Passover

FTJC is here for us with guidance and resources for a chag kasher vesame'ach, a kosher and joyful holiday. Our collective journey continues. Step by step, we'll get closer to that freer future that's over the horizon.

Quick links:
Seder Match for Hosts and Guests
Pre-Pesach Prep
Selling Chametz
Kashering for Passover
Burning Chametz
Fast of the First-Born
Service Times and Locations
Community Picnic, Day 2
Rimonim Youth & Family Programs
Lighting Candles, Cooking, and Preparation for Shabbat, Yom Tov, and Seders
When Erev Pesach falls on Shabbat

NOTE: The Fort Tryon Jewish Center will not be hosting a Community Seder this year. Those looking for a community seder might wish to look into the options offered by our neighbors at the Hebrew Tabernacle and the Beis Community. 
 

Seder Match for Hosts and Guests
For current FTJC members
"Let all who are hungry come and eat, let all who are in need participate in Pesach!" If you are able to make room for a fellow FTJC member, or if you are a FTJC member in need of a spot at a seder, please fill out this form, so we can help our community celebrate together. Hosts, let us know how many you can accommodate, and thank you for such generous hospitality! Guests, we can only try to find you a place for one seder, so please indicate which night(s) you need. The form includes options to specify details about the seder, kashrut, and more. Please note: the first seder night is Saturday April 12, and the second seder night is Sunday April 13. With regrets, we are only able to offer this matching for current FTJC members. We cannot guarantee matches but will do our best! Please complete this form by 11:59pm on Wednesday, April 2 (and note that there is a second page with more specific questions to facilitate matches). We will aim to notify hosts and guests of matches on Friday April 4. Thank you! 

Pre-Pesach Prep

Help Others to Afford Pesach — Ma’ot Chittin
Pesach can be expensive! That’s why our tradition includes the mitzvah of donating ma’ot chittin (literally, “wheat money”) to help Jews afford the basics. This year, the need is great. The Jewish Community of Washington Heights and Inwood helps to ensures that these needs are met. Donations are welcome via website www.jccwhi.org or via Zelle/QuickPay to dhes@jccwhi.com or via Venmo @jewishcommunitycouncil. Donations also welcome to the FTJC Rabbi's Discretionary Fund. If you need financial help yourself, please contact the JCC or e-mail Rabbi Austrian as soon as possible.

Get Rid of Your Chametz–Food Drive for JCC-WHI
Can’t eat all that pasta and cereal before Pesach? Give it away to the JCC-WHI food pantry, which serves the entire neighborhood. Donated food must have a hechsher (kosher symbol), be not opened, not expired, and not “junk food”! Drop it off at 121 Bennett Ave #11A @ W. 187th St.  The Fort Fridge at Fort Washington Ave. and 181st St. is another great place to give. 

Sell the Chametz Left Behind — Mechirat Chametz
Chametz should neither be seen in your home, business or vehicle, nor owned by you, during Pesach. Chametz includes not only wheat, but also spelt, rye, oats, and barley. In a case where getting rid of your chametz would cause you a substantial loss (e.g., your collections of small-batch bourbon and heirloom spelt flours, or all your year-round pots and pans), you can put it out of sight and out of reach, and authorize Rabbi Austrian to sell it on your behalf to a non-Jew, for the duration of Pesach. CLICK HERE TO FILL OUT THE AUTHORIZATION FORM — DEADLINE: end of Thursday April 10 at 11:59 PM.

Make Your Kitchen Kosher
Scrub, switch, boil, wash — the process of kashering a kitchen for Pesach can be exhaustive and exhausting, but it doesn't need to be. Approached with a sense of sacred avodah (work, or divine service), it can be a beautifully focused discipline, and achievable in a few hours. Just don’t leave it to the last minute!

Kashrut and cleaning guidelines are available in the Pesach Guide of the Rabbinical Assembly, as well as from Star-K and OU certification agencies. A note about egg replacements from the RA for 2025: "Egg Replacer Powder Products may not have kosher for Passover certification and are acceptable only if certified gluten free. Other substitutes sometimes suggested for eggs, such as flax seed, mashed bananas, potatoes, or sweet potatoes are acceptable if homemade, not canned. Aquafaba, the liquid from preparing chickpeas, is acceptable for those who consume kitniyyot on Passover."

Video tutorials: Two series of brief videos on kashering your kitchen for Pesach are available from the Rabbinical Assembly and from the Hadar Institute.

