Pesach is the biggest of the three pilgrim festivals, along with Sukkot and Shavuot and these all commemorate the period in history that the Jews pilgrimed from Egypt to the Promised Land of Israel.

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a) Pesach is the biggest of the three pilgrim festivals, along with Sukkot and Shavuot and these all commemorate the period in history that the Jews pilgrimed from Egypt to the Promised Land of Israel.

The first day of Passover is the same day as the commemoration of the destruction of the temple and this is insisted by the Talmud.

The symbolism of the name Passover reminds Jews of the tenth plague, the killing of the first born to the Egyptian families, when the Jews were instructed to put sheep's blood on their homes to identify their homes to God so he could Passover and know to not kill the first born in that house-hold. The history of the celebration of Passover is that it first started at the time of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and was used to commemorate their release from slavery.

Passover is not only learning and looking back on history but the confirmation of the fact that Jews believe in the future of Judaism and the coming of the Messiah. Passover concentrates not only on the history of Judaism but on the present and future as these times are all equally important in the Jewish faith.

After Joseph, a wise and influential Jewish character, and his brother's died, the children of Israel grew strong in the land of Egypt. The Israelites held important, prosperous positions within Egypt and many Egyptian people grew tired of these, so called, "foreigners" outshining them and having so much say in their country's political, cultural and economic side of life.

In his time Joseph had been very good to the Pharaoh and had done amazing things for Egypt. The old Pharaoh died, the good deeds done by the Israelites were forgotten, and the new Pharaoh, Rameses the second decided to take action against the growing influence and numbers of the children of Israel.

The new Pharaoh's council was called about the situation with the Israelites and they gave him strong advice to enslave the children of Israel so he could gain total control over this foreign race who were becoming too powerful in a land where they were not wanted. Pharaoh limited the freedom of the Hebrews and laid heavy taxes upon them. He then recruited their men into forced labour, slavery, under the supervision of harsh taskmasters.

The children of Israel were now forced to build cities, erect monuments, construct roads, work in the quarries, and hew stones or make bricks and tiles. However, the more the Egyptians oppressed them, and the harder the restrictions imposed upon them became, the more the children of Israel multiplied.

Finally, when King Pharaoh saw that forcing the Hebrews to do hard work did not succeed in suppressing their rapidly growing numbers, he ordered that all newly born male children of the Hebrews to be killed, the midwives disobeyed and so they were made to throw the child into the Nile river. Only daughters were allowed to live.

The Pharaoh grew paranoid, after being told by his personal astrologers, that a new leader of Egypt was to be born from an Israelite. This was taken as a strong danger to the Egyptian nation.

The tribe of Levi, whom Moses was born of, were the only group of Israelites who were spared the slavery and oppression imposed on the rest of the children of Israel.

Levi's Grandson Amram had three children named Miriam, Aaron and Moses. The eldest, Miriam, was later to become a great Prophetess of the Jewish people. The second child, Aaron was the highest priest of God and is famous in Jewish bible stories for his extraordinary love of peace. The most important, and youngest, child in the story of Passover was Moses.

Moses was one of the sons of the Israelites who Pharaoh had commanded was thrown into the river. The daughter of the Pharaoh saw this basket among the reeds and sent her maids to fetch it. Since this child was fit and healthy, she took pity on it. Moses' sister had watched her mother place the basket in the water and brought her mother to see the Pharaoh's daughter, the daughter said to Moses' mother "take this child away and nurse it for me and I shall give you your wages".

Moses grew and his mother took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. Moses grew up with all the wealth of any Egyptian royalty but frowned upon the mistreatment of his people in Israel.

The children of Israel were becoming desperate and could no longer endure the suffering and pain that had been laid upon them for countless years of slavery and their cries for help and their prayers pierced the heavens. God heard these prayers and remembered his covenant that had been formed with Abraham, Isaac and Joseph many years before that he would watch over their descendants because they were good Jews and did as God wanted. He honored his promise by delivering their descendants from the suffering.

It was within this period in history that Moses was chosen by God to be his prophet and help end the suffering of the children of Israel. Moses was a shepherd and worked for his father-in-law, Jethro. One day Moses had lead his flock far into the desert and had lost a lamb and went looking for it. As he returned with the found lamb, he saw an unusual sight. He saw a thornbush burst into flame and, although the bush continued to bush, it did not turn to ashes. Moses stepped closer to the thornbush, and as he did so, he heard the voice of God.
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God began to tell Moses that he had heard the cried of suffering and distress from the children of Israel; and that he would deliver them from the hands of the Egyptian oppressors to the promised land. He, Moses was to go to the Pharaoh and lead the Jewish people out of Egypt.

Moses had doubts whether he was strong enough in the mind to carry out such a great mission and said "Who am I, that I should go to pharaoh, and that I shall lead forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

God ...

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