Editing Jewish holidays (section)

====Eve of Passover and Fast of the Firstborn====
[[File:Seder Plate.jpg|250px|right|thumb|Traditional arrangement of symbolic foods on a [[Passover Seder Plate]]]]
[[File:Sedertable.jpg|thumb|200px|Table set for [[Passover]] [[seder]]]]
The day before Passover (''Erev Pesach,'' lit., "Passover eve") is significant for three reasons:
* It is the day that all of the involved preparations for Passover, especially [[Passover#Removing all leaven (chametz)|elimination of leavened food, or ''chametz'']], must be completed. In particular, a formal search for remaining ''[[chametz]]'' is done during the evening of Erev Pesach, and all remaining ''chametz'' is finally destroyed, disposed of or nullified during the morning of Erev Pesach.<ref name="Pesahim">See the Talmud tractate [[Pesaḥim]] in both the Mishnah and Gemara, among many sources.</ref>
* It is the day observed as the [[Fast of the Firstborn]] (תענית בכורות). Jews who are firstborn<ref group=Note>Exactly what this means is disputed.  See [[Fast of the Firstborn#Qualifications for fasting|Fast of the Firstborn (Qualifications for fasting)]].</ref> fast, in remembrance of the [[Plagues of Egypt#plague10|tenth plague]], when God killed the Egyptian firstborn, while sparing the Jewish firstborn.<ref>See ''Masechet Soferim'' 21:3 and ''Shulḥan Aruch Oraḥ Ḥayyim'' 470:1.</ref> This fast is overridden by a ''[[seudat mitzvah]]'', a meal celebrating the fulfillment of a commandment; accordingly, it is almost universal for firstborn Jews to attend such a meal on this day<ref group=Note>The Halachic authorities say that a meal associated with a [[Brit milah]] is for sure a seudat mitzvah for these purposes, and they are debate whether a [[seudat mitzvah#Seudat Siyum Masechet|''siyum'']] is enough. Nevertheless, the common practice is to allow for a siyyum, a meal celebrating the conclusion of substantial study of Talmud, and this is what is usually done since there is great flexibility around scheduling such an event.</ref> so as to obviate their need to fast.
* During the era of the Temple in Jerusalem, the ''[[Korban Pesach]]'', or sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb, was carried out the afternoon of 14 Nisan in anticipation of its consumption on Passover night.<ref name="Pesahim"/> This is reflected in post-temple time through slight changes to the liturgy.

When Passover starts on Sunday, and the eve of Passover is therefore Shabbat, the above schedule is altered. See [[Eve of Passover on Shabbat]] for details.