. Don’t make it a cooking contest. Consider the mood and main point of the holiday. And relax!

Another way to simplify Passover? Send your loved ones a free Passover e-card. Does it get much simpler than that?

Truly Unique Passover Traditions

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With Passover right around the corner, we wanted to remind you to send your Jewish loved one a Passover ecard. It’s an easy way to share love and humor this holiday.

Now for some interesting Passover traditions that you may not have heard of, thanks to Beliefnet.com:

Every Passover, Jews prepare charoset, a sweet fruit paste. The result is meant to remind seder-goers of the mortar in the bricks that Jewish slaves in Egypt used in their labor. In the British territory of Gibraltar, a tiny peninsula off of Spain, where Jews have lived for about 650 years, there’s a special recipe for charoset: the dust of real bricks, ground up and mixed in.

Hasidic Jews from the Polish town of Góra Kalwaria, known as Gerer Hasids, re-enact the crossing of the Red Sea on the seventh day of Passover by pouring water on the floor, lifting up their coats, and naming the towns that they would cross in their region of Poland. They raise a glass at each “town” and then thank God for helping them reach their destination.

In a custom that began in Spain in the fourteenth century, the seder leader walks around the table three times with the seder plate in hand, tapping it on the head of each guest. Many Moroccan, Turkish, and Tunisian Jews adopted this tradition, which is said to bless those whose heads are tapped.

Perhaps you can connect with your worldwide family by integrating a new Passover custom (though you may want to pass on the brick dust).

Or how about a virtual tradition? Send your loved ones a Passover ecard to mark the holiday.

Hamantaschen to Make your Grandmother Proud

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Hamantaschen is a popular dessert served on the Jewish holiday Purim. The name of the dessert has several possible meanings and origins. Certainly part of the name comes from Haman, who is the bad guy in the Purim story, which appears in the Book of Esther. As it is a circle whose sides are folded in to make a fruit-filling filled pocket, it may mean “Haman’s pockets.” It may also mock Haman as “Haman’s ears” or even “Haman’s hat.” Hamantaschen fillings include poppy seed, the oldest and most traditional, prune, various fruit marmalade, chocolate, caramel or even cheese..

But there’s a common problem with hamantaschen; it’s often very dry and crumbly. After tirelessly looking for the best recipe for these challenging cookies, the online consensus lean toward none other than Betty Crocker, who created one of the most popular recipes back in the 50’s! In true American fashion, many people apply Betty’s delicious recipe for sugar cookies to making hamantaschen! No wonder we made to the moon first! (you can find the URL for a charming story about applying Betty’s recipe to hamantaschen and Betty’s original recipe at the end of this blog)

May your hamantaschen be moist and delicious this Purim! And remember to send a loved one a fun Purim e-card from our selection!

Here’s the Betty Crocker hamantaschen recipe: http://pizzabagelschmaltz.tumblr.com/post/3638673195/rachels-hamantaschen