Pesach 5785 | 2025

Pesach Schedule and Resources

How is this Pesach different from all other Pesachs?

For many, the age-old story of our people’s enslavement and ultimate redemption has felt utterly transformed over the last year and a half, given events in Israel, here in the United States, and around the world. Suddenly meditations on the dangers of tyranny and cruelty, the stubborn persistence of antisemitism, and the devastating suffering that comes when people are deprived of dignity and freedom seem no longer hypothetical. We know what the wise, wicked, simple, and unable to ask children bring to the seder, but what does the hopeless one say? The angry one? The one who feels afraid for the future?

Engaging in the seder rite each year is not only an opportunity to retell our people’s story, which asserts at its very core that we must use our own history of oppression to ensure that other vulnerable populations are always protected and defended, but it is also an opportunity to apply the lessons and themes of the Haggadah to our modern day. In the “Seder Resources” section of this message, you will find materials that lift up the plight of the hostages and those who lost loved ones on October 7th (RA Supplement, Mishael and Noam Zion supplement), materials that urge us to consider our moral obligations in the face of injustice (Freedom and Responsibility), and materials that help us to create a seder environment which holds space for difference (video D’var Torah). I hope that you will use these materials to craft a Pesach experience that challenges, comforts, uplifts, and inspires those around your holiday table! If I can be of help, please don’t hesitate to be in touch.

The Exodus from Egypt perhaps stands as one of our tradition’s strongest reminders to always have hope – that despite how distant and improbable redemption may seem, with faith, courage, and the strength of our tradition and our people nothing is ever impossible.

Wishing you an Early Chag Semeach,
Rabbi Annie Tucker

Pre-Passover Community Shabbat Dinner on Friday, 4/11. Join us at TIC on the last Shabbat before Passover for Shabbat services and enjoy a delicious Shabbat dinner. Pre-registration is required. Please note that registration is now closed.

Sell your chametz here.

Ma’ot Hittim Before Passover, it is customary to give Ma’ot Hittim, charity for the Passover needs of the poor. Donations will eventually be made to the New York Board of Rabbis’ Ma’ot Hittim Fund, which serves the entire New York metropolitan area but may be channeled through Rabbi Tucker’s Discretionary Fund. Online donations can be made at www.templeisraelcenter.org/secure/Donations. Please choose “Ma’ot Hittim” listed beneath “Rabbi Tucker’s Discretionary Fund” or mail checks payable to “Temple Israel Center” with “Rabbi Tucker’s Discretionary Fund – Ma’ot Hittim” in the memo line to Temple Israel Center, 280 Old Mamaroneck Road, White Plains, NY 10605.

See the Rabbinical Assembly (RA) Pesach Guide here.

SEDER RESOURCES

  • A new Rabbinical Assembly (RA) Haggadah Supplement, “Vehi She-Amdah for Our Times” can be found here.
  • Mishael and Noam Zion’s 5784 Pesach Supplement, “In Every Generation,” can be found here.
  • For pre-Pesach viewing, a short video D’var Torah on creating space for those with differing viewpoints can be found here.

PESACH WHICH BEGINS ON SATURDAY NIGHT

  • The first seder this year falls on Saturday night which means that many of the holiday’s observances are moved earlier so as not to conflict with Shabbat – please see full schedule below.
  • Making Motzi on Friday Night and Shabbat Morning: There are two halakhically acceptable options for making motzi on the Shabbat leading into Pesach:
    1. Use egg matzah. Egg matzah is not technically considered matzah but is also not chametz. Two sheets of egg matzah can be used in place of challah on both Friday night and Shabbat morning. This is what we will be doing at TIC at our community Shabbat dinner Friday night and at Kiddush Saturday morning. (Note: Regular matzah should not be used on the Shabbat leading into Pesach in order that we arrive at seder night with an appetite for the matzah we are about to enjoy.)
    2. Eat chametz, but very carefully. The chametz sale document, and the way that we dispose of chametz, has a loophole for any chametz that we are planning to eat on the rest of Friday evening or (early) Shabbat morning. We can therefore hold back enough challah for Shabbat dinner and (early) Shabbat lunch – this is a great time for paper plates or outdoor dining! We finish eating chametz by 10:15 am and dispose of any leftovers by 11:35 am, thus rendering them inedible. At that time, we recite the “Kol Chamira” formula (normally recited when burning the chametz) that cancels any remaining chametz.
  • Starting Seder Early: The seder commemorates the eating of the Paschal lamb with matzah and maror and telling the story of the Exodus which occurred as the 15th of Nisan began, after dark, and this is traditionally the earliest time that a seder should begin. Additionally, we generally do not start a Yom Tov (holiday) early when it follows Shabbat due the particular sanctity of the Sabbath day and the restrictions it carries. Still, the rabbis recognized that starting seder late in the evening could be difficult for young children, who are the primary audience for this ritual, and even for adults whose ability to fully enter into the joy and meaning of the night might wane given to fatigue.

A full treatment of these issues can be found in Rabbi Joshua Heller’s teshuvah, “Seder, and other Yom Tov Observances, Before Dark” which can be found here. He essentially offers three options, listed below in order of preference:

    1. The Traditional Approach: If it is within the capacity of all attending to participate fully in a Seder beginning after dark, this would be the preferred option.
    2. Seder Out of Order: Begin Seder at any time after plag haminha (6:10 pm this year on seder night), timing its performance so that some portion of the telling and the consumption of matzah and maror (the most central elements of the seder), fall after dark. Havdalah, which is traditionally said over the first cup of wine, should be postponed until Shabbat is over and can be said on any subsequent cup instead.
    3. The Lenient Approach: Begin Seder at any time after plag haminha, working under the assumption that once one begins Yom Tov, even if it’s early, it is now appropriate to perform all night-time rituals including matzah and maror. (Here, too, Havdalah should not be said until after Shabbat ends.)

Please Note: Because Pesach begins on a Saturday night this year, many of the holiday’s observances are moved earlier so as not to conflict with Shabbat.
Please see the TIC emails for passwords.

Thursday, 4/10 (Siyyum Bekhorim, Bedikat Chametz)
7:00 am: Siyyum Bekhorim/Morning Minyan in person and Zoom
Join us for minyan in person or on Zoom followed by a siyyum (completion of learning ceremony) led by members of our congregation who have recently finished studying major sections of Jewish text. In the spirit of celebration which is shared by a whole community, first borns who attend are released from the traditional pre-Passover fast.
8:00 pm: Evening services in person and Zoom
At nightfall or after – Bedikat Chametz (searching for chametz) should be done in one’s home.

Friday, 4/11 (Mechirat Chametz, Bi’ur Chametz, Erev Shabbat)
7:15 am: Morning services in person and Zoom
11:00 am: Latest time to make Rabbi Tucker your agent for selling chametz
11:36 am: Latest time to burn chametz (without reciting the second nullification formula – that should be said on Saturday morning instead)
5:30 pm: Mincha, Kabbalat Shabbat, and Ma’ariv services in person and livestream
7:12 pm: Shabbat candle-lighting

Saturday, 4/12 (Erev Pesach: First Seder, Bittul Chametz)
9:15 am: Shabbat services in person and livestream
10:15 am: Latest time to eat chametz
11:00 am: Tot Shabbat service: children 0-5
11:00 am: Kinderminyan Shabbat service: grades K-2
11:00 am: Learning Minyan Shabbat service: grades 3-5
11:35 am: Latest time to nullify chametz (and recite the nullification formula)
1:30 pm: Mincha services in person and livestream (please note the change in time and that there are no Ma’ariv services)
8:14 pm: First night candle-lighting (transferring from a pre-existing flame)

Sunday, 4/13 (Pesach I: Second Seder)
9:15 am: Holiday services in person and livestream
11:00 am: Tot Passover service: children 0-5
11:00 am: Kinderminyan Passover service: grades K-2
11:00 am: Learning Minyan Passover service: grades 3-5
6:00 pm: Mincha/Ma’ariv services in person and livestream
8:15 pm: Second night candle-lighting (transferring from a pre-existing flame)

Monday, 4/14 (Pesach II)
9:15 am: Holiday services in person and livestream
11:00 am: Tot Passover service: children 0-5
11:00 am: Kinderminyan Passover service: grades K-2
11:00 am: Learning Minyan Passover service: grades 3-5
7:15 pm: Mincha/Ma’ariv services in person and livestream
8:16 pm: Havdalah

Tuesday-Thursday, 4/15-4/17 (Chol HaMoed Pesach III-V)
7:00 am: Morning services in person and Zoom
8:00 pm: Evening services in person and Zoom

Friday, 4/18 (Chol HaMoed Pesach VI, Erev Shabbat)
7:00 am: Morning services in person and Zoom
6:10 pm: Mincha, (abbreviated) Kabbalat Shabbat, and Ma’ariv services in person and livestream
7:20 pm: Shabbat candle-lighting

Saturday, 4/19 (Pesach VII)
9:15 am: Shabbat/Holiday services in person and livestream
11:00 am: Tot Shabbat and Passover service: children 0-5
11:00 am: Kinderminyan Shabbat and Passover service: grades K-2
11:00 am: Learning Minyan Shabbat and Passover service: grades 3-5
7:10 pm: Mincha/Ma’ariv services in person and livestream
8:23 pm: Candle-lighting and lighting of Yizkor candle (transferring from a pre-existing flame)

Sunday, 4/20 (Pesach VIII, Yizkor)
9:15 am: Holiday services in person and livestream
11:00 am: Tot Passover service: children 0-5
11:00 am: Kinderminyan Passover service: grades K-2
11:00 am: Learning Minyan Passover service: grades 3-5
11:15 am: Yizkor service in person and livestream
3:00 pm: Passover Playground Playdate: children 0-5
7:10 pm: Mincha/Ma’ariv services in person and livestream
8:23 pm: Havdalah
8:30 pm: Those who sold their chametz through TIC may now enjoy it!

  • Affiliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism