Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of the Jewish holiday of Passover, also called Pesach.
Passover
The Latest
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Fast Forward Thousands Attend Passover Priestly Blessing Rite at Western Wall
Tens of thousands of people gathered at the Western Wall for the traditional Priestly Blessing. The worshippers – estimated by the office of the rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites in Israel at 50,000 – converged on Jerusalem’s Old City on Monday for the blessing, called Birkat Kohanim in Hebrew, during the second…
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Fast Forward Barack Obama Sounds Wistful Note on Final Passover at White House
President Barack Obama sounded a wistful note in his last Passover message as president. “Mah nishtana halailah hazeh?” said the White House statement released Friday, hours before the start of the holiday, using the Haggadah’s phrase, reserved for the youngest child at the seder meal, who asks “Why is this night different from all others?”…
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Israel News Jerusalem Police Thwart Passover Goat Sacrifice Plot
Israeli police detained seven Jewish men suspected of planning to sacrifice goats in the Old City of Jerusalem in honor of Passover, reported. The arrests on Friday came amid a pre-holiday crackdown against right-wing activists whose visits to the contested Temple Mount have been at the center of months-long tensions between Israel and the Palestinians….
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Opinion I Was the ‘Child Who Does Not Know How To Ask’ — About My Father’s Suicide
Passover is here. It is usually one of my favorite holidays. I love the ritual of preparing the house, the smell of the food and the joyous atmosphere at the Seder table. But this year is different. Passover begins only three days after the one year anniversary of my father’s suicide. My father was trapped…
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Fast Forward Pope Francis Asks for Passover Prayers From Rome’s Jews
Pope Francis wished the Jewish community of Rome a happy Passover on Thursday and asked the chief rabbi to pray for him. In a message addressed to Rome’s chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, Pope Francis sent his “most heartful wishes for the feast of Passover,” referring to the Jews as God’s “beloved people.” The Catholic…
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Food With Kitniyot Ban Lifted, Could Sushi on Passover Be Kosher?
This year, the Passover menus of many American Jews may feature rice and beans — or even sushi — for the first time, thanks to new rules taking them off the list of foods forbidden during the elaborate meals prepared for the long holiday, which begins on Friday. Related Conservative Movement Overturns 800-Year-Old Passover Ban on Rice…
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The Schmooze ‘Hamilton’ Haggadah Puts Broadway in Your Seder
The idea for a Haggadah based on the music of Broadway hit “Hamilton” was planted when Emily Cohen gushed to fellow rabbinical student Jake Adler about the show’s soundtrack during their daily commute to campus. When Adler later stumbled upon a Passover-themed version of one of the songs from the hit show, written by a…
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Fast Forward Women of the Wall Barred From Holding Passover Priestly Blessing Rite at Kotel
Israel’s attorney general banned Women of the Wall from holding a priestly blessing ceremony at the Western Wall. The group, which advocates for women’s right to perform rituals that the Western Wall’s Orthodox authorities maintain are reserved for men, had planned to hold a ceremony featuring the traditional prayer on Sunday, April 24. On Thursday,…
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