Passover With My Friend Rachel

My China cabinet isn't full of dishes: it's my one stop shop for Jewish holidays. It's full of special cups for Shabbat, felt play challah from when my kids were toddlers, candles, and more.

The plastic matzah and teeny wind-up frogs? Those are for Passover. Passover this year begins April 22nd.

We've been celebrating Passover, Pesach- in Hebrew, for almost 20 years. When I was an newly married, new convert to Judaism, I remember visiting my husband's family's synagogue in northern California. I was happy to attend the Passover seders (the festive meal) which were always so fun and rich with meaning, but the thought of ever hosting my own was overwhelming.

Passover seders are a long, interactive, food-centered events. In Judaism, the holidays often tell a story of survival. The Passover seder is a sit-down explanation of what happened in Egypt all those years ago when God delivered the ancient Israelites from the hand of Pharoah and out of slavery.

Every item on the table has meaning from the salt water in small bowls representing the tears of captives to charoset, a mixture of dried fruits, wine, and nuts that represents the mortar which along with bricks, the Hebrews used to build structures in Egypt.

Fast forward to today when I'm a believer in Jesus as the Messiah. I still observe Jewish holidays and believe they point to Yeshua. I know there are many who find that strange, but one person who shares my beliefs is a messianic Jewish woman named Rachel Kushner. She's a former educator who turned her love of teaching into a businesses that helps children and families see the Jesus in the Old Testament and Jewish holidays.

Rachel's father and grandparents fled Vienna in the 1940s when being Jewish was a deadly. She also grew up with a mother who believed in Jesus. Her messianic household celebrated the Jewish holidays while honoring Yeshua as the center of them and now her company, Links to Messiah, brings that into every home.

Links to Messiah are boxes themed with Jewish festivals and holy days such as Shabbat and Purim. Each box contains stickers, crafts, games, recipe cards and more explaining the holiday in a way children can understand and what it means for today.

The Passover boxes are here and they are amazing. Rachel sent one to me. My son is already a huge fan of Passover Bingo. You'll love explaining each tile on the bingo board and talking about what it represents (plagues of Egypt, unleavened bread, etc.).

There's a Spotify playlist with Passover songs, finger puppets- there's at least a week's worth of activities.

Links to Messiah makes the Bible come alive like a seder does. If you've been looking for a way to explain the miracle of what God did in the Egypt during the first Passover to your children, grab a Passover box for your family.