Everything you need for Passover

Click on the links below for your Passover information:

Rabbi Paskind's Pesach Guide 5785

      Congregation Beth El Pesach Guide 5785

15–22 Nisan 5785      April 12-20, 2025

Dear Beth El family,

It’s Pesach time!  This year, the sedarim fall on Saturday and Sunday evenings, April 12 and 13.  The last 2 days fall on Saturday and Sunday, April 19 and 20.  And since the first seder is on a Saturday night, there are a few “extras” to prep for!

In this Guide, you’ll find information about:

1. Preparing the Passover Kitchen
2. What Shall We Eat?
3. Disposing of chametz

Note: Shabbat before Pesach:  challah or matzah?

4. Planning your seder
5. Siyyum for the Firstborn (Thursday, April 10!)
6. Holiday services
7. Preparing the Passover Kitchen

Pesach is a time for embracing freedom, and in practice, that often involves a major spring cleaning and, for many, a kitchen overhaul.  However you prepare your home, you probably have questions.  Everything you need to know is in the Rabbinical Assembly 2025/5785 Pesach Guide.  If you have any questions along the way, please get in touch with Rabbi Paskind.

2. What shall we eat?

Whether you’re planning for apples-and-walnuts charoset or dried fruit-and-coconut charoset; whether you’re avoiding or embracing kitniyot (legumes); whether your seder features a brisket or a chicken or is dairy (what?!  You can do that?!)… we’ve got you covered.  The Rabbinical Assembly 2025/5785 Pesach Guide specifies which food items never need a KfP label, which need it only if purchased on the holiday, and which items always need a special Passover label.  If you have any questions along the way, please get in touch with Rabbi Paskind.

A note about eggs: Many of us rely heavily on eggs during the week of Pesach and may be concerned about the exorbitant cost this year.  If you’re considering egg replacements, please know: 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 kitniyot on Passover.

Kitniyot/legumes: Ashkenazi Jews have traditionally considered kitniyot/legumes off-limits for Pesach, while Sephardi Jews have never forbidden them.  In 2015, the Conservative Movement’s Committee on Jewish Law & Standards (CJLS) approved the use of kitniyot on Pesach for Ashkenazi Jews, and members of our community are permitted to use kitniyot on Pesach should you choose.  You can read the fine print in the Rabbinical Assembly 2025/5785 Pesach Guide, but I (Rabbi Paskind) like to look for unprocessed, Gluten-Free, Oat-Free products, even those without a Kosher-for-Passover label.  I’ve also taken to following Rabbi Yonatan Halevy’s Pesach Kashrut Forum to determine which products are ok to use without a KfP label–highly recommended!

3. Disposing of Chametz

We are commanded to not own, or even see, chametz for the duration of Pesach.  You could just eat it all, but that might be challenging.  The most common solution is to enter into a temporary sale agreement and to symbolically burn some of what’s left.

When Pesach starts on a Saturday night, the house must be ready for Pesach prior to Shabbat.  The only chametz that might remain is challah for Shabbat, if you choose to go that route.  The alternative-and it’s easier–is to use egg matzah for Shabbat.  Egg matzah is not chametz, and it is not considered “mitzvah matzah”, the kind we are commanded to eat at the seder.  If you’re using challah, though, keep it separate from your Kosher-for-Pesach food, and beware of crumbs!  Whatever is left must be disposed of (flushed or tossed in a public compost/trash bin) by 11:48am.

• Sell it.  Rabbi Paskind will serve as our community’s agent for selling our collective chametz.  Please complete this online form by Friday, April 11 at 9:30am.  It is customary to make a donation at this time, and you are encouraged to Venmo the synagogue (@Congregation-BethElNorwalk) and earmark it “Passover donation”.  Your chametz will return to you at the end of the holiday on Sunday, April 20 at 8:30pm.

• Remove it from your home. 
• Search for it.  After nightfall on Thursday, April 10th, we search our homes for chametz. Any chametz still to be eaten should be put together in one designated area. You may prepare a candle (or flashlight), a feather or old toothbrush, and a small bag. Place some chametz, (usually pieces of bread) in ten different places around the house. Chametz is hidden so that the searcher will have something to find, and the blessing will not be said in vain. Turn off the lights, and light the candle or flashlight. In the room in which the search will begin, one should say,

“Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha’olam,

asher kidshanu bemitzvotav vetzivanu al bi’ur chametz.”

“Praised are you God, Ruler of the Universe,

who has sanctified us with the commandments, and commanded us to burn chametz.”

