Passover celebrates freedom: Jewish holy day begins tonight

Stacy J. Willis

Friday, April 6, 2001 | 11:08 a.m.

Laura Sussman remembers playing an April Fool's joke on her mother before Passover years ago.

"My brother and I put the sugar in the salt shaker and the salt in the sugar (bowl), so my mother's seder dinner came out tasting very bad," said Sussman, who is the executive director of the Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada.

Fortunately, she said, her mother had a good sense of humor, and the prank became an oft-repeated holiday tale.

"Passover is my favorite holiday. It's wonderful," Sussman said. "It's about freedom -- any kind of freedom. I come from a Reform perspective, and for me it's about freedom from all kinds of oppression -- whether it's because of what color a person is or who they love or what sex they are. Just freedom."

Passover begins at sundown Saturday 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 Saturday night celebrating freedom at traditional, ritualistic seder dinners.

"Traditionally the man of the household would lead the seder, but in our family we take turns. We go around the table. There is no one leader," Sussman said. "I come from a very egalitarian family."

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 pharoah 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 forego leavened bread during the eight days of Passover.

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