Pesach 2023
Pesach begins April 5
MOUSY Chametz Drive, March 21 through April 4: As you clear your home of chametz in preparation for Pesach, bring your non-perishable, sealed foods to Beth Israel Center during office hours or at morning minyan time. Items will be donated to the Goodman Community Center.
Mechirat Chametz - Selling Your Chametz: Sell Your Chametz by 5:00pm Monday, April 3:
Before Pesach, we are obligated to remove all hametz from our possession, either through rigorous cleaning and burning the remnant, or by formally selling any hametz of value that we do not wish to destroy. The practice of selling our hametz is traditionally coordinated by a Rabbi, and you are invited to formally appoint Rabbi Betsy as your legal agent for this purpose using a document called a Shtar Mechira. Get in on it!
It is best to complete this transaction in person, and you may drop by Rabbi Betsy’s office during one of the times below or contact the office to make an appointment.
Tuesday, March 28, 4:00-5:30pm
Thursday, March 30, 12:00-1:30pm
Sunday, April 2, 10:30am-12:00pm
If you cannot complete this transaction in person, you may instead click here to sell your chametz.
There is no fee for appointing a Rabbi as agent, but it is customary to make a charitable donation directed to helping those in need celebrate Pesach. This custom is called Maot Chitin ("wheat coins"). When you make a donation to fulfill this mitzvah, Beth Israel Center sends our collected funds to the Jewish Welfare Board to help provide a joyful Pesach for Jews serving in the U.S. Armed Forces around the world. One of the JWB's programs is the distribution of Passover MRE's (meals ready to eat).
Click here to sell your chametz before 5:00pm on Monday, April 3 and make a Maot Chitin contribution at the same time if you choose. Checks may be made out to Beth Israel Center.
Pre-Pesach Fast / Siyyum - Wednesday, April 5:
Here at Beth Israel Center, we have traditionally followed the customs around the pre-Pesach fast by celebrating the completion of a unit of study and thereby nullifying the requirement that first-borns fast on the eve of Pesach from sunrise until the seder. This fast recalls that the first-born Israelite males were spared the 10th plague visited upon the Egyptians. A Jewish ritual celebration nullifies the fast, and the Jewish ritual celebration that we are holding again at BIC this year is a "feast" following a brief teaching by our Rabbi. Whether or not you're a first-born, enjoy a bit of learning and one last bagel before Pesach. Join us in person or on Zoom for minyan (using the regular minyan link). The siyyum (learning and eating together) will be in person only.
Click here for the Pesach services schedule and information about Yizkor.