The Mitzvot & Traditions of Passover

• It is a mitzvah to participate in a Passover seder.
•  It is a mitzvah to eat matzah and to avoid chameitz*—leavened products—during the seven days of Passover.
• It is a tradition to ask questions on Passover.

*Chameitz is any leavened product that is made from one of the following five grains: wheat, rye, oats, barley, or spelt. A grain product is leavened if yeast has acted upon it. The action of yeast fills the grain with tiny bubbles, causing it to rise or grow. Flour mixed with water becomes chameitz after eighteen minutes. This is the time it takes for yeast to begin working. Matzah for Passover must be made in under eighteen minutes.

Over time, Ashkenazic (Eastern European) Jews and Sephardic Jews developed different food  prohibitions and traditions for Passover. Ashkenazic Jews added rice, corn, peas, beans, and peanuts to the list of foods forbidden on Passover. One suggestion about how this law evolved is that these foods expand with water during the cooking process, giving them the appearance of rising or growing. Sephardic and many Israeli Jews eat these foods on Passover.

Discuss as a family what food laws you will observe during Passover. What will make your observance of Passover more meaningful?

From the Union for Reform Judaism's Jewish Parent Page