Passover begins on the 15th day of Nisan. Passover (Hebrew: Pesach) is celebrated for eight days to remind the Jewish people of the exodus from ancient Egypt and the ten plagues that fell on Egypt in 1313 BCE. The Jews painted blood on their doorway and their houses were saved from the plagues. They fled Egypt on a short notice and did not have time to let their bread rise. The Matzo (H: Matzah), an unleavened bread, is the symbol of Passover and is eaten instead of bread. Spring cleaning in the Jewish houses has an added dimension of ridding the house of any Chametz. "Kosher for Pesach" means that the foods are fit to be eaten during Passover, usually using potato starch or matzo meal instead of flour. During Passover it is forbidden to eat and have at home any type of grains such as wheat, rye, barley or oats. These items are called Chametz.

The main tradition is the Seder (order) Meal and reading the Haggadah. The Haggadah is the story and songs depicting the Exodus from Egypt while following holiday rituals. The Afikoman is a special treat for the kids. It is a piece of matzo that is being hidden during the Seder and the child who finds it gets a treat.

The Seder Plate:
Fresh greens - A symbol of springtime and rebirth
Roasted hard-boiled egg - a reminder of ancient festival offerings in Jerusalem
Roasted lamb shank - representing the lamb sacrificed at the first Passover
Charoset - Symbol for the mortar used by Jewish slaves to build the Egyptian temples
Horseradish - A reminder of the bitterness of slavery
Bitter herbs (usually lettuce) - A reminder of the bitterness of slavery

Ingredients:
2 medium tart apples
1/2 cups of pitted dates
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons sweet red wine
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar

Preparation:

1. Peel the apples, take out the core and grate it.
2. Mix in the red wine, walnuts, cinnamon, sugar, and dates.

Ingredients for fish patties:
Matzo Meal to knead
1 kilogram of grind Carp fish
2 ground onions
3 ground carrots
1 ground celery root
2 ground hard-boiled eggs
1 uncooked egg
Pinch of pepper
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
Ingredients for source:
Head of Carp fish
1 onion sliced
2 cut carrots
1 teaspoon of salt
Pinch of pepper

Preparation for fish patties:

1. Mix all ingredients and add Matzo meal so you can knead the fish patties.

Preparation for sauce:

1. In a large pot put all the ingredients with water that can cover the head of the fish.
2. Boil the water.
3. Add the fish patties, if necessary, they can be in two layers. Make sure the water covers all the fish patties.
4. Boil again and lower the heat to minimum.
5. Cook for 2 hours.
6. Take immediately out of the water: the fish patties, fish head, carrots and onions, when they are done. Keep the sauce separately.
7. Arrange in a pan and refrigerate for 24 hours. You can add sauce on top of the fish when serving and decorate the fish with carrots and onion rings.

Ingredients:
1/2 chicken cut to pieces
2 onions
Celery root or 4 stalks of celery
1 bunch of parsley
6 peeled carrots
4 zucchini
1 tablespoons of instant chicken soup powder
A pinch or two of ground pepper. Use white pepper if available.
1 tablespoon of salt

Preparation:

1. Clean the chicken and remove the skin and as much of the fat as you can.
2. Put the chicken in water in a large pot and add all the ingredients.
3. Wash all vegetables.
4. Cut onions and carrots. Cut the Zucchini tips.
5. Add the celery root (in one piece) or celery stalks and the bunch of parsley. Keep the parsley in one bunch using a string.
6. Add salt, pepper and instant chicken soup powder.
7. Cover with water and boil, lower the heat and cook for an hour on medium heat.
8. When ready, take out the celery root or the celery stalks and the parsley bunch. Serve the soup with chicken and vegetables.

Ingredients:
1 cup of matzo meal
2 eggs
1/2 cup of water
4 tablespoons of oil
1 teaspoon of salt

Preparation:

1. Mix all the ingredients.
2. Refrigerate for 4-5 hours.
3. Make small balls and drop into boiling water. Water your hands from time to time so that the matzo balls will not stick to them as you're making the balls.
4. Cook for half an hour.

Ingredients:
2 pound (about 1 kilogram) roast beef
2 big onions
8 potatoes
4 tablespoons of oil
1 cup of tomato sauce
1 cup of water
1 teaspoon of salt
A pinch of pepper
1 teaspoon of paprika
2 crashed garlic cloves

Preparation:

1. Cut the beef to squares of about 1.5 inch (about 3 centimeter).
2. Cut the onion and in a large pot fry the onions in the oil.
3. Add the pieces of beef and fry them for a short time.
4. Peel the potatoes and cut to the same size as the beef.
5. Add all ingredients to the pot: the tomato sauce should almost cover the beef and potatoes.
6. Cover the pot and boil. Lower the heat and cook for 1.5 hours on low heat.