The "Minimalist's Guide to Passover and Seder" (updated 2021) by Rabbanit Leah Sarna may also be helpful in understanding what's essential, to save time and money.

Kitniyot: A Long Note about Small Things
Until recently, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly (Conservative) upheld the longstanding Ashkenazi minhag (custom) of refraining from eating kitniyot (literally, “small things”) which include beans, corn, millet, peas, rice, soy, and some other plant-based foods such as mustard, buckwheat and sesame seeds. In Fall 2015 the CJLS approved two responsa (halachic opinions) which permit the consumption of kitniyot for Ashkenazim. To fully understand their positions, which differ in their reasons, please see here and here; to read the dissenting opinion see here. If you would like to discuss your own practice, feel free to contact Rabbi Austrian. We trust that our community members will speak with one another about this issue with utmost respect and kindness, not indulging in gossip or judgment.

Resources for Making a Seder
We are delighted to make available again the FTJC Siblinghood Cookbook full of easy and delicious Passover recipes; a compilation of links to online haggadahs, translations, transliterations, and common melodies. Two recent resources are A Different Pesach: Ideas for Solo and Small Sedarim, written by a team of innovative Jewish educators, as well as The Solo Seder. 

Find and Burn the Last Crumbs of Chametz — Bedikah and Bi’ur
Thursday night April 10, Friday morning April 11, Saturday morning April 12

Special three-part schedule due to Erev Pesach falling on Shabbat this year.
The search for chametz is conducted on Thursday night immediately after dark.
The latest time for burning or destroying chametz not needed for Shabbat is Friday at 11:37 AM.
The latest time for eating chametz is Shabbat morning at 10:16 AM.
The latest time for destroying (not by burning) any final chametz, and reciting the final nullification formula, is Shabbat morning at 11:36 AM (in Washington Heights and Inwood).

This blessing guide contains the procedures and blessings for finding, annulling, and burning the last crumbs of chametz in your house. See also this Bedikat Chametz FAQ.

Step One: On Thursday night, April 10, “hide” and “find” a few last pieces of bread or other chametz in the house, by candlelight. Gather the crumbs safely in a sealed bag. The search is also a spiritual one, for the last bits of pride and oppression inside of you. Get ready to burn them up.

Step Two: On Friday morning, April 11, destroy any chametz that you found last night, or that you won't need for your Shabbat meals. You can burn the chametz (and the utensils used in the search) in a fire barrel behind the Breuer's shul on Bennett Ave. between W. 184 and W. 186. It can also be destroyed by flushing it (if it won't bust the pipes), burning it carefully in a metal sink, or putting into the garbage (outside your apartment - ideally out of the building but at least in the building's communal garbage area). Unlike most years, don't recite the final nullification formula today.

Step Three: The final nullification formula is said on Saturday morning, April 12, Erev Pesach, by 11:36 AM. Chametz cannot be burned on Shabbat, so any chametz remaining from Friday night or Shabbat morning should be destroyed in another way.
 

Fast or Feast for the First-Born
Siyyum for Ta’anit Bechorot
Thursday April 10, 7:00 AM Shacharit, 8:00 AM Siyyum
Fellowship Hall and Atrium
Registration encouraged but not required, to help us provide the right amount of food.

Our Sages mark the horror of, and our deliverance from, the Plague of the Slaying of the First-Born, by prescribing a Fast of the First-Born (Ta’anit Bechorot) on the day before the first night of Pesach, from dawn until the Seder. This fast applies to adult Jews of all genders who are first-born (or only) children of any of their parents. But we traditionally replace the fast with a se’udat mitzvah (ritual meal) in response to the siyyum (completion) of a substantial portion of Jewish text learning. To be exempt from the fast, join the community for morning prayers, a brief teaching by Rabbi Guy Austrian on Masechet Rosh Hashanah of the Babylonian Talmud, and a light breakfast with bagels & shmear.
Please register so that we know we will have a minyan and enough bagels to go around!
 

Prayer Services and Yizkor
Join us for festival prayers, complete with special Torah readings, joyful and song-filled Hallel, and once-a-year sacred poetry including Tal (the Prayer for Dew) and Shir ha-Shirim (Song of Songs). All services in our home at the Fort Wasington Collegiate Campus.

Shabbat Hagadol Sermon – Saturday April 5, 10:30 AM
During services on the Shabbat before Pesach, Rabbi Guy Austrian will address the community on a topic relating to the halachot (laws and practices) of Pesach. This year, when Erev Pesach falls on Shabbat, this sermon is moved to the preceding Shabbat.
Children's services: as on a typical Shabbat morning.

