Nissan begins tonight, the evening of 9 April in the civil calendar. Please scroll down for updates, since this will remain the top post until the end of Pesach.
The Torah refers to the festival of Pesach by the name of Chag Hamatzot, the Festival of Unleavened Bread. Matzah is considered lechem oni, the bread of affliction. It is the hard, dry, rough bread that slaves eat, instead of the soft, rich bread of the freeman. But matzah is also lechem cherut, the bread of freedom, for it is the bread the Jews baked as they prepared for a hasty exit, with no time allowed for the dough to ferment and rise…
Thus, in typical Jewish dialectical fashion, the bread of slavery and the bread of freedom are one and the same. And in that there is a most important lesson: the difference between slavery and freedom is not necessarily creature comforts, but rather a relative mastery over one's fate. In slavery, they ate the hard, broken crusts which the master allowed them. In the Exodus, the Jews voluntarily accepted a most Spartan regimen as they set out on their tenuous journey—because they had before them a vision of liberation.—Blu Greenberg, How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household
Useful links:
The month of Nissan, from Jewish Heritage Online Magazine
More on Pesach and Nissan from JHOM, including a reflection on s-d-r (the root word for seder) and Everett Fox's magnificent translation of, and commentary on, Moses' Song at the Sea
Pesach resources from OU, Chabad, My Jewish Learning, and JTSA
An online exhibit of Haggadot from HUC
A wonderful guide to counting the omer (and a reminder mailing list)
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