Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of the Jewish holiday of Passover, also called Pesach.
Passover
The Latest
-
News Is Smoking Kosher for Passover — and What About Pot?
Smoking is one of those topics that ties rabbis up in knots, and marijuana just clouds the issue even more. And that’s before Jewish dietary laws even come into it. Yes, smoking is now acknowledged to be bad for you, so indulgence ostensibly contravenes the command not to desecrate the body. But it is also…
-
Fast Forward Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Backs Off ‘Obama Is Haman’ Rant
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin reversed his earlier comparison of President Obama to the biblical villain Haman, saying that Iran — not the president — is comparable to the ancient enemy of the Jews. In an interview Wednesday, Riskin, the American-born chief rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Efrat and the founder of New York City’s…
-
News Celebrating Holiday of Freedom in an Israeli Desert Jail
Perhaps the most relevant Seder in Israel took place in the most isolated of places. The Holot Residency Center is located near the border with Egypt, an hour’s ride southwest from the city of Beersheba into the desert. This detention facility is home to people like Mutasim Ali, who fled the war-torn Darfur region in…
-
Culture Nicole Eisenman Is an Artist With a Lot on Her ‘Seder’ Plate
The first things I noticed when standing in front of Nicole Eisenman’s “Seder,” a painting commissioned by the Jewish Museum in 2010 depicting a family Passover gathering, were the hands. Garishly pink and fleshy, they rise from the lower edge of the canvas. They’re cartoonish, really, like something out of the work of Philip Guston,…
-
Recipes New Cookbook Offers Fresh Take on Holiday Food
“‘The New Passover Menu’ has arrived in order to set you free,” Paula Shoyer tells readers in the introduction of her newest cookbook, published by Sterling Epicure. That promise, from the author of “The Holiday Kosher Baker,” intrigued me. From what would we be liberated? What I found was that the assortment of recipes in…
-
Recipes Banana Charoset (No Kidding)
An audacious twist on a Passover staple. Photograph by Michael Bennett Kress Charoset is the element on the Seder plate that represents the mortar used by the Israelite slaves to build bricks. Growing up, I had Seders almost exclusively at my parents’ house or at a handful of other relatives’ homes, and everyone made the…
-
Recipes Crunchy Quinoa With Sweet Potatoes
Photograph by Michael Bennett Kress Quinoa is the greatest new addition to the Passover pantry. It finally received definitive rabbinic approval for Passover in 2014, after a rabbi was dispatched to Peru and Bolivia to see how quinoa is grown. He learned that quinoa grows at very high altitudes, while the grains that are prohibited…
-
Recipes Sephardic Poached Fish in Pepper Sauce
Photograph by Michael Bennett Kress This recipe is versatile and can be made with any type of white fish or salmon. You can really kick up the spice factor by adding a tablespoon of store-bought harissa or some more chili powder, hot paprika or red pepper flakes. This dish also can be served as a…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 2
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 3
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
- 4
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward J.B. Pritzker accuses Trump of ‘disparaging the very foundation of Judaism’
-
Fast Forward Trump on Iran: ‘If we don’t make a deal, I’ll be leading the pack’ into war
-
Opinion No, Pete Hegseth and Itamar Ben-Gvir don’t look alike — but that’s where the differences end
-
News Why Zohran Mamdani believes he’ll win over Jewish voters, as Israel critic surges to second behind Cuomo in NYC mayoral race
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
