Note 61 — II. OUR DUTIES. (continued 4)

The word ‏פסח‎ “Passover,” signifies (1) the act of passing over or sparing (Exod. xii. 11); (2) the sacrifice of passover, especially as object to the verb ‏עשה‎ “to make” (ibid. 47, 48); (3) the time when the passover was offered and consumed; i.e., the 14th of Nisan, afternoon and evening (Lev. xxiii. 5; Num. xxviii. 16); (4) the whole of Passover (Mishnah, and in all post-Biblical literature).

The day on which an Israelite brought a sacrifice was a Festival to him and his family; and no work was done on that day. Accordingly on the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan, ‏ערב פסח‎, the time fixed for the Passover-offering, no work was done; some abstained from work the whole day (Mishnah, Pesachim iv. 1; comp. also ibid. 5).—It is customary for the first-born to fast the whole or part of ‏ערב פסח‎ (Talm. Jerus. x. 1, and Masecheth Soferim xxi. 3). They might rather be expected to feast in memory of the deliverance of the first-born Israelites in Egypt. But the case is similar to that of Purim. Both the day of danger and the day of victory are celebrated; the one by fasting (fast of Esther), the other by feasting (Purim). So here the 14th of Nisan was for the first-born the day of danger, the following night the season of deliverance. Hence the fasting during the day and the feasting in the evening. The day suggests thoughts like the following: Our forefathers were saved from danger: should we deserve to be saved if danger threatened us? Such reflections may have been the origin of the fast of the first-born on the eve of Passover. Some also fast on this day, or at least abstain on it from a full meal, in order to do honour to the festive meal in the evening and approach it with appetite (‏לתיאבון‎). A similar custom obtains, though not to the same extent, on the eve of Sabbath and of every Festival (Mishnah, Pesachim x. 1). ↑