Passover 2026

Passover (Hebrew: Pesach) this year begins late afternoon on Thursday, 2 April. The Festival of Unleavened Bread begins a little later, at sunset, which kicks off the High Shabbat, making 3 April a High Holy Day on which no work is to be done. We celebrate Passover because of this command:

Exodus 23:14-16: "Three times a year, you are to observe a festival for me. Keep the festival of matzah: for seven days, as I ordered you, you are to eat matzah (unleavened bread) at the time determined in the month of Aviv; for it was in that month that you left Egypt. No one is to appear before me empty-handed. Next, the festival of harvest, the firstfruits of your efforts sowing in the field; and last, the festival of ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in from the fields the results of your efforts."  (CJB)

Passover/Unleavened Bread marks the beginning of a seven-day period during which the eating of leavened bread is forbidden, as leaven is a symbol of sin (I Corinthians 5:6-8; see also Exodus 23:14-16; Romans 6:4 and II Corinthians 5:21).

Passover celebrates the deliverance of the slaves from Egypt. It is the story of redemption by the killing of the Passover Lamb, the blood of which was applied to the doorposts while the Israelites were still in Egypt, shortly before their Exodus.

Obedience to the command to take a lamb into their homes for a few days and then kill it for the purpose of spreading its blood on the doorposts ensured that their firstborn would be spared the Tenth Curse against Pharoah who refused to let God's enslaved Chosen People leave Egypt. When the Angel of Death passed through the land and saw the blood, he "passed over" those houses and spared the first born within (Exodus 12:1-13).

Passover not only serves as a reminder of the events leading up to the Exodus from Egypt; but it is also the story of redemption through Messiah Yeshua, whose shed blood on the cross freed Believers from the slavery of earthly bondage to "the world!"

Yeshua fulfilled this event when he was crucified. However, please note, he was NOT "the Passover Lamb!' per se. Why? Because (1) the original Passover lamb in Egypt was not a "sin "sacrifice"; it was a "substitute", a "redemption"; and (2) no one "sacrificed" Yeshua, as he martyred himself to shed his divine blood on our behalf to take away our PAST sins...

So, this is the whole connection: Yeshua was our substitute, our redemption - and by believing and always following YHWH's Torah to help us to lower our tendency to sin and do our best to NOT sin anymore, we have the chance for eternal life!

NOTE 1: Some people insist you are to clean out your "yeast" before Passover, but this is not true. There is no way to get rid of all yeast, because yeast spores are everywhere, including in every breath we take. For an indepth explanation, check out my article entitled, Yeast or Leaven.

NOTE 2: For those interested, I offer a free downloadable haggadah (liturgy) for Pesach/Passover on our website. Just click on the Articles and Studies, and scroll down until you see "Free calendars, Siddurs & Pesach Seder" and choose one of the final two links...

FOR THOSE NEW TO TORAH AND GOD'S 7 APPOINTED TIMES, you can find an overview on my website.

May God richly bless you for your willingness to dig ever deeper into His Word so that you can learn HIS Truth and begin an eye-opening journey you never realized existed!