Passover

Israelis are preparing for a second consecutive Passover in wartime, as the conflict that began with the Hamas terror attack of October 7, 2023, continues, with dozens of hostages still in captivity in Gaza — some as slave laborers.

The Jewish world is preparing for the start of the Passover holiday on Monday evening in a year when there are Jewish slaves being held in captivity by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza.

Passover celebrates the freedom of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. But this Passover, dozens of Israelis are still hostages in Gaza — with some reportedly being sold by Hamas or forced to work as slaves.

New York City’s rules to force pizzerias that use wood- or coal-burning ovens to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 75% could put Jewish matzah bakeries out of business, affecting Jews’ ability to observe the Passover holiday.

High egg prices are forcing many Americans to rethink their Easter traditions as they struggle financially in Joe Biden’s (D) economy.

The Jewish holiday of Passover begins at sundown on Wednesday, April 5 and runs for eight days, through Thursday evening, April 13.

Vice President Kamala Harris caused a stir among liberal activists after she served wine made in a Jewish West Bank settlement at her Passover seder on Friday, prompting her office to clarify she was not making a political statement.

The New York Times published an op-ed Friday that proposes eliminating belief in God — as one of the holiest weekends of the year begins.

The Jewish festival of Passover begins Friday evening at sundown, marking the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt thousands of years ago — an event that every Jew is meant to observe as if he or she had personally experienced it.

Former Vice President Mike Pence said on Good Friday he was joining people all over the globe to remember what Jesus Christ did for them.

Recent reports by Israeli and international media suggesting the Chinese Embassy in Israel gifted thermal coffee mugs containing hidden spyware to Israel’s government on the occasion of the upcoming Jewish Passover holiday are “baseless rumors,” the official website of the Chinese Embassy in Israel claimed on Wednesday.

Israel security forces thwarted a major terrorist attack planned for Passover Eve, Hebrew media reports said Thursday.

Israel’s government looked set to crumble Wednesday after coalition whip Idit Silman announced she is quitting to form a new government, causing the ruling coalition headed by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to lose its majority.

Israel announced this week unvaccinated tourists will be allowed entry from March 1, as the country begins rolling back most coronavirus restrictions.

Police were volubly expelled from a Polish church in Alberta, Canada after disrupting an Easter service, with the pastor denouncing them as “Gestapo Nazi communist fascists” and “psychopaths”.

Israel celebrated Passover with large family gatherings as coronavirus infections continued their downward spiral as the country’s aggressive vaccination program began paying dividends.

Israel is vaccinating at a much faster rate than the UK and is set to overtake it in a matter of days, a new graph showed, with experts predicating that the country will have achieved herd immunity by Passover.

Israel’s chief rabbis as well as the U.S. envoy on Monday prayed for President Donald Trump to recover from COVID-19, using his name during the Sukkot prayers at Jerusalem’s Western Wall.

TEL AVIV — In a strange twist, the coronavirus pandemic has breathed new life into Gaza’s long-abeyant factories which are now working furiously to produce PPE including masks, gloves and protective gowns for Israel.

TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that if Israel’s infection rates and critical COVID-19 cases continue to stabilize, the country would begin to phase out of lockdown after the Passover holiday which ends on Wednesday evening. 

JERUSALEM – The traditional priestly blessing of the Passover holiday occurred at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday morning with only 10 worshipers present, including U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman, in keeping with the coronavirus restrictions.

Student faith organizations at Harvard University will be celebrating Easter Sunday and Passover on video conferences and live-streams this year as a result of the ongoing Chinese virus pandemic.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin telephoned Pope Francis on Wednesday to wish him a happy Easter, Vatican News reported.

The coronavirus outbreak reveals the value of faith communities in assisting people during times of crisis, said radio host Dennis Prager.

Rabbi Akiva also survived a pandemic that wiped out his disciples — all 24,000 of them, representing the entirety of Jewish religious scholarship in that generation.

TEL AVIV – The upcoming holidays of Passover and Ramadan, which fall back to back this year, are a “danger” to the population and threaten to overwhelm the fight against COVID-19, the the Health Ministry’s director-general warned Thursday. 

TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday evening announced new coronavirus restrictions, particularly in the workplace, but said that Israel would not adopt a full lockdown for now.

TEL AVIV –  An Israeli gave back a 2,000-year-old catapult bolt to the Israel Antiquities Authority some 15 years after he took off with it while visiting the archaeological site of the Jerusalem Walls National Park in the City of David, saying he wanted to clear his conscience before the end of the world.

The New York Times’ decision to ban political cartoons after a furore involving a caricature of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was called “stupid” on Tuesday by French satirist Jean Plantu.

“We are at war with the antisemites who don’t conceal the antisemitism — the unvarnished, naked antisemitism of the supremacists — and we are at war also with the hidden, concealed antisemitism of those who hate the State of Israel and dress up their antisemitism under the fig leaf of anti-ZIonism.”

A 19-year-old man suspected of carrying out the deadly shooting at a San Diego-area synagogue on Saturday appears to have published an antisemitic and anti-Trump manifesto online, according to several reports.

The New York Times is reporting on a shooting at a synagogue in Southern California on Passover weekend.

In Thursday’s international edition of The New York Times, a cartoon with “anti-Semitic tropes” was published that portrayed a blind President Trump led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu depicted as a dog with a Star of David collar around its neck.

Some 1,500 worshipers arrived early morning Wednesday for prayers at the Tomb of Joseph in Nablus, according to media reports.

TEL AVIV – Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday officially appointed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the task of forming a new government for the 21st Knesset and added a plea that the Israeli premier do everything in his fifth term to bridge divides in the nation after an “us versus them” election campaign.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used his social media platforms in the hours before the start of the Jewish festival of Passover to salute Israel’s burgeoning place in the world.