Shabbat of Erev Pesach – Saturday April 12, 9:00 AM
Shabbat Hagadol's special Haftarah is read during this service, which is also Erev Pesach, the day before the First Seder.
Children's services: combined into two groups, regular times and formats.
FTJC will not hold Minchah/Ma'ariv on this Shabbat.

Pesach Day 1, Sunday April 13, 9:30 AM
Featuring “Tal” (A Prayer for Dew) at Musaf — don’t miss this dramatic once-a-year prayer, in which initial letters fall from tav ת to aleph א, like dew descending from the divine, like redemption upon our people and our land.
Children's Services: combined into two groups, regular times and formats.

Pesach Day 2, Monday, April 14, 9:30 AM
Children's Services: combined into two groups, regular times and formats.

Pesach Chol Hamo'ed
Thursday April 17, 7:00 AM (Day 5)
Friday April 18, 7:30 AM (Day 6)

Shabbat, Pesach Day 7, Saturday, April 19, 9:00 AM
Featuring the once-a-year delight of the multi-gendered love poetry of Shir Hashirim (the Song of Songs), as well as “Shirat Ha-Yam,” the dramatic reading of the Song at the Sea. 
Children's services as on a typical Shabbat at 10:00 AM (for Nitzanim and Shorashim) and 10:45 (for Zeraim and Nevatim).

Pesach Day 8, Sunday April 20, 9:00 AM -- with Yizkor at about 10:45 AM
Remembering those who have left our world with Yizkor's psalms, readings and the liturgy of mourning. Donations in honor of Yizkor may be made to FTJC by clicking here.
Children's services as on a typical Shabbat 10:00 AM (for Nitzanim and Shorashim, K-5th) and 10:45 (for Zeraim and Nevatim, 0-4).
 

Community Picnic, Passover Day 2

Monday April 14, 12:30-2:00 PM
Cafe Lawn, Fort Tryon Park
Weather permitting. No registration required. Please bring your own K for P food! We hope for a lovely, informal time to be together in the sun.
 

Rimonim Youth & Family Programs

Passover Fest with Rimonim!
Wednesday April 9, 4:00-6:00 PM
Collegiate Campus
FTJC families join forces with the Rimonim Torah School as we get ready for Pesach! We will play Pesach games, eat some special Pesach snacks, and get ready for the seder together. Children in Kindergarten to 5th grade are welcome to be dropped off; younger children are welcome to join with their grown-ups. Please register here!

See also, Pesach-themed Children's Services during prayer services on all days of Yom Tov and Shabbat Chol Hamo'ed.
 

Lighting Candles, Cooking, and Preparation for Shabbat, Yom Tov, and Seders

Erev Shabbat, Friday evening April 11, candle-lighting time is 7:13 PM, 18 minutes before sunset. Before Shabbat begins, prepare a long-burning flame (such as a 25-hour candle or a pilot light on a gas stove), then light two candles as usual, and bless "...lehadlik ner shel Shabbat."

To keep Shabbat a day of celebration rather than a day of preparation for Pesach, we try to set up for the First Seder as much as possible before Shabbat, and to frame any cleanup as intended for the beauty and enjoyment of Shabbat.

Day 1 of Pesach begins with a Saturday night First Seder, into the daytime of Sunday. Candle-lighting time on Saturday night is not before 8:14 PM, nightfall. To light candles for Day 1, we do not light a new flame (or extinguish one), but we can transfer from an existing flame with a match or stick. Use the long-burning flame or pilot light that was prepared before Shabbat, then light two candles as usual, and bless "...lehadlik ner shel yom tov" and "shehechiyanu." Then light another yahrzeit candle if needed to keep a flame for another 24 hours. Do not extinguish the match or stick but let it go out on a tray. Follow the procedure for a Saturday night kiddush and havdalah known as "Yaknehaz" (an acronym for yayin, kiddush, ner, havdalah, zeman) as found in a siddur or Haggadah. Havdalah is typically made over the Yom Tov candles, not the usual braided havdalah candle.

To keep the first Yom Tov a day of celebration rather than a day of preparation for the second day, we try to set up for the Second Seder as little as possible, having done most preparation before Shabbat, and to frame any cleanup as intended for the beauty and enjoyment of the first day, holding off as much as possible until after plag haminchah on Sunday afternoon (6:11 PM), when transitioning toward Day 2 of Pesach.

