The mission of the Committee on Multicultural Initiatives and Diversity (COMID) is to foster our community and environment where the richness of our diversity is recognized, respected and embraced. Our view on diversity includes, but is not limited to, ethnic, racial and linguistic heritage; religious traditions; gender; sexual orientation; age; and socioeconomic status.

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The Cary Academy Committee on Multicultural Initiatives and Diversity (COMID) would like to inform the community about the week from Palm Sunday through Easter, April 9 – April16, 2006.

Passover    

Passover, in Judaism, one of the most important and elaborate of religious festivals. Its celebration begins on the evening of the 14th of Nisan (first month of the religious calendar, corresponding to March–April) and lasts seven days in Israel, eight days in the Diaspora (although Reform Jews observe a seven-day period). As the Jewish day begins at sundown the night before, for the year 2007, the first night of Passover will be April 10th.

Numerous theories have been advanced in explanation of its original significance, which has become obscured by the association it later acquired with the Exodus. In pre-Mosaic times it may have been a spring festival only, but in its present observance as a celebration of deliverance from the yoke of Egypt, that significance has been practically forgotten.  Passover now commemorates the freedom and exodus of the Israelites (Jewish slaves) from Egypt during the reign of the Pharaoh Ramses II. This is as much a celebration of the Israelites' spiritual freedom as the physical liberation from slavery. The name "Passover" refers to the fact that God "passed over" the houses of the Jews when he was slaying the firstborn of Egypt.

In the ceremonial evening meal (called the Seder), which is conducted on the first evening in Israel and by Reform Jews, and on the first and second evenings by all other observant Jews in the Diaspora, various special dishes symbolizing the hardships of the Israelites during their bondage in Egypt are served; the narrative of the Exodus, the Haggadah, is recited; and praise is given for the deliverance. Only unleavened bread (matzoth) may be eaten throughout the period of the festival, in memory of the fact that the Jews, hastening from Egypt, had no time to leaven their bread. Jewish law also requires that special sets of cooking utensils and dishes, uncontaminated by use during the rest of the year, be used throughout the festival. With its special foods, songs, and customs, the Seder is the focal point of the Passover celebration.