Kathmandu, April 19 -- On April 19, nearly 2,000 Jewish people from across Asia will gather in Kathmandu for the annual Passover festival, one of the most important Jewish holidays. They come from India, Thailand, Australia, Israel, the US and Europe, and are mostly young backpackers in the region for hiking, trekking and general touristing. But for the first two days of the festival, they all congregate in Kathmandu for the Passover Seder, a feast that marks the beginning of Passover.

Passover, a traditional Jewish festival, is celebrated by Jewish people all around the world to commemorate their emancipation from slavery in ancient Egypt by the God Jehovah himself and their liberation as a nation under the leadership of Moses over 3000...