The Passover celebration begins with the "seder", the traditional Passover meal. The seder consists of many elements and can be quite long--lasting until the early morning hours for some very religious Jews. The "required" parts of the seder, however, are the retelling of the story of the exodus from Egypt, eating matza and drinking four cups of wine.

In order to make it possible for all Jews to tell the story of Passover, the "haggada" was created. This book, read at the seder, contains--in addition to the story--all of the blessings over the different types of food, Passover songs and more.

The matza that we eat at the seder and throughout the seven days of Passover (eight days outside of Israel) must be prepared under the strictest rabbinic supervision to be sure that the dough has no chance of rising. During Passover, we eat no leavened foods or foods made from grain other than Passover flour.

The four cups of wine represent the four "redemption speeches" made by God, in which He promised to free the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. A fifth cup of wine is placed on the table for Elijah the Prophet. This cup symbolizes a fifth promise of salvation made by God. Because it is said that it will be Elijah the Prophet who will declare the coming of final salvation, this cup of wine is meant for him. No one at the table is permitted to taste the wine from this cup.

As mentioned above, Jews follow very strict dietary restrictions during Passover. In order to provide a varied and tasty diet, many delicious Kosher for Passover dishes have been created over the years, including matza balls (eaten in chicken soup), matza brei (a Kosher for Passover version of French toast), many different types of Passover cakes and cookies and more. Jews of different origins (European, North African, Asian, etc.) all have their own traditional Passover dishes.