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Eli Zabar debuts a chocolate matzah ice cream, just in time for Passover
(New York Jewish Week) — Move over, donut hamantaschen! Now that Purim has come and gone, it’s time to start thinking about Passover desserts. Famously tricky to get right, but with huge potential to steal the show, traditional Passover desserts include macaroons, flourless cakes and chocolate-covered matzah.
At Eli Zabar’s on the East Side, however, innovation is the name of the game this year. For Passover 2023, the eatery and grocery is beckoning customers to the freezer aisle and selling homemade chocolate-caramel matzah ice cream at three different locations: their flagship at 1411 Third Ave., Eli’s Essentials at 1270 Madison Ave., and at Grand Central Market at 89 East 42nd St.
The dessert, officially known as Chocolate Covered Caramel Matzoh Ice Cream, is made in-house, according to Sasha Zabar, Eli Zabar’s managing director and son of the chain’s eponymous founder. (Eli Zabar’s brothers run the famous Zabar’s delicatessen and grocery, located across the park on the Upper West Side.) The frozen delicacy is made with a rich vanilla base mixed with broken-up chunks of Eli’s signature chocolate matzah — a homemade sourdough matzah topped with a chewy salted butter caramel, a thin layer of chocolate and toasted almonds.
“Think cookies and cream but using chocolate covered matzah” instead of Oreos, Zabar told the New York Jewish Week. (The chocolate matzah used in the ice cream can also be purchased on its own, and costs $16 for two pieces.)
The seasonal ice cream flavor, which hit the stores’ coolers yesterday, will be available throughout Passover, which ends on April 13.
As for its price, well, there’s a reason why The New York Times called Eli Zabar a “pioneer in the field of eye-popping prices.” The ice cream is sold by the pint for a steep $20 — nearly twice the price of other designer ice cream brands with funky novelty flavors like Jeni’s Everything Bagel ice cream ($12) and Van Leeuwen’s (also $12), which has sold Grey Poupon- and Hidden Valley Ranch-flavored ice cream. (Is it just me, or does chocolate matzah ice cream sound… a lot better?)
Eli Zabar is not under any rabbinical supervision, so the ice cream is not certified kosher or kosher for Passover. However, as Sasha Zabar explained, the chocolate matzah and other homemade Passover desserts sold at Eli’s, like macaroons, chocolate chip meringue kisses and various cakes, are unleavened and made with kosher-for-Passover ingredients.
Eli Zabar (the store) was founded by Eli Zabar (the man) as a gourmet food shop and café on the Upper East Side in 1973. Zabar had grown up at Zabar’s, the Upper West Side institution founded by his parents, Louis and Lillian Zabar, in 1934.
According to the Eli Zabar store website, the shop’s founder wanted to pursue a different vision for his own grocery chain, inspired by the food halls and gourmet products of Europe. Today, there are eight Eli Zabar locations on the East Side, which include gourmet groceries, bakeries, a flower shop, a wine shop and a recently reopened farm-to-table restaurant.
Eli’s sons, Sasha Zabar and his twin brother Oliver, both 31, have helped expand the business. They opened cocktail bar Devon on the Lower East Side in 2018, which closed after three years, and now operate Eli’s Night Shift, a bar and restaurant at 189 East 79th St.
Eli Zabar is also selling made-to-order seder plates and Passover meals from its catering side — but they aren’t shipping the ice cream quite yet because of the logistics involved with using dry ice, Sasha Zabar said. “Hopefully that pushes people to come to the store and grab a pint,” he added. “It’s really good.”
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The post Eli Zabar debuts a chocolate matzah ice cream, just in time for Passover appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Hezbollah Says Ceasefire ‘Meaningless’ as Fighting Continues in South
Israeli military vehicles and soldiers in a village in southern Lebanon as the Israeli army operates in it as seen from the Israeli side of the border, April 23, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Ayal Margolin
Lebanon’s Hezbollah said a US-mediated ceasefire in the war with Israel was meaningless a day after it was extended for three weeks, as Lebanese authorities reported two people killed by an Israeli strike and Hezbollah downed an Israeli drone.
US President Donald Trump announced the three-week extension on Thursday after hosting Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors at the White House. The ceasefire agreement between the governments of Lebanon and Israel had been due to expire on Sunday.
While the ceasefire has led to a significant reduction in hostilities, Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have continued to trade blows in southern Lebanon, where Israel has kept soldiers in a self-declared “buffer zone.”
Responding to the extension, Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad said “it is essential to point out that the ceasefire is meaningless in light of Israel’s insistence on hostile acts, including assassinations, shelling, and gunfire” and its demolition of villages and towns in the south.
“Every Israeli attack… gives the resistance the right to a proportionate response,” he added.
Hezbollah is not a party to the ceasefire agreement, and has strongly objected to Lebanon’s face-to-face contacts with Israel.
BUFFER ZONE
The April 16 agreement does not require Israeli troops to withdraw from the belt of southern Lebanon seized during the war. The zone extends 5 to 10 km (3 to 6 miles) into Lebanon.
Israel says the buffer zone aims to protect northern Israel from attacks by Hezbollah, which fired hundreds of rockets at Israel during the war.
Hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel reignited on March 2, when the group opened fire in support of Iran in the regional war. The ceasefire in Lebanon emerged separately from Washington’s efforts to resolve its conflict with Tehran, though Iran had called for Lebanon to be included in any broader truce.
Nearly 2,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since March 2, the Lebanese health ministry says.
ISRAELI MILITARY WARNS RESIDENTS TO LEAVE TOWN
Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli airstrike killed two people in the southern village of Touline on Friday.
