Passover, the Jewish Holiday for Gentiles

By Lauren Davidson

A Passover seder at the White House in 2009 (Pete Souza/Reuters)

Passover is a festival of questions, many of which can be summed up by the single query: “Why is this night different from all other nights?” Here’s one answer: It’s the Jewish festival that non-Jews love to observe. The seder, the ceremonial feast held on the first two nights of Passover.... The festival commemorates the exodus from Egypt, a key step in the formation of the Jewish people. In other words, Passover does not seem like the most obvious festival for outsider participation. And yet every spring, non-kosher restaurants, churches and student organizations around the U.S.—not to mention Jewish homes—invite non-Jews to relive the Israelites’ exodus from bondage. Even the White House has held a seder since 2008. [link]