The season of Passover, in which we celebrate our liberation from earthly taskmasters, is called זמן חרותנו “The season of our freedom.” The deliverance from Egypt, the first step leading to the fulfilment of the promise, “And I will take you unto me for a people,” has been poetically conceived as the betrothal of Israel to God, and in the Piyyut for Passover ample use has been made of this idea. It has further found expression in the custom of reading the Song of Solomon on the first Sabbath after the first two days of Passover, and by some also on the Seder-evening after the conclusion of the ordinary Service.
The Service is, in general outline, the same as on Sabbath. It consists of Maarib, Shacharith, Musaph, and Minchah. The Morning-Service includes Hallel, the reading of the Law, and Lessons from the Prophets (קריאת התורה and הפטרה). The following sections, containing description of, or reference to, Passover or to the departure from Egypt, are read consecutively on the eight days: Exod. xii. 21–51, on the Passover celebrated by the Israelites in Egypt; Lev. xxii. 26 to xxiii. 44, on “the seasons of the Lord;” Exod. xiii., xxii. 24 to xxiii. 19, and xxxiv. 1–26: Num. ix. 1–14, on the second Passover; Exod. xiii. 17–xv. 26, the crossing of the Red Sea; Deut. xv. 19 (on Sabbath, xiv. 22) to xvi. 17 contains laws referring to the three Festivals. On Sabbath chol-ha-moëd, Exod. xxxiii. 12 to xxxiv. 26.—In addition to these sections [[391]]verses from Num. xxviii.–xxix., referring to the sacrifices prescribed for each day of the Festival, are read from a second sefer.
The Lessons from the Prophets are the following:—Josh. v. (preceded in the German Ritual by iii. 5–7), on the first Passover kept by the Israelites in Palestine; 2 Kings xxiii. 1–9 and 21–25, on the Passover celebrated in the days of King Josiah; 2 Sam. xxii., the song of David after deliverance from his enemies, a parallel to the Song of Moses; Isa. x. 32—xii., on the defeat of Sennacherib, and the blessings of the Messianic days. According to Tradition the defeat of Sennacherib took place on Passover; moreover, the celebration of the deliverance from Egypt suggests the reflection on the final Redemption of Israel. The Lesson from the Prophets chosen for Sabbath chol-ha-moëd is taken from Ez. xxxvi. 1–14. The prophet sees in a vision how the dry bones of the dead are awakened to fresh life by the Will and the Spirit of the Lord: a precious lesson for us, designed to strengthen our hope of a revival of every good and noble idea, though for the present it be dormant within us. Nature around us awakening to fresh life in the spring supplies a parallel to the vision of Hezekiel.
The Machzor (lit. Cycle) or Prayer-book for the Holy-days contains numerous additions to the ordinary prayers. They are called Piyyutim, and vary according to the custom and the taste of the congregation. The Piyyut added in the second paragraph of the Musaph-amidah on the first day of Passover is called tal, “dew,” or prayer for dew; the rain season having come to an end, we [[392]]pray that the vegetation may, during the hot season, be refreshed by the regular descent of the dew. The praise for “sending down rain” in the same paragraph, viz., משיב הרוח ומוריד הגשם, “Thou causest the wind to blow and the rain to fall,” is discontinued after the shacharith prayer of the first day of Passover. In the Portuguese Ritual the words מוריד הטל, “Thou causest the dew to fall,” are introduced instead.
Similarly, there is an additional prayer for rain (גשם) in the Musaf of Shemini-atsereth. The time chosen for these prayers is in accordance with the meteorological conditions of Palestine. This custom, however, does not exclude the addition of prayers for rain or dew, according to the needs of the country in which we live.
The Days of the Counting of the Omer, ימי הספירה
The period from Passover to the Feast of Weeks is full of sad memories of massacres of Jews that took place in the days of the Crusades; also of the miseries that befell the Jews in Palestine in the days of the Emperor Hadrian. During the month of Iyar, the Jews abstain from rejoicings and weddings,[91] with the exception of the 18th of the month, which is the 33rd of the Omer, because, according to Tradition, a plague that had raged among the disciples of Rabbi Akiba ceased on that day. The 18th of Iyar, ל״ג בעומר is therefore called “the scholars’ festival.” [[393]]
The Feast of Weeks, שבועות
The Feast of Weeks is celebrated on the fiftieth day[92] of the Omer (Lev. xxiii. 16); i.e., the 6th of Sivan. It is, in the first place, “the feast of harvest,” חג הקציר (Exod. xxiii. 16), especially of the wheat, and “the day of the first-fruit offering,” יום הבכורים (Num. xxviii. 26). The first sacrifice of the new corn was offered: “the bread of the first-fruit,” which was to serve as an expression of gratitude for the blessing of the harvest. In the absence of sacrifices in our days, the custom widely prevails of adorning the Synagogue and the home with plants and flowers, in order that the sight of these beautiful objects might awaken and strengthen feelings of gratitude toward the Almighty for His loving-kindness. Each one of the plants and flowers reveals a special form of the Creator’s wisdom, power, and goodness.—The feast is called Feast of Weeks, חג השבעות (Deut. xvi. 10), on account of the completion of the seven weeks counted from the day of the Omer.
The Feast of Weeks, the 6th and the 7th of Sivan, commemorates also an historical event: the Law-giving on Mount Sinai. It is therefore called “the season of the giving of our Law,” זמן מתן תורתנו.