Ingredients:
8 oz. of margarine
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
1/2 pound of crumbled Halva
4 tablespoons of water
1 tablespoon of honey
1/2 cup of grape juice or water to dip the matzo in
7 matzos

Toppings:
kids can help decorate the cake with: candy, sprinkles, nuts, berries, raisins, white chocolate drops, coconut shavings or sugar powder.

Preparation:

1. Melt the margarine, sugar, water, cocoa powder, honey and Halva in a pan on low heat while mixing it so there will not be lumps and the melted chocolate will be smooth.
2. Soak the matzos in half a cup of water or grape juice for a very short time on both sides so they will absorb a little of the water but not too much that they will get mushy.
3. Place one moistened matzo on a tray and spread the melted chocolate with a spatula until the whole matzo is covered.
4. Place another matzo on top and spread the melted chocolate on top of the second one.
5. Continue to do so until you have a 6 layered cake one on top of another. Place the last 7th matzo on top and spread the top with the rest of the melted chocolate.
6. You can top it with any topping to make it festive or engage the help of the kids to decorate it.
7. Put the cake in the refrigerator for about two hours until the chocolate has hardened and the cake is set. Cut the cake into small squares with a sharp knife.

Materials:
Construction paper
Stapler
Glue
Watercolors
Colorful food magazines

Preparation:

1. Cut Passover food items from Food magazines.
2. Make a cover page: Passover menu, and decorate it with food items.
3. Make the first page The Seder Plate. Draw a Seder plate and glue or draw the Passover items: Cut the Seder items from the construction paper. Use brown to cut out a chicken leg (shank bone), white and green for the horseradish (bitter herb), green for the romaine lettuce (bitter vegetable), green for the parsley (green vegetable), red and white for apple and nut salad (H: Charoset) and use plain white paper for the egg (roasted egg).
4. The second page should be the Appetizers, draw or paint Chicken soup with Matzo balls.
5. The third page could be the Matzo.
6. The forth page could be the main meal: chicken, beef or fish.
7. The last page could be the desert such as Passover cake.
8. Put all the pages in the correct order and staple them together at the edge.
9. Put them on the table for the meal for everyone to enjoy.

Materials:
Small deep paper plate that is used for soup.
Small light brown pom-poms
Yellow crinkle strips
Brown tissue paper

Preparation:

1. Take a small paper plate that is deep and used for soup.
2. Cut a brown circle out of art tissue paper and glue to the plate.
3. Glue yellow crinkle strips and light brown pom-poms to simulate Matzo ball soap.
4. Decorate the table.

Materials:
White poster board or thick construction paper large enough for a placemat
Colored Construction paper
Colored markers or crayons
Scissors
School glue

Preparation:

1. On the large construction paper draw or glue magazines pictures from the Haggadah. You can glue or draw the Passover Plate. The best way to protect the placemat is to laminate it in a copier store so it can be used for many more years.

Materials:
Blue and white construction paper
Scissors
Glue
Ruler

Preparation:

1. Take a large blue construction paper and fold it.
2. Use a ruler to mark lines, from the bottom folded part almost to the top page, but not all the way, and leave 1 inch (about 2.5 cm) not marked.
3. Start the makes 2 inches (about 5 cm) from the left and leave 2 inches not marked on the right.
4. Cut along the marked lines.
5. Cut 1 inch (about 2.5 cm) wide, long strips of different shade of blue and white construction paper.
6. Weave them between the strips of the large blue construction paper.
7. Cut the edges of the long strips so they are the same length.
8. Glue the edges.
9. The best way to protect the placemat is to laminate it in a copier store so it can be used for many more years.

Materials:
2 square pieces of solid or colorful cloth or Felt - at least 9 inches (about 23 centimeter) by 9 inches
Fabric paint
Any combination of decorations: buttons, strings, glitter glue, pom-poms, feathers, beads, etc.
School glue
Needle and thread

Preparation:

1. Decorate the fabrics or felt. Be sure to glue or sew the decorations on well. Sewing will hold better than gluing.
2. Let it dry thoroughly.
3. Sew three sides of the fabric or felt together so it resembles a pillowcase.

You can make two Matzah covers and put the Afikoman in one of them.