Day 2 begins with a Sunday night Second Seder, into the daytime of Monday. Candle-lighting time on Sunday night is 8:15 PM, nightfall. To light candles for Day 2, transfer fire from the existing flame, using a match or stick. Then light two candles and bless "lehadlik ner shel yom tov" and "shehechiyanu." Do not extinguish the match or stick but let it go out on a tray. At the end of Day 2, make havdalah with only wine or grape juice, and the blessings "borei peri hagafen" and "hamavdil" (no spices or candle).

Day 7, Yom Tov, coinciding with Shabbat, begins on Friday night April 18, into Saturday. Candle-lighting time for Day 7 on Friday evening is 7:20 PM, 18 minutes before sunset. Before the holiday begins, prepare a long-burning flame (such as a 25-hour candle or a pilot light on a gas stove), then light two candles as usual, and bless "lehadlik ner shel shabbat veshel yom tov" (without adding "shechiyanu"). Kiddush is made for evening of a Yom Tov, with insertions for Shabbat.

Day 8, Yom Tov, begins with Saturday night going into Sunday. Candle-lighting time on Saturday night is not before 8:21 PM, nightfall. Transfer fire from the existing flame, using a match or stick; do not extinguish the match or stick but let it go out on a tray. If your custom is to light a memorial candle for Yizkor, which will be recited on Sunday morning at shul, first light that candle. Then light the two Yom Tov candles and bless "...lehadlik ner shel yom tov" (without adding "shehechiyanu".) Follow the procedure for a Saturday night kiddush and havdalah known as "Yaknehaz" (but this time without "shehechiyanu") as found in a siddur or Haggadah. On Sunday night, the final havdalah at 8:24 PM brings the conclusion of the holiday, recited over wine or grape juice with the blessings "borei peri hagafen" and "hamavdil" only (no spices or candle).

When Erev Pesach Falls on Shabbat

This year, because Erev Pesach falls on Shabbat and the First Seder begins on a Saturday night, many of the ritual preparations that are normally done on Erev Pesach cannot be done because they would violate Shabbat, and therefore are moved to the preceding Thursday or Friday. It is also a challenge to have Shabbat meals.

A slide deck here shows a simplified, illustrated explanation of how the timing of Pesach preparation shifts when Erev Pesach falls on Shabbat.

The basic schedule of events for a year such as this follows.

Thursday:
- Fast of the Firstborn (Ta'anit Bechorot) with a morning Siyum to break the fast.
- Kasher the kitchen (to enable cooking on Friday; kashering may also be done before Thursday, or even on Friday until Shabbat).
- Search for chametz right after dark.
- Annulment of chametz by recitation of the ritual text after the search.

Friday:
- Sale of chametz, ideally before 11:37 AM.
- Burning of chametz, except for Shabbat needs, ideally before 11:37 AM, without the ritual text.
- Cooking for Shabbat meals and First Seder, including seder plate items and ritual foods.
- Preparing for Seder, to avoid using Shabbat time to prepare for the holiday.
- Shabbat dinner may be made with two loaves of bread, taking care to avoid crumbs getting into K for P areas or coming into contact with K for P utensils.

Saturday:
- 10:16 AM is the latest time for eating chametz.
- 11:36 AM is the latest time for destroying (not by burning) and annulling any remaining chametz by reciting the ritual text.
- If davening early at home and completing Shabbat lunch before 10:16 AM, the meal can include chametz, with two loaves of bread, taking care to avoid crumbs getting into K for P areas or coming into contact with K for P utensils.
- If davening at shul and/or eating Shabbat lunch after 10:16 AM, bread is not permitted, but regular matzah is not permitted until the Seder. Though some disagree, at lunch one may use two pieces of egg matzah (matzah ashirah) and recite the "hamotzi" blessing; another possibility is cooked matzah (such as "matzah lasagna").
- The third meal of Shabbat, se'udah shelishit, should be eaten in the afternoon. Egg matzah may be used with the blessing "hamotzi," though a second piece is not necessary; alternatively, a cooked food made of matzah meal may be eaten with the blessing "mezonot," or any substantive food such as vegetables, cheese, fish, or meat. One should not overeat at this meal, nor have it late in the day (before about 4:00 PM), so as to ensure an appetite for the Seder and the first taste of regular matzah.

For more detailed explanations and guidance, including variations on rulings and customs regarding the Shabbat meals (when, where, and what to eat), and differences between Ashkenazi and Sephardi practice, please see information from the OU, Rabbi David Golinkin, and/or Halachipedia.

As always, Rabbi Guy is available for questions and guidance.