Source: Plain Dealer

On April 9, 2003 the Plain Dealer reported that "for Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews alike, the Passover holiday begins this year at sundown on April 16. Festive, ceremonial meals called Seders mark the first two nights of the eight-day commemoration of the Jewish exodus from Egypt more than 3,000 years ago. Matzo, made with only flour, water and salt, is eaten instead of bread. No products containing a leavening agent (yeast, baking powder or baking soda) are consumed... Over the centuries, Jews in different parts of the world developed their own religious and cultural traditions, which often reflected practices common to the lands where they made their homes... 'There are many differences between Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jewish Passover traditions,' says Rabbi Bensoussan, who presides over the congregation at the Taylor Road Synagogue in Cleveland Heights... 'But,' he adds, 'the meaning of the holiday is the same for us all.'"