In addition to Yom Kippur, the Feast of Atonement, Passover is particularly important for Judaism. The Passover commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt. 

The Israelites were held captive and enslaved in Egypt. They had to work hard and, until Moses freed them with God's help, they had a bad life. Moses freed them by splitting the water. At the same time, the Jews celebrate a happy future with this festival week. Passover is a spring festival and food plays an important role.

We formed two teams, one team was responsible for cooking and the other team for cleaning up. But we all ate together. The food prepared during Passover has special meanings and there are fixed rules. Eggs, for example, symbolize freedom. Very important is the unleavened bread. During the week of Passover, no leavened bread is eaten. Jewish families sweep their houses to get rid of the last crumbs of leavened food. The reason for this is that when the Israelites fled from Egypt, they did not have time to bake leavened bread with yeast. This bread is called the bread of haste.

During the seven days of Passover, many other foods and drinks are consumed. There is grape juice to honor the Lord who makes all things possible. Red bitter herbs (bitter herbs) with shredded horseradish (horse radish), representing the
plaguing bitterns (birds), are eaten. Lamb (lamb) is probably also eaten at Passover because spring is the time for lambs. The lamb represents the blood that Moses spread on the doors of the houses to save the newborn children. Parsley (parsley) is also ripe at spring time and symbolizes the tears shed by the Israelites in Egypt. Mixed fruit (mixed fruit), called charoseth, usually consists of apples and walnuts. The mixture reminds of the mortar (cement) with which the Israelites had to build houses when they were slaves under the Egyptians.

We prepared all this food and drinks and celebrated our Passover. My friend Lukas accidentally drank some salt water in the process and I flew down the staircase with the eggs. But for me the lamb was the best. It was delicious, fun, cozy and special and at the end everyone helped clean up.