Hezbollah shot down an Israeli drone, the group and the Israeli military said. Hezbollah identified it as a Hermes 450 and said it had downed it with a surface-to-air missile.
An Israeli drone was heard circling above Beirut throughout the day on Friday, Reuters reporters said.
The Israeli military warned residents of the southern town of Deir Aames to leave their homes immediately, saying it planned to act against “Hezbollah activities” there.
Deir Aames is located north of the area occupied by Israeli forces, and it was the first time Israel had issued such a warning since the ceasefire came into force on April 16. Posted on social media, the Israeli warning gave no details of the activities it said Hezbollah was conducting in the town.
The Israeli military also said it had intercepted a drone prior to its crossing into Israeli territory, and that sirens were sounded in line with protocol.
WAR-WEARY RESIDENTS SEEK END TO FIGHTING
The continued fighting has angered war-weary Lebanese, who say they want to see a genuine ceasefire put a full halt to violence.
“What’s this? Is this called a ceasefire? Or is this mocking (people’s) intelligence?” said Naem Saleh, a 73-year-old owner of a newsstand in Beirut.
Residents of northern Israel had mostly returned to daily life, but expressed pessimism about the longevity of the ceasefire with Lebanon.
“I believe that the ceasefire is so fragile, and unfortunately it won’t stand long, in my opinion,” said Eliad Eini, a resident of Nahariya, which lies just 10 km (6 miles) from the border with Lebanon.
On Wednesday, Israeli strikes killed at least five people in the south, including a journalist.
Israel’s Ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter, in his opening remarks at Thursday’s talks, said “Lebanon should acknowledge the temporary presence of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) and the right of Israel to defend itself from a hostile force that is firing on the population.”
Lebanon’s Ambassador to the United States Nada Moawad, in a written statement sent to Reuters, called for the ceasefire to be fully respected and said it would allow the necessary conditions for meaningful negotiations.
Lebanon has said it aims to secure the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from its territory in broader talks with Israel at a later stage.
Trump said on Thursday that he looked forward to hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the near future, and said there was “a great chance” the two countries would reach a peace agreement this year.
Hezbollah attacks killed two civilians in Israel after March 2, while 15 Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon since then, Israel says.
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Only Five Ships Pass Through Strait of Hormuz in 24 hours
FILE PHOTO: A map showing the Strait of Hormuz is seen in this illustration taken March 23, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Only five ships, including one Iranian oil products tanker, have passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, Friday shipping data showed, after Iran seized two container ships this week and the US continues to blockade Iranian ports.
Shipping traffic passing through the crucial waterway at the entrance to the Gulf during an uneasy ceasefire between Washington and Tehran represents a fraction of the average 140 daily passages before the Iran war began on February 28.
“For most shipping companies, they will need a stable ceasefire and assurances from both sides of the conflict that the Strait of Hormuz is safe to transit,” said Jakob Larsen, chief safety and security officer at shipping association BIMCO.
“In the meantime, shipping will be restricted to using routes close to Iran and Oman. Due to their confined nature, these routes cannot safely accommodate the normal volumes of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz,” Larsen added.
The Iranian-flagged oil products tanker Niki, which is subject to US sanctions, was among the few vessels that sailed out of the strait with no destination listed, Kpler analysis and tracking data on the MarineTraffic platform showed on Friday.
It was unclear what would happen if it continued to sail further east towards the blockade line imposed by the US Navy.
Nearly two months after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, there is little sign of peace talks resuming.
Container shipping group Hapag-Lloyd said on Friday that one of its ships has crossed the strait but did not provide any information on the circumstances or timing.
The Comoros-flagged supertanker Helga arrived at an offshore oil loading terminal in Iraq’s southern Basra port on Friday, the second vessel to reach Iraq since the strait’s closure.
Iran’s use of a swarm of small, fast boats to seize two container ships near the strait on Wednesday has heightened concerns among many shipping and oil companies.
“The latest seizures make clear, even an ‘open’ Strait of Hormuz is not a safe Strait of Hormuz for seafarers, ships and cargo,” Peter Sand, chief analyst with ocean and air freight intelligence platform Xeneta, said in a note.
Between April 22 and early April 23, seven vessels transited the strait, six of which were involved in Iran-related trade, analysis from Lloyd’s List Intelligence showed.
The closure of the strait has disrupted a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies and triggered a global energy crisis.
Hundreds of ships and 20,000 seafarers remained stranded inside the Gulf with war risk insurers and oil companies watching for any sign that the risks may have eased so they can prepare to sail through.
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11-Year-Old Girl Succumbs to Wounds from Iranian Missile Strike
A photo of Nesya Karadi. Photo: courtesy of her family.
i24 News – An 11-year-old girl has died nearly three weeks after being critically injured by an Iranian missile strike on her family home.
Nesya Karadi passed away Friday at Sheba Medical Center, becoming the 21st civilian fatality in Israel since the current conflict began on February 28.
The attack occurred on April 1, just hours before the start of Passover. Officials confirmed the strike involved an Iranian missile equipped with a cluster warhead; a sub-munition directly hit the Karadi home, wounding 14 people.
Among the injured was Nesya’s father, a volunteer with the Magen David Adom paramedic service. In a final act of heroism before losing consciousness from his own injuries, he reportedly administered life-saving first aid to his daughter.
Hanoch Zeibert, the Mayor of Bnei Brak, expressed the city’s deep grief over the loss of a “pure child whose whole life was ahead of her,” pledging the municipality’s full support to the Karadi family during their ordeal