Pod Save America Hosts Call on Democrats to Cut All Israel Military Aid, No Longer Accept AIPAC Funding
Jews, Israelis Targeted in Austria Amid Surge in Antisemitic Incidents; Local Jewish Community Calls for Action
‘All of Our Strength’: Over 1,000 Pro-Israel Activists Gather in DC for Solidarity Conference
‘Devastated’: Wesley LePatner, Killed in Manhattan Mass Shooting, Was a Jewish Communal, Philanthropic Leader
Sen. Angus King Vows to No Longer Vote for Israel Military Aid Until Gaza Conditions Improve
Europe Won’t Pressure Israel to ‘Commit Suicide’ Amid Gaza Backlash, Palestinian State Push, Says Israeli FM
Israel’s National Soccer Coach Attacked in Athens Before Soccer Fans Chant ‘F–K Israel, Free Palestine’ at Match
New York Judge Sentences Neo-Nazi to 5 Years for Livestreaming Bomb Threats Against Jewish Hospitals
US Pressures Lebanon to Issue Cabinet Decision to Disarm Hezbollah Before Talks Continue
UK Plans to Recognize Palestinian State in September Unless Israel Meets Conditions, Starmer Says
Good Friday, Start of Passover Fall on Same Day for First Time in Years
Error: Contact form not found.
by Alina Dain Sharon / JNS.org
A family seen during the Passover seder on the first night of the holiday in Tzur Hadassah, Israel, on March 25, 2013. Good Friday and the start of Passover fell on the same day this year. Photo: Nati Shohat/Flash 90.
JNS.org – The Jewish holiday of Passover, which begins Friday at sundown, is overlapping with the pre-Easter Christian holiday Good Friday. While the two holidays rarely fall on exactly the same day, this year’s convergence is a special reminder of the historical link between Passover and Easter.
Jesus, who was Jewish, likely observed the eight-day festival marking the freeing of the Jews from slavery in Egypt by making an annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem. While on this pilgrimage, Jesus was arrested by the Romans, according to biblical accounts, which later led to his crucifixion. Good Friday marks Jesus’s death and crucifixion.
As Christianity evolved after Jesus’s death, Jesus’s last supper began to be thought of as an early version of a Passover Seder. However over the centuries, as Christian persecution of Jews mounted based on the belief that Jews had been responsible for Jesus’s death, the relationship between Easter and Passover became more controversial. Particularly during Passover, Jewish communities were often targeted with violence over the Christian belief that they sacrifice Christians and use their blood for Passover. This became known as the blood libel.
The Second Vatican Council of 1965 absolved Jews from responsibility in Jesus’s death, which paved the way for a better modern relationship between Judaism and Christianity.
