Ben Noah and Passover

Question: Can Ben Noah celebrate Passover, and if so, how should he do it?


Response from Rav Uri Sherka, Head of the Bnei Noah World Center http://www.noahideworldcenter.org


Ben Noah may celebrate Passover as a celebration of freedom for humanity, which was revealed through the Exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt. He can spend Passover and Seder in almost all of its details (including eating matzah, maror, drinking four glasses of wine, and observing the commandment to abstain from chametz), except for the following:


(1) No afikoman (because the afikoman symbolizes the eating of the Passover lamb, and Ben Noach cannot eat sacrifices.


(2) Without those blessings that contain the words "Sanctified us with His commandments and commanded" because Ben Noah arranges a seder as his free desire, and not because he is obliged to celebrate it. Ben Noah misses such blessings.


(3) Where the text says "our fathers," Ben Noah says "the forefathers of the Jewish people" or simply "the Jewish people." However, where these are Tanakh verses, he reads them as they are written.