Uncategorized
Where to celebrate Passover in NYC: seders, art and matzah pizza
(New York Jewish Week) — Passover is practically here! This year the eight-day holiday begins with the first seder on the evening of Wednesday, April 5 and ends the evening of Thursday, April 13.
Passover celebrates the Israelites’ departure from Egypt and is celebrated with one or two nights of seders where guests retell the Exodus story, drink four cups of wine, eat elaborate meals and send the kids on a hunt for the afikomen, a piece of matzah set aside for “dessert.. Whether your favorite part of the holiday is testing different matzah or flourless cake recipes, singing at the seders or spending time with family, there is plenty to do (and to prepare for, before the week begins).
In case you don’t have plans for first or second night seders — or are interested in events going on throughout the week — read on for the New York Jewish Week’s holiday guide to celebrating Passover in the city.
City Winery’s 30th Annual Downtown Seder
On Sunday, April 2 at 1:00 p.m., join a cohort of celebrity New Yorkers like Dr. Ruth, comedian Modi Rosenfeld, Mayor Eric Adams and musician David Broza for City Winery’s Annual Downtown Seder, which takes place at their flagship location at Pier 57 (25 11th Ave). Tickets start at $85 and include four glasses of wine, a vegetarian meal and “15 musicians, comedians, [and] political thinkers.” The event can also be live streamed for free. Register here.
Seder in the Streets for Housing Justice
Join the left-leaning activist organizations Jews for Racial & Economic Justice and T’ruah for a pre-holiday celebratory meal and seder. The groups will be gathering in Tompkins Square Park on April 3 at 6:00 p.m., where they will share a meal and celebrate the holiday with houseless people in New York’s community, as well as talk about housing justice in the city. Find more information and register here.
Ohel Ayalah’s First Night Passover Seder
Ohel Ayalah will host a first night seder, customized for those in their 20s and 30s and ideal for New Yorkers who don’t have a regular synagogue membership. The community seder will be held in Prince George Ballroom (15 E. 27th Street) on April 5 at 6:30 p.m. with a wine tasting before at 6:00 p.m. Tickets are $96. Register here.
NYC Young Professionals Seder
Chabad Young Professionals will host seders on both nights starting at 8:00 p.m. on April 5 and 8:45 p.m. on April 6. Each seder will be an “interactive and meaningful experience with no prior Hebrew or Jewish knowledge necessary” and includes wine and four-course dinner. Tickets start at $100, or $200 for both nights. Location to be announced. Register and check for more information here.
Bonus: Find a Chabad seder in a neighborhood near you through their online portal.
Second Night Seder with Jewish Community Project Downtown
JCP Downtown is hosting a second night seder on Thursday, April 6 at 5:30 p.m in Tribeca at 146 Duane St. The seder will be led by Rabbi Deena Silverstone and includes wine, matzah and a kosher dairy meal. The seder will follow the fun, modern haggadah “Don’t Fuhaggadahboudit,” which attendees are welcome to take home with them afterwards. Open to all ages, tickets begin at $72. Register here.
Second Night Online Seder with My Jewish Learning
Rabbi Moishe Stiegmann and My Jewish Learning will host “A Night to Remember,” a second night online seder on Thursday, April 6 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for the interactive, three-hour seder begin at $18. Register and find more information here.
Intergenerational Community Seder and Israeli Folk Dancing at 92NY
Rabbi Samantha Frank and Rebecca Schoffer will host 92NY’s community seder on Thursday, April 6 at 5:00 p.m. The seder, open to all ages and religious affiliations, will focus on singing and storytelling. Tickets start at $125 and include a full dinner, wine and dessert; the event will take place at the Y’s Buttenweiser Hall (1395 Lexington Ave). Find more information here.
Bonus: On Saturday, April 8, bring the family to the Y for a Passover Israeli Folk Dance Party, which will teach circle, partner and line dances. Tickets are $20, register here.
Asian Jewish Passover with the LUNAR Collective
The LUNAR Collective is partnering with Brooklyn’s Congregation Beth Elohim to host a Passover Shabbat meal the day after the seders on Friday, April 7 at 6:30 p.m. The program, which takes place at CBE (274 Garfield Pl.) will include an Asian Jewish fusion meal and a reading from an Asian Jewish Haggadah. The in-person event is pay-what-you-can. Click here to register.
Passover Pop-Up Exhibit at the Met
This fifteenth-century illuminated Hebrew manuscript copy of the Mishneh Torah will be on view during Passover at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Join gallery curators at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Ave.) for a Passover pop-up exhibition on Monday, April 3 and Monday April 10, at 11 a.m. The gallery talk will feature two illuminated Hebrew manuscripts that date to the 15th-century Italian renaissance: the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides and the Rothschild Mahzor. The gallery talk is free with the price of admission. Find more information here.
