Pesah

For Pesah schedule, information, and activities for 5785, including this year’s unique considerations, click here.

Pesah, Passover, or Hag HaMatzot, The Feast of Unleavened Bread, is observed in the middle of the month of Nisan, around the spring equinox, commemorating the Exodus from Egypt. Hametz, leavened food, is searched for and removed prior to the holiday, and a Search for Hametz is made on the eve and morning of the 14th of Nisan. The 14th of Nisan, the day of the Biblical Paschal Sacrifice, is observed as a partial holiday and as the Fast of the Firstborn by some (attending a festive siyyum that morning obviates the need to fast), and by late morning all Jewish-owned hametz should be sold and hidden, or eliminated and nullified. The Paschal sacrifice was consumed on the Eve of the First Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Eve of the 15th of Nisan, which became our two-day Diaspora observance, with a Haggadah or Seder Recitation and Meal at home on the Eve of the 15th and the Eve of the 16th. The Biblical Hag HaMatsot lasts from the 15th until the 21st, with full Festival restrictions from work in effect on the First and Seventh Days. In the Diaspora the fully restricted days came to be the First Two as well as the Seventh and an additional Eighth Day, Nisan 22. The Intermediate Shabbat, when there is one, has all of the restrictions of Shabbat, but the other Intermediate Days have fewer restrictions. Members of the congregation celebrate Pesah at synagogue services throughout the eight days of the festival, as well as by conducting Pesah Haggadot (seders) in their homes.

Following services on the Shabbat of Pesah, teen girls and women of the Congregation chant the Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs). In appreciation of their hours of preparation and their beautiful rendition of Shir HaShirim, the congregation sponsors a kiddush in their honor.

On the morning of the seventh day, Shearith Israel marks the Consecration Anniversary of our First Mill Street Synagogue of 1730. A special blessing is recited in honor of those congregations which had contributed to the building of our first synagogue: the Sephardic congregations of London, Curacao, and Surinam. A blessing is chanted on behalf of these congregations, as well as the congregation in Amsterdam, on the eve of Yom Kippur.

Omer Counting: The `Omer, the First Sheaf-bundle of Grain (Barley) Harvest Offering, was brought on  the Biblical Second Day, beginning the “`Omer” seven-week count to the First Wheat-Bread Offering on Day 50, which is Shabuot, the Feast of Weeks or  “Pentecost.”

Beginning the second night, the “Omer” is counted. The “Omer” is counted each night for a period of seven weeks, concluding with the Shavuot festival. Shearith Israel’s “Omer Board” dates back to the Mill Street Synagogue of 1730, and may indeed go back to the early years of the Congregation’s history. The Board includes the headings H (for Homer i.e. Omer; or Hoy, today); S (for Semana, week); and D (for Dia, day).