Hello everyone,

Once again the month of Nissan is here with the festival of Pesach. Along with this we have longer daylight hours and anticipation of the coming of the warm weather.

The month is quite exciting, somewhat tiring with the cleaning, purchasing and preparations, which dominate our lives for almost the whole month.

On the spiritual aspect of this month, the Shabbath before Pesach (April 4) is called the “Shabbath Hagadol” (Great Shabbath) which prepares us to receive and appreciate its presence and blessing. Also in this month we do not recite the penitential prayers (תפילת תחנון), eulogies (הספדים) are curtailed and donations and charities to the needy are maximised.

Pesach is first and foremost among the festivals in the Jewish calendar. The Talmud refers to Pesach as the Rosh HaShana (Head of the year) of the festivals.

This year(2020) Pesach starts on Wednesday, April 8(14 Nissan) at sunset  and ends on Thursday, April 16  (22 Nissan) after sunset (outside Israel).

The following table shows the time schedule for the 8 days of Passover (all times Eastern Daylight Saving Time):