Passover Jeopardy Game #1

Counting the Omer

100

When do we start Counting The Omer

Second night of Passover

200

For How many weeks do we count the Omer?

Seven

300

What Holiday Do we celebrate after we finish counting the Omer?

Shavuot 

400

What does Omer Mean?

Sheaf

A sheaf is a bunch of grain ( in the context of counting the omer... barley) bound together after reaping. 

500

What does Shavuot mean?

How is the name of this holiday connected to the counting of the omer?

Weeks

The holiday is called Shavuot because we count the seven weeks between the holiday of Passover and Shavuot

Passover

100

On Passover, instead of bread we eat...

Matza

200

The 14th step of the Passover Seder is Hallel (Praises)

The standard group of psalms that make up a full Hallel is recited at this point. A blessing is recited over the last cup of wine and it is drunk.

Q: In Which section of the Tanakh  are all the psalms found?

Ketuvim (Writings)

300

The ________ is half of the middle matzah that is broken in the fourth step of the seder, yachatz. It is customary to hide the ________, and the person who finds it gets a prize! The ________ is eaten last of all at the seder, during step 12, tzafun.

Afikoman

400

How many steps are there in the Passover Seder

Double point if you can name them all)

15 steps

1. Kadeish: Sanctification
   A blessing is recited over wine in honor of the holiday. When the seder falls on a Friday night, this version of the Kiddush is recited for Passover and Shabbat. When the seder falls on a Saturday night, we continue with a special version of Havdalah. The wine is then drunk. A second cup is then poured (but not yet drunk).
    
2. Ur'chatz: Washing
   Participants wash their hands without a blessing in preparation for eating the Karpas.
    
3. Karpas: Vegetable
   A vegetable (usually parsley) is dipped in salt water and eaten. The vegetable symbolizes the lowly origins of the Jewish people; the salt water symbolizes the tears shed as a result of our slavery. Parsley is a good vegetable to use for this purpose, because when you shake off the salt water, it looks like tears.
    
4. Yachatz: Breaking
   The middle of the three matzot on the table is broken into two pieces. The smaller part is returned to the pile, the larger one is set aside for the afikoman (see below).
    
5. Magid: The Story
   A retelling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt and the first Pesach. This begins with the youngest person asking The Four Questions, a set of questions about the proceedings designed to encourage participation in the seder. The Magid is designed to satisfy the needs of four different types of people: the wise ones, who want to know the technical details; the wicked ones, who exclude themselves (and learn the penalty for doing so); the simple ones, who need to know the basics; and the ones who are unable to ask, who don't even know enough to know what they need to know. At the end of the Magid, a blessing is recited over the second cup of wine and it is drunk.
    
6. Rachtzah: Washing
   Participants wash their hands again, this time with a blessing, in preparation for eating the matzah.
    
7. Motzi: Blessing over Grain Products
   HaMotzi, the blessing for bread or grain products used as a meal, is recited over the matzah.
    
8. Matzah: Blessing over Matzah
   A blessing specific to matzah is recited, and a bit of matzah is eaten.
    
9. Maror: Bitter Herbs
   A blessing is recited over a bitter vegetable (usually raw horseradish; sometimes romaine lettuce), and it is eaten. This gesture symbolizes the bitterness of slavery. The maror is dipped in charoset, which symbolizes the mortar used by the Jews in building during their slavery. Note that there are two bitter herbs on the seder plate: one labeled maror and one labeled chazeret. The one labeled maror should be used for maror and the one labeled chazeret should be used in the Koreich, below.
    
10. Koreich: The Sandwich
    Rabbi Hillel was of the opinion that the maror should be eaten together with matzah and the paschal offering in a sandwich. In his honor, we eat some maror on a piece of matzah, with some charoset. (Because we no longer sacrifice animals, so there is no paschal offering to eat).
     
11. Shulchan Oreich: Dinner
    A festive meal is eaten. There is no particular requirement regarding what to eat at this meal (except, of course, that chametz cannot be eaten). Among Ashkenazi Jews, gefilte fish and matzah ball soup are often eaten at the beginning of the meal. Roast chicken or turkey are common as traditional main courses, as is beef brisket. Jews with far-ranging palates can put their own unique, contemporary stamp on this meal.
     
12. Tzafun: The Afikoman
    The piece of matzah set aside earlier is eaten as “dessert,” the last food of the meal. Different families have different traditions relating to the afikoman. Some have the children hide it, while the parents have to either find it or ransom it back. Others have the parents hide it, with a small prize given to the finder. The idea is to keep the children awake and attentive throughout the pre-meal proceedings, in anticipation of this part of the seder.
     
13. Barech: Grace after Meals
    The third cup of wine is poured, and Birkat HaMazon is recited. This is similar to the grace that would be recited on any Shabbat, but with the special insertion for Passover. At the end, a blessing is said over the third cup of wine and it is drunk. The fourth cup is poured, including a cup set aside for the prophet Elijah, who is supposed to herald the Messiah, and is supposed to come on Pesach to do so. The door is then opened to invite Elijah into our homes.
     
14. Hallel: Praises
    The standard group of psalms that make up a full Hallel is recited at this point. A blessing is recited over the last cup of wine and it is drunk.
     
15. Nirtzah: Closing
    A simple statement that the seder has been completed, with a wish that next year, we may celebrate Pesach in Jerusalem (i.e., that the Messiah will come within the next year). The closing may be followed by various traditional songs, hymns and stories.

500

Name three of the symbolic items that might be found on a Passover Seder Plate.

• Shankbone, zeroa, symbolizes the lamb that was sacrificed in ancient days
• Roasted egg, beitzah, represents the Passover offering of ancient days, as well as the wholeness and continuing cycle of life
• Bitter herbs, maror, a reminder of the bitter lives of the Hebrew slaves
• Charoset, the mixture of apples, nuts, sweet wine, cinnamon and sugar in the Ashkenazic fashion or dates, nuts and sweet wine in the Sephardic tradition, reminds us of the bricks and mortar made by the Hebrew slaves
• Greens, karpas, symbolizes spring, the time of year when Passover takes place

Holiday Rituals(name the Holiday)

100

Bedikat Hametz

(Double points if you can describe the ritual.)

What is Passover

Bedikas chametz, or bedikat chametz (בְּדִיקַת חָמֵץ‎,) is the search before the Jewish Holiday of Pesach for chametz. The search takes place after nightfall on the evening before Pesach (the night of the 14th of the Hebrew month of Nisan. When Pesach starts on Saturday night, bedikas chametz takes place on Thursday night (two nights before Pesach).

200

Mishloach Manot

(Double points if you can describe the ritual)

What is Purim

Mishloach manot (משלוח מנות)‎  literally, "sending of portions", are gifts of food or drink that are sent to family, friends and others on Purim day. The mitzvah of giving mishloach manot derives from the Book of Esther. It is meant to ensure that everyone has enough food for the Purim feast held later in the day, and to increase love and friendship among Jews and their neighbors.

300

Tashlich

(Double points if you can describe the ritual)

What is Rosh Hashanah

Tashlikh ( תשליך‎‎ "cast off") is a customary Jewish atonement ritual performed during the High Holy Days (Rosh Hashannah).

The ritual is performed at a large, natural body of flowing water (e.g., river, lake, sea, or ocean) on the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, although it may be performed until Hoshana Rabbah. People traditionally recite a Biblical passage and, sometimes, additional prayers and songs. During the Tashlikh ritual, people symbolically throw away their sins into a source of water. Some people throw small pieces of bread or pebbles into the water. 

400

Karpas: Vegetable
A vegetable (usually parsley) is dipped in salt water and eaten. The vegetable symbolizes the lowly origins of the Jewish people; the salt water symbolizes the tears shed as a result of our slavery. Parsley is a good vegetable to use for this purpose, because when you shake off the salt water, it looks like tears. 

(Double points if you know which step of the Seder this is)

Passover

Step 3

 

500

"you shall take the product of hadar trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. " - Leviticus 23:40

What is Sukkot

Seder

100

What is happening in the Seder when we say this blessing

.בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה', אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הַגָּפֶן

We are about to have one of the 4 cups of wine.

200

What is happening in the Seder when we say these blessings?

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה', אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם הַמּוֹצִיא לֶחֶם מִן הָאָרֶץ. 

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה', אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָנוּ עַל אֲכִילַת מַצָּה

The first blessing is said when you are about to eat bread or any meal, so here you are about to eat Matzah for the first time at the Seder. The second blessing is over the Mitzvah, since we are commanded to eat Matzah.

300

What is happening in the Seder when we say this blessing?

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה', אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הָאֲדָמָה

We say the blessing for something that grows in the ground as we say the blessing over the Karpas, the green vegetable, before we dip it in salt water and eat it.

400

What is happening in the Seder When we say;

.אִלּוּ הוֹצִיאָנוּ מִמִצְרַיִם וְלֹא עָשָׂה בָהֶם שְׁפָטִים, דַּיֵּנוּ

We are singing the Hebrew song Dayenu which recalls all that God did for Us.

500

What is happening when we sing or say these words;

.לְשָׁנָה הַבָּאָה בִּירוּשָלָיִם הַבְּנוּיָה

We have reached the end of the formal Seder. The words express our desire to celebrate in Jerusalem next year.

Hebrew Calendar

100

What Hebrew Month sometimes gets doubled?

Adar

200

How many months are there in a Jewish Leap year?

13 months 

(A non leap year has 12 months)

300

Number of days on a Hebrew month

What is 29 or 30

400

Name the current Hebrew year

5781

500

Name 6 Hebrew months

(Double points if you can name them all)

What is Tishrei, Heshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat, Adar, Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Av, Elul