30 Passover Quotes About The Religious Holiday

These Passover quotes from the bible, religious scholars, and authors help us understand the significance of this religious event.

Tell us your favorite Passover tradition or memory in the comment section below.

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Just what is Passover, and why do people celebrate it?

Passover is a holiday commemorating the Hebrews’ liberation from slavery in Egypt.

It includes “passing over” the slaughter of the firstborn of the Israelites when the Lord “smote the land of Egypt” on the eve of the Exodus.

This year, Passover is celebrated from Saturday, April 16 to Saturday, April 23.

During that period eating any leaven, whether in bread or other mixture, is prohibited.

Leavened bread or other baked goods means it contains baking yeast, baking powder, or baking soda.

These ingredients cause the dough to bubble and rise, creating a light, airy product.

Whereas unleavened bread is flatbread.

It doesn’t rise and often resembles a cracker.

In observance of Passover, people will eat unleavened bread, called matzo.

Keep reading through these Passover quotes to learn more about why and how this holiday is celebrated.

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Meaningful Passover quotes

1. “The Seder nights… tie me with the centuries before me.” — Ludwig Frank

2. “The message of Passover remains as powerful as ever.” — Jonathan Sacks

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3. “Do not overthrow the customs that have made it all the way to you.” — Leon Wieseltier

4. “Passover has a message for the conscience and the heart of all mankind.” — Morris Joseph

5. “I love Passover because for me it is a cry against indifference, a cry for compassion.” — Elie Wiesel

6. “Passover affirms the great truth that liberty is the inalienable right of every human being.” — Morris Joseph

7. “There comes the time at every Passover seder when someone will open a door to let in the prophet Elijah.” — Andre Aciman

8. “Jews who long have drifted from the faith of their fathers… are stirred in their inmost parts when the old, familiar Passover sounds chance to fall upon their ears.” — Heinrich Heine

9. “I suppose I am remembering Passover as a way to remind myself that the struggle for freedom is as old as time. That there are always others who yet need to be delivered.” — Jonathan Auxier

10. “Passover is my idea of a perfect holiday. Dear God, when you’re handing out plagues of darkness, locusts, hail, boils, flies, lice, frogs, and cattle murrain, and turning the Nile to blood and smiting the firstborn, give me a pass. And tell me when it’s over.” — P. J. O’Rourke

Passover celebration quotes

11. “Wishing all the joys of the Passover holiday!” — Unknown

12. “Blessed be ye of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Happy Passover!” — Unknown

13. “Passover is the most widely observed of all the Jewish holidays, and the Passover Seder… is the most practiced of all the Jewish rituals.” — Gil Marks

14. “Passover and Easter are the only Jewish and Christian holidays that move in sync, like the ice skating pairs we saw during the winter Olympics.” — Marvin Olasky

15. “Each Passover, I prepare all sorts of fancy desserts for my family and friends, often experimenting with adaptations of sophisticated modern fare.” — Gil Marks

16. “Passover is one of my favorite times of the year. This is when the whole community and family gets together to remember who we are and why we are here.” — Jennifer Wagner

17. “Passover is our tradition, and I like to keep up with that. Our ancestors couldn’t eat bread, and it’s nice for us to celebrate that every year by going through their struggles.” — Marsha Cohen

18. “A lot of people think Passover just means you can’t eat bread. But it’s so much more than that, and that’s what I find the hardest. I love ice cream, but it has corn syrup in it, so I can’t eat it.” — Marsha Cohen

19. “For the meal so simple, so meagre, rallies about it as of yore the members of the family, and with them their enthusiasm for the ancient faith. The scattered, even the indifferent, answer to the call of the Passover.” — Morris Joseph

20. “Passover takes place in the home rather than the synagogue and centers around an epic meal – the seder – so you remember Passover as storytelling, you remember it in food, and you remember it in the family.” — Simon Schama

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Passover quotes from the bible

21. “Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.” — John 6:4

22. “And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” — Luke 22:15

23. “Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves.” — John 11:55

24. “On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover.” — Joshua 5:10

25. “Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” — Corinthians 5:7

26. “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread, nor is the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover to be left over until morning.” — Exodus 34:25

27. “When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people.” — Acts 12:4

28. “Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He became twelve, they went up there according to the custom of the Feast.” — Luke 2:41-42

29. “If an alien sojourns among you and observes the Passover to the Lord, according to the statute of the Passover and according to its ordinance, so he shall do; you shall have one statute, both for the alien and for the native of the land.” — Numbers 9:14

30. “But if anyone who is ceremonially clean and not on a journey fails to celebrate the Passover, they must be cut off from their people for not presenting the LORD’s offering at the appointed time. They will bear the consequences of their sin.” — Numbers 9:13

Why do people celebrate Passover?

The matzo that people eat during Passover symbolizes both the Hebrews’ suffering while in bondage and the haste with which they left Egypt during the Exodus.

Passover is also often called the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

Passover is often celebrated with great pomp and ceremony since it is an event that commemorates freedom.

The first night is specifically important, and families will share a special meal called the seder.

During the meal, foods of symbolic significance commemorating the Hebrews’ liberation are eaten.

For example, they often dip celery in vinegar or salt water and give it to everyone.

There is also often a lamb shank which symbolizes the Paschal lamb.

The dinner also includes hard-boiled eggs, which stand for God’s kindness.

Prayers and traditional recitations occur throughout the evening.

Do you observe Passover? Let us know your traditions in the comment section below.