Passover

Sources

• The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, Exodus 12 — https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.12 → the lamb taken on the tenth day; the blood "on the two side-posts and on the lintel"; the flesh eaten "roast with fire, and unleavened bread; with bitter herbs"; eaten in haste "with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand"; "I will pass over you, and there shall no plague be upon you"; seven days of unleavened bread and the removal of leaven; "the fourteenth day of the month at even" to "the one and twentieth day of the month at even"; the observance "throughout your generations by an ordinance for ever."
• The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, Exodus 23:14-17 — https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.23.14-17 → "Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto Me in the year"; the feast of unleavened bread kept seven days in the month Abib; "Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD."
• Mishnah Pesachim 10, Koren Noe Talmud, William Davidson Edition English — https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Pesachim.10 → charity not to give a poor person less than four cups of wine; "Even the poorest of Jews should not eat the meal on Passover night until he reclines"; "Why is this night different from all other nights?"; bitter herbs; "although eating haroset is not a mitzva but merely a custom"; "In each and every generation a person must view himself as though he personally left Egypt"; the hallel.
• Robert Harris, From Symposium to Seder, Jewish Theological Seminary, April 15, 2024 — https://www.jtsa.edu/torah/from-symposium-to-seder/ → the "seismic shift" after the Temple's destruction; the rabbis adopting the Roman symposium "in lieu of the now impossible sacrificial Temple ritual"; the questions and answers central to the symposium and core to the Haggadah; the observation that the rabbis could have directed Jews to perform the sacrifice at home and did not.
• Jewish Theological Seminary, The Laws of Passover, from Isaac Klein, A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice, with a supplement by Rabbi Joel Roth — https://www.jtsa.edu/torah/the-laws-of-passover/ → "The requirement of abstaining from leaven applies to all of Pesah"; "The eating of matsah is an obligation only at the Seder, and is optional during the rest of Pesah"; the seventh and eighth days equal to the first in sanctity, the seventh alone in Israel; the table as altar.
• Union for Reform Judaism, Passover — https://reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/passover → chametz as any food containing wheat, rye, barley, oats or spelt; "Eating matzah is obligatory only at the seder"; matzah symbolizing the hurried departure from Egypt; "In Israel and for most Reform Jews around the world, Passover is seven days."
• Union for Reform Judaism, Is Passover 7 or 8 Days? — https://reformjudaism.org/learning/answers-jewish-questions/passover-7-or-8-days → the witnesses sighting the new moon before the court in Jerusalem, the sabotaged signal fires, the switch to messengers, and distant communities keeping two days because they could not know which was correct; one-day yom tov becoming the Reform standard; the 1846 Breslau rabbinical conference judging the second days to "have no longer any significance for our time according to our religious sources."
• Union for Reform Judaism, Passover History — https://reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/passover/passover-history → "Passover" derived from the Hebrew pasach, "passed over"; the holiday as one of three festivals requiring pilgrimages to Jerusalem while the Temple existed; Passover becoming home-centered after the destruction of the Second Temple, with the Haggadah and seder mostly finalized around 500 to 600 CE.
• Hebcal, When do the holidays begin? — https://www.hebcal.com/home/47/when-do-the-holidays-begin → "In general, Jewish Holidays begin the evening before the date specified," because "the Jewish day actually begins at sundown on the previous night."
• Hebcal, Pesach — https://www.hebcal.com/holidays/pesach → "Passover begins on the 15th day of the month of Nisan in the Jewish calendar"; the Exodus retold at the seder, a ceremonial meal at which families read from the Haggadah.
• Hebcal, Pesach 2027 — https://www.hebcal.com/holidays/pesach-2027 → Pesach for Hebrew year 5787 beginning in the Diaspora at sundown on Wednesday, 21 April 2027 and ending at nightfall on Thursday, 29 April 2027; 15 to 22 Nisan; Erev Pesach on April 21 and Pesach I on Thursday, April 22.
• Hebcal, Pesach 2027 in Israel — https://www.hebcal.com/holidays/pesach-2027?i=on → the Israel schedule of seven days, 15 to 21 Nisan, ending at nightfall on Wednesday, 28 April 2027.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, The significance and history of the Jewish holiday of Passover — https://www.britannica.com/video/significance-history-Jewish-holiday-Passover/-277745 → Passover beginning on the fifteenth day of Nisan; the holiday lasting seven or eight days depending on location and tradition, seven in Israel and eight for many in the diaspora; the seder on the first and second nights; matzo specially prepared so the flour is not leavened.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, Passover — https://www.britannica.com/topic/Passover → the Hebrew Pesah or Pesach, and the alternate name Chag Ha-Aviv, Festival of Spring.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, Haggada — https://www.britannica.com/topic/Haggada-biblical-Exodus → the Haggadah as the book containing the story of the biblical Exodus as retold at the start of the seder, supplying answers to the traditional questions asked by children.
• Audrey Fischer, Library of Congress Information Bulletin, vol. 70 no. 4, April 2011 — https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/1104/haggadot.html → the haggadah as "the most widely read classic text in the Jewish tradition," second only to the Bible; the Library holding more than 3,000 printed haggadot dating to the late fifteenth century; David Stern of the University of Pennsylvania on the Washington Haggadah's importance in America.
