On the origins of Passover

BELATEDLY FOR PASSOVER: The Surprising Ancient Origins of Passover. The holiday we know today began as two distinct ones, one for nomadic herders and one for farmers. Neither involved Egypt (Elon Gilad, Haaretz).

The Passover Seder is one of the most recognized and widely practiced of Jewish rituals, yet had our ancestors visited one of these modern-day celebrations, they would be baffled.

Not only does our modern Seder wildly diverge from the Passover of old: during antiquity itself the holiday underwent radical changes. Below we chart as best we can - considering the shortage of historical documentation - the origins of Passover, from the dawn of Israelite people to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, and the consequent establishment of the embryonic Passover Seder, which modern Jews would recognize.

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This came out in late March. I've been meaning to get to it. It involves a good bit of speculation. But overall it's a plausible reconstruction.

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