Video: A Mother Goose Passover Tale (The 'Other' Meaning Of The Word Pesach)

Here is a video about a deer protecting a mother goose:



Can you see the connection to Pesach?

The blog We Are For Israel explains:

Why does this connect to Passover? Because the Hebrew term Pesach is what a mother bird does to her nest, scaring off predators. So here we have a mother bird, or perhaps the deer, Pesach-ing (to use Heblish) the nest preventing the destroyer, human beings or other animals, from harming the eggs.

On the OU website, In Tzarich Iyun: The Meaning of “Pesach”, Rabbi Dr. Ari Zivotofsky explains the additional meanings of the word Pesach:

Misconception: The only meaning of “Pesach,” the Hebrew name for the holiday of Passover, is “to pass over.”

Fact: While that is a correct translation, an equally valid, and possibly older, translation is “to have compassion for.”[1]

Background: The name of the spring holiday, and its associated temple animal offering, is based on a description first found in Exodus 12:12-13, where God declares, “And I shall pass through the land of Egypt on that night [of Passover], and I shall smite every firstborn in the land of Egypt from human to animal…and I will see the blood [on the doorposts], ufasachti you.…” The root pehsamachchet is commonly translated as “and I will pass over.” In this verse, the word fasachti indicates that God will “pass over” the Jewish houses in Egypt. However, it is a rare word in the Bible, and its translation is uncertain.

Read the whole thing--and have a Chag Kasher V'Sameach.

Other Pesach links of note:

• Pesach Medicine List
• Yeshiva University' Pesach To-Go 5771 (with links to past years' shiurim)
• Who Wants To Be A Pesach Millionaire (a game to play with the kids at the seder table)

Hat tip: DK

Technorati Tag: Passover and Pesach.