• Library of Congress, Gathered Around the Seder Table: Images from the Passover Haggadah — https://blogs.loc.gov/international-collections/2017/04/gathered-around-the-seder-table-images-from-the-passover-haggadah/ → the Haggadah as "a guide, instructional manual and script for the ritual re-enactment of the Exodus"; the oldest complete printed version in a tenth-century prayer book compiled by Rabbi Saadia Gaon; the seder taking place in the home rather than the synagogue; each person having an individual copy only from the nineteenth century.
• Library of Congress, The Washington Haggadah — https://www.loc.gov/item/2018757799/ → the 1478 manuscript by Joel ben Simeon, described as an itinerant scribe from Germany, digitized and available online.
• Library of Congress, Jewish Studies special collections research guide — https://guides.loc.gov/african-jewish-middle-east-studies/jewish-studies/special-collections → Abraham H. Berman's 1976 donation of 600 haggadot to the Hebraic Section, and the Library's 1993 facsimile of the Washington Haggadah.
• National Library of Israel, Passover — https://www.nli.org.il/en/discover/judaism/holidays/passover → "The National Library preserves 8,500 Haggadot, in a collection which is considered the largest of its kind in the world."
• National Library of Israel, Passover Haggadot blog gallery — https://blog.nli.org.il/en/pesach_haggadot/ → the 1480 Guadalajara Haggadah as the only copy in the world; the 1556 Prague Haggadah as one of only two surviving copies, the other in the British Library, with the Library's copy scanned and uploaded in full.
• Elisa Hough, A Modern Passover Seder, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, April 19, 2019 — https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/modern-passover-seder → "seder" derived from the Hebrew word for "arrangement"; parsley dipped in salt water for the tears of enslaved Israelites; the egg signifying the rebirth of spring; the orange as a symbol of feminism; the hidden larger piece of broken matzah eaten as the afikoman; the seder ending with "Next year in Jerusalem."
• Smithsonian National Museum of American History, seder plate — https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_660491 → an eighteenth-century German pewter seder plate carried to Baltimore by the Engelmeyer family, described by the museum as a symbol of the Jewish community's search for freedom.
• NPR Planet Money, Why Matzo Makers Love Regulation, April 10, 2012 — https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/04/10/150300040/why-matzo-makers-love-regulation → the eighteen-minute limit on how long dough can be left uncooked, and the lines stopped and cleaned when it is exceeded; Manischewitz as the biggest kosher food manufacturer in the country.
• NPR, Quinoa Is Kosher For Passover, But Mom May Not Approve, April 8, 2014 — https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/04/08/300248498/quinoa-is-kosher-for-passover-but-mom-may-not-approve → the five prohibited grains; kitniyot and the stricter Ashkenazi list compared with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern practice; rice on the forbidden list.
• NPR Code Switch, In 'Freedom Seder,' Jews And African Americans Built A Tradition Together, April 4, 2015 — https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/04/04/397323302/in-freedom-seder-jews-and-african-americans-built-a-tradition-together → April 4, 1969 as the night of the first Freedom Seder, in the basement of Lincoln Temple, a Black church in Washington, DC; Arthur Waskow's new Haggadah; 800 people gathered; the weaving together of the liberation of the ancient Hebrews and the liberation struggles of Black America.
• Capital Jewish Museum, Remembering the Freedom Seder and Looking Ahead — https://capitaljewishmuseum.org/remembering-the-freedom-seder-and-looking-ahead/ → the first Freedom Seder held on the anniversary of Dr. King's assassination, with 800 people, Black, white, Jewish and Christian.
• Compilation of Presidential Documents, Statement on the Observance of Passover, April 22, 2016 — https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-201600257/html/DCPD-201600257.htm → "a tradition we have looked forward to each year since hosting the the first-ever White House Seder in 2009."
• Obama White House archive, A Seder at the White House — https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2009/04/09/a-seder-white-house → the seder held on Thursday night, April 9, 2009, in the Old Family Dining Room.
• Obama White House archive, Why Was This Night Different From All Other Nights: The Eighth and Final Seder at the White House — https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2016/04/29/why-was-night-different-all-other-nights-eighth-and-final-seder-white-house/ → the eight White House Passover seders of the Obama presidency.
• U.S. Postal Service, Postal Service Issues Commemorative Stamp Celebrating Eight-Day Jewish Holiday, August 28, 2026 — https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2026/0828ma-usps-issues-commemorative-stamp-celebrating-eight-day-jewish-holiday.htm → the Postal Service's ninth Hanukkah stamp, the only Jewish holiday in its stamp program.
• U.S. Postal Service, additional stamps and release locations for 2026 — https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2026/0629-usps-announces-additional-stamps-and-release-locations-for-2026.htm → the 2026 stamp program, which names Hanukkah and no Passover stamp.
• Pew Research Center, Jewish Practices and Customs, Jewish Americans in 2020 — https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/05/11/jewish-practices-and-customs/ → "Six-in-ten U.S. Jews say they held or participated in a Seder in the year prior to the survey," against 46 percent who fasted all or part of Yom Kippur.
• Pew Research Center, 10 key findings about Jewish Americans — https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/05/11/10-key-findings-about-jewish-americans/ → 2.4 percent of U.S. adults Jewish; an estimated 7.5 million Jews of all ages including 5.8 million adults; the survey fielded November 19, 2019 to June 3, 2020.
• Pew Research Center, Attending a Seder is common practice for American Jews, April 14, 2014 — https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/04/14/attending-a-seder-is-common-practice-for-american-jews/ → 70 percent reporting seder participation in the 2013 survey, and 42 percent among Jews of no religion.

Source conflict reported rather than averaged: seder attendance. Pew's 2013 survey found 70 percent and its 2020 survey six in ten. This is the same organization in two survey waves, not a contradiction, and the page uses the more recent figure with its survey window named, citing the 2013 number separately and labeled.

Second conflict: when Passover ends, on 21 or 22 Nisan. Britannica's video page says "the 21st or 22nd"; Hebcal gives 15 to 22 Nisan for the Diaspora and 15 to 21 Nisan for Israel. These agree once the Israel and Diaspora schedules are separated, and Hebcal, as a calendar computation that publishes both schedules explicitly, is treated as the more primary for date mechanics.

Third conflict: the first White House seder. The President's own 2016 statement in the Compilation of Presidential Documents says "the first-ever White House Seder in 2009." An institutional history records a 1993 seder held by Clinton staff in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, across the street from the White House and without the President present. That refines rather than refutes the presidential statement, and this page uses the precise form: the first seder hosted by a sitting president at the White House. The 1993 staff event is not asserted, because it could not be confirmed from a source on the site's allow-list.

Omitted for want of an acceptable source: the claim that the Haggadah is the most-printed Jewish book, which no library or museum source consulted supports — the Library of Congress's "most widely read classic text in the Jewish tradition" is used instead; the convention that the youngest child asks the Four Questions; a definition of the cup of Elijah; the yellow cap on kosher-for-Passover Coca-Cola, and Manischewitz's founding year, founder or city; the Hebrew term shalosh regalim; publication of the Freedom Seder Haggadah in Ramparts; and any statement about historians' views on the historicity of the Exodus or divergence between archaeology and the biblical narrative, which would need a dedicated pass at books and journals rather than the sources reached here. The page therefore presents Exodus 12 as what the text prescribes, not as an account of events.

Less than fully confident, flagged deliberately: the afikoman. The practice of hiding the larger broken piece and eating it later is described in a first-person Smithsonian Folklife essay rather than in a reference definition, so the page states it in one clause and builds nothing on it. Also flagged: the statement that no Passover stamp exists is a negative finding from a search of the Postal Service's own newsroom and its announced 2026 program, and is worded as such rather than as a historical absolute.

On two sources used by considered judgment: reformjudaism.org, the Union for Reform Judaism, is cited only for claims about Reform practice and the movement's own history, where it is the administering organization; and sefaria.org is used as the digital locus for two published editions that are named every time they are cited, the 1917 Jewish Publication Society translation of the Tanakh and the Koren William Davidson Edition of the Mishnah and Talmud.

Not used as sources: nationaltoday, nationaldaycalendar, checkiday, timeanddate, Wikipedia, and comparable aggregator and content-farm pages.