Matzah Pizza Party for 20s and 30s
What’s better than a pizza party? A matzah pizza party! The Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan (334 Amsterdam Ave.) is hosting a matzah pizza party on Monday, April 10 at 7:00 p.m. for young professionals. The event is open to the public and features kitchen torches, kosher ingredients and wine. Tickets are $10; register here.
Looking for more choices? Find a local in-person or virtual seder through UJA Federation’s online portal, or check out the options curated by our partners at My Jewish Learning.
—
The post Where to celebrate Passover in NYC: seders, art and matzah pizza appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
Downed Planes Raise New Perils for Trump as Tehran Hunts for Missing US Pilot
Traces of an Iranian missile attack in Tehran’s sky, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, April 3, 2026. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Two US warplanes were downed over Iran and the Gulf, Iranian and US officials said on Friday, with two pilots rescued and a third still missing and being hunted by Tehran’s forces.
The incidents show the risks still faced by US and Israeli aircraft over Iran despite assertions from US President Donald Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that their forces had total control of the skies.
The first plane, a two-seat US F-15E jet, was shot down by Iranian fire, officials in both countries said.
The second plane, an A-10 Warthog fighter aircraft, was hit by Iranian fire and crashed over Kuwait, with the pilot ejecting, two US officials said.
Two Blackhawk helicopters involved in the search effort for the missing pilot were hit by Iranian fire but made it out of Iranian airspace, the two US officials told Reuters.
The degree of injuries among the crew of the aircraft remained unclear. The status and whereabouts of the missing F-15E crew member was not publicly known.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it was combing an area near where the pilot’s plane came down in southwestern Iran and the regional governor promised a commendation for anyone who captured or killed “forces of the hostile enemy.”
Iranians, who have been pummeled by American air power for weeks, posted gleeful messages celebrating the plane downings. Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on X that the U.S. and Israel’s war had been “downgraded from regime change” to a hunt for their pilots.
Trump has been in the White House receiving updates on the search-and-rescue operation, a senior administration official told Reuters. The Pentagon and US Central Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
NO SIGN OF END TO WAR
The prospect of a US service person being alive and on the run inside Iran raises the stakes for Washington in a conflict with low public support and no sign of an imminent end.
Iran has officially told mediators it is not prepared to meet with US officials in Islamabad in coming days and that efforts to produce a ceasefire, led by Pakistan, have reached a dead end, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
The US and Israel opened the campaign with a wave of strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28. The war has killed thousands and threatened lasting damage to the global economy.
So far, 13 US military service members have been killed in the conflict and more than 300 have been wounded, according to the US Central Command.
Iran has rained down drones and missiles on Israel. It has also taken aim at Gulf countries allied to the US, which have so far held back from joining the war directly for fear of further escalation.
In a security alert on Friday, the US embassy in Beirut said Iran and its aligned armed groups may target universities in Lebanon and urged US citizens in the country to leave while commercial flights are still available.
Israel has been waging a parallel campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon after the militant group fired at Israel in support of Iran.
TRUMP THREAT TO STRIKE BRIDGES, POWER PLANTS
On Friday, as Trump threatened to hit its bridges and power plants, Iran struck a power and water plant in Kuwait, underlining the vulnerability of Gulf states that rely heavily on desalination plants for drinking water.
On Thursday, Trump posted footage on social media showing dust and smoke billowing up as US strikes hit the newly constructed B1 bridge between Tehran and nearby Karaj, which was due to open this year, and said more attacks would follow.
“Our Military, the greatest and most powerful (by far!) anywhere in the World, hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!” he wrote in a subsequent post.
On Friday, a drone hit a Red Crescent relief warehouse in the Choghadak area of Iran’s southern Bushehr province.
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said its Mina al-Ahmadi refinery had been hit by drones. Other attacks were also reported to have been intercepted in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. Missile debris landed near the Israeli port of Haifa, site of a major oil refinery.
Oil markets were closed after benchmark U.S. crude prices gained 11% on Thursday following a speech by Trump that offered no clear sign of an imminent end to the war.
Uncategorized
US-Iran: Diplomatic Push Falters as Qatar Steps Back and Pakistan Talks Stall
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani speaks after a meeting with the Lebanese president at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon, Feb. 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Emilie Madi
i24 News – Diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire between Washington and Tehran appear to have reached an impasse, as key regional mediators pull back and broader talks stall.
According to reporting by The Wall Street Journal, Qatar has informed US officials that it does not wish to take a central role in mediating between the two sides. Officials familiar with the matter said Doha has made clear it is “not willing” to lead negotiations or act as the primary broker.
At the same time, Pakistan-led efforts to bring Iranian and American officials together have also stalled. Mediators say Tehran has refused to attend proposed meetings in Islamabad, calling Washington’s conditions “unacceptable,” further underscoring the widening gap between the two sides and the growing difficulty of restarting dialogue.
Despite the deadlock, diplomatic channels have not fully closed. Turkey and Egypt are continuing parallