About 3000 years ago the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians under the rule of the Pharaoh Ramses II. Moses, a simple Jewish shepherd, was instructed by God to go to the pharaoh and demand the freedom of his people

Moses' plea of let my people go was ignored. Moses warned the Pharaoh that God would send severe punishments to the people of Egypt if the Israelites were not freed. Again the Pharaoh ignored Moses' request of freedom. In response God unleashed a series of 10 terrible plagues on the people of Egypt

1.Blood
2.Frogs
3.Lice (vermin)
4.Wild Beasts(flies)
5.Blight
6.Boils
7.Hail
8.Locusts
9.Darkness
10.Slaying of the First Born

The holiday's name, Pesach, meaning "passing over" or "protection" in Hebrew, is derived from the instructions given to Moses by God . In order to encourage the Pharaoh to free the Israelites, God intended to kill the first-born of both man and beast. To protect themselves, the Israelites were told to mark their dwellings with lamb's blood so that God could identify and "pass over" their homes.

The Pharaoh was unconvinced and refused to free the Jewish slaves, until the last plague.

When the Pharaoh finally agreed to freedom, the Israelites left their homes so quickly that there wasn't even time to bake their breads. So they packed the raw dough to take with them on their journey. As they fled through the desert they would quickly bake the dough in the hot sun into hard crackers called matzohs. Today to commemorate this event, Jews eat matzoh in place of bread during Passover.