Rabbi reflects on history, significance of Passover

Wednesday, April 19, 2000 | 10:24 a.m.

Rabbi Sanford Akselrad remembers learning the importance of Passover as a child.

"I remember it as one of the few times during the year that my mother had a crowd over -- we would invite many friends to join us each year," said Akselrad, of Congregation Ner Tamid in Las Vegas.

"My father, who is also a Rabbi, has a wonderful singing voice and would lead us beautifully through the seder, and then he would make sure to explain the story of Passover in his own dramatic words so that all the kids were engaged," recalled Akselrad.

"Passover is a wonderful family holiday filled with fond memories," said Akselrad. Passover, or Pesach, begins tonight at sundown and lasts eight days. The Jewish holiday commemorates the liberation of Israelites who were enslaved in Egypt more than 3,000 years ago.

Gathered in synagogues, hotel conference rooms and each other's homes, many of the more than 77,000 Las Vegas Jews will spend tonight and tomorrow night celebrating freedom at traditional, ritualistic seder dinners.

The saga of slavery, liberation and entry into a collective covenant with God through the Ten Commandments is central to the Jewish identity.

According to biblical history, the Israelites were enslaved by Egyptians for 86 years. Moses was instructed by God to go to the pharaoh and demand freedom for his people. When he was ignored, God released 10 plagues on Egypt -- blood, frogs, lice, wild beasts, blight, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and finally, the slaying of first-born sons.

As the final plague approached, Israelites marked their houses with lamb's blood so that the Angel of Death would "pass over" their homes and spare their first-born sons.

When at last they were freed, the Israelites left their homes so quickly that there wasn't enough time to bake the bread, so they packed raw dough and baked it in the desert sun on their journey out of Egypt -- causing Jews today to forgo leavened bread during the eight days of Passover.

According to the Bible, the Red Sea parted allowing the Israelites to escape and journey to Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments.