Passover

It is. There seems to be a translator's disconnect here, because in Hebrew the holiday is called Pesach (pays-ach), which has nothing to do with passing over. Pesach is the word for sacrifice, as in the kind of animal sacrifice you might offer upon the birth of your firstborn, at any time of the year.

Reesa, my sorority sister, came because she wanted to learn. By the end she had gotten two impressions of this religion:
1. Don't worry, there's more food.
2. You people are insane.

Both of which are accurate impressions.

Today, we did the Tal prayer, which is the prayer for dew. This is not quite the same kind of dew that you get in the morning on summer, if you live even in suburbia. To get a good idea, go out to the closest farming region you have, and hang there a little bit before the sun appears to about an hour after it comes up. What you get is this kind of sea of fog that hovers above the flora; if the flora is trees, you can get impressive thirty-foot or more plumes of mist. Above crop plants, like corn, it is only a foot or so taller than a human. You can't see through it, and get soaked walking in it. That is the kind of dew the Tal prayer asks for.

Also, we start the Return of the Omer tomorrow. \o/