Using the lit candle or flashlight, search the house for chametz, and use the feather or toothbrush to sweep it into the bag. It is fun to divide the responsibilities so that one person handles the candle, another the feather, etc.  When all the chametz has been found and gathered, the following is said:

“Any leaven that may still be in the house, which I have not seen or have not removed,

shall be as if it does not exist, like the dust of the earth.”

• Burn it.  The next morning, April 11, the chametz that was found in the search is burned.  Recite the following before burning or disposing of this chametz:

“All leaven and anything leavened that is in my possession, whether I have seen it or not, whether I have observed it or not, whether I have removed it or not, shall be considered nullified and ownerless as the dust of the earth.”

The mitzvah of searching for chametz includes the search on Thursday night, the renunciation of the ownership of chametz made at night, and the burning or disposing of the chametz on Friday morning.

We’ll be burning chametz in the Beth El parking lot on Friday, April 11th at 9:30am.

Chametz (other than chametz meant for Shabbat) must be disposed of by 11:49am.

On Saturday morning, we may eat chametz until 10:42am.

ALL chametz must be disposed of by 11:48am.

4. Plan Your Seder

“All who are hungry, let them enter and eat”.  Pesach is a time to celebrate together, and it’s a great mitzvah to welcome guests (or be hosted!) to the seder.

• Seder Matching (in person only)
  • If you’re looking to attend a seder, let me know.
  • If you’re hosting a seder and would like to welcome fellow congregants, let me know.
• Online Haggadot.  It’s always fun to try out a new haggadah.  You can shop online for a hard copy, or check out the free downloadable haggadah texts listed at the end of this note (click on ‘em!):

Rabbinical Assembly Reading for the Hostages

Siyyum for first-borns.  Erev Pesach is a fast day for first-born individuals, recalling that God spared Israelite firstborns while the 10th plague wrought death upon Egyptian firstborns.  Jewish firstborns have 2 choices: 1) fast all day until the seder; or 2) participate in a Siyyum, a completion of a period of Jewish learning, followed by a celebratory break-fast meal.   Since Pesach begins on a Saturday night, and we don’t engage in fast days on Shabbat or on Fridays (so as not to back a fast day up to Shabbat), the Fast of the Firstborns takes place on Thursday, April 10 this year.  We will gather for morning minyan (8:00am on Zoom), and Rabbi Paskind will lead a teaching and Siyyum for the Firstborn immediately following in the Zoom room.  Firstborns, you prepare your own break-fast meal!

Yom Tov/Holiday services.  Join us in the chapel or on Livestream—10am on Yom Tov and Shabbat (Sunday 4/13, Monday 4/14, Shabbat 4/19, and Sunday 4/20 with Yizkor), and 8am on Zoom on weekdays, as usual.  We’ll also be hosting an abbreviated Friday evening service on Friday 4/18 at 6pm.

Wishing each of you a Chag Kasher v’Sameach, a zissen and kosher Pesach,

with prayers for true freedom for the entire Jewish people and all humanity,

Rabbi Ita Paskind

Candle lighting

Friday night 4/11: Light a 48+ hour yahrzeit candle with your Shabbat candles

Saturday night 4/12: Wait until Shabbat is over to light the candles for Pesach. The earliest time is 8:13pm. Transfer the flame from the yahrzeit candle and let the match burn out on its own. Recite with the Bracha for yom tov candles as well as Shehecheyanu.

Sunday night 4/13: Wait to light candles until the first day has ended completely -- 8:14 pm this year -- and then transfer a flame and let the match burn out. Recite the Bracha for yom tov candles as well as Shehecheyanu.

Friday night 4/18: For the 7th night of Pesach, light Shabbat/yom tov candles and a 24-hour yahrzeit candle at 7:19pm. Recite the blessing for Shabbat and yom tov candles (no Shehecheyanu).

Saturday night 4/19: For the 8th night of Pesach, Saturday 4/19, wait to light candles until the 7th day has ended--8:22pm--then transfer a flame from the yahrzeit candle and recite just the blessing for yom tov candles. Let the match burn out.

Blessings

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר שֶׁל (שַׁבָּת וְ)יוֹם טוֹב:

Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha'olam, asher kidshanu b'mitzvotav, v'tzivanu l'hadlik ner shel (Shabbat v')Yom Tov

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְּמַן הַזֶּה:

Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha'olam, shehecheyanu v'kiyemanu v'higi'anu lazman hazeh