Pesach/ULB - 7 or 8 days?

[MyLittleWonders]

Okay, I am confused about the number of days for Pesach/ULB. I thought that Pesach was one day, and then ULB followed for another 7, making 8 altogether. But, then I was reading on this site (http://www.angelfire.com/pa2/passover/passoverseder.html) and it says the following:

The Passover holiday was originally celebrated for 7 days as instructed by G-d in Leviticus 23:8. An 8th day was eventually added to the Passover holiday by Jewish religious authorities in Israel for Jews living outside of Israel to compensate for the calendrical time differences, for in biblical times, it took more time for Jews living outside of Israel to hear about news from Israel. So, as the Passover holiday was extended to 8 days for Jews living outside of Israel, the first two nights of the Passover holiday were designated as the nights when the Passover Seder would be celebrated for the 8-day Passover holiday celebration

So, it sounds like Biblically, Pesach/ULB should be a total of 7 days, which would make the first day - Pesach - a sabbath and the 7th day a sabbath. So, from sundown on April 23rd until sundown on April 24th (sat night - sunday), it would be the first day, Pesach, and a sabbath. Then the 7th day would also be a sabbath (which would also be the weekly sabbath). BUT, by that calendar, Firstfruits would fall completely outside of the week of ULB - it would not happen until sundown April 30 until sundown May 1. So, I'm confused. :scratch:

Can someone with more experience here actually lay out the dates this year for Pesach/ULB (and I'm speaking more to those observing Pesach according to the rabbinical dates; not those observing Pesach right now. Part of me is confused just trying to convert what I recognize as days with Jewish days. But I'm also confused about how many days exactly Pesach/ULB really should be and where Firstfruits falls within it all.

Thanks! :)

[MyLittleWonders]

Okay, another question ... I was also reading that for those that observe Pesach for 8 days, they do two seder's - one the first night and one the second night.

And ... I was reading a rabbi's account of Passover and he said that the first 2 days and last 2 days are sabbaths - I thought it was only the first day of ULB (which I thought was the day after Pesach) and the last day of ULB ... I think I get more confused the more I try to figure it out! HELP!!! :D

[MyLittleWonders]

After this I'm going to bed! ;)

Can the first day of Pesach and Firstfruits be on the same day? Because according to my Jewish calendar, the omer is counted starting on April 25, which is the second day of Pesach/ULB ...

[Sephania]

This is why I am following what the L-RD laid down in Exodus, it is his Passach and he says when to celebrate it. The torah stricktly forbids adding or subtracting from it.

[MyLittleWonders]

I totally understand that Zayit, but since we are observing Pesach according to the rabbinical calendar, I am trying to make sense of it. This is our first Pesach, so it is all very, very new to us. :)

Here is what the calendar says. Maybe someone here can help me translate it. ;)

April 23 - Nissan 14 - Pesach Eve
April 24 - Nissan 15 - First day of Pesach
April 25 - Nissan 16 - Second day of Pesach - 1 Omer
April 26 - Nissan 17 - First day Chol HaMoed - 2 Omer
April 27 - Nissan 18 - Second day Chol HaMoed - 3 Omer
April 28 - Nissan 19 - Third day Chol HaMoed - 4 Omer
April 29 - Nissan 20 - Fourth day Chol HaMoed - 5 Omer
April 30 - Nissan 21 - Seventh day of Pesach - 6 Omer
May 1 - Nissan 22 - Eighth day of Pesach - 7 Omer

[Sephania]

I know you aren't looking for answers from me but here is what the Bible says.

1 ADONAI spoke to Moshe and Aharon in the land of Egypt; he said, 2 "You are to begin your calendar with this month; it will be the first month of the year for you. 3 Speak to all the assembly of Isra'el and say, 'On the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb or kid for his family, one per household - 4 except that if the household is too small for a whole lamb or kid, then he and his next-door neighbor should share one, dividing it in proportion to the number of people eating it. 5 Your animal must be without defect, a male in its first year, and you may choose it from either the sheep or the goats. 6 "'You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, and then the entire assembly of the community of Isra'el will slaughter it at dusk.

Now if you read the site I posted, it explained that this was not on Erev Pasach, but the following evening.

7 They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the two sides and top of the door-frame at the entrance of the house in which they eat it. 8 That night, they are to eat the meat, roasted in the fire; they are to eat it with matzah and maror. 9 Don't eat it raw or boiled, but roasted in the fire,

14 "'This will be a day for you to remember and celebrate as a festival to ADONAI; from generation to generation you are to celebrate it by a perpetual regulation. 15 "'For seven days you are to eat matzah - on the first day remove the leaven from your houses. For whoever eats hametz [leavened bread] from the first to the seventh day is to be cut off from Isra'el. 16 On the first and seventh days, you are to have an assembly set aside for God. On these days no work is to be done, except what each must do to prepare his food; you may do only that. 17 You are to observe the festival of matzah, for on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt.

How many days?

18 From the evening of the fourteenth day ( this is pasach, nu?) of the first month until the evening of the twenty-first day, you are to eat matzah. 19 During those seven days, no leaven is to be found in your houses.


The evening of the 14th day of Nisan is when the lamb is to be slaughtered and the beginning of the matzah to be eaten.

http://www.lightofmashiach.org/timingofpesakh.html

You may want to read this also

http://www.lightofmashiach.org/passoverisms.html

[MyLittleWonders]

Thanks Zayit - and I apologize for sounding like I don't want to hear what you have to say or listen to your knowledge on the subject. :blush: I respect your opinion and wisdom. I know that we are using different dates this year and I only hoping to also see what someone is doing who is observing Pesach on the same dates as I. But, I appreciate your input and would love to hear anything else you have to say about Pesach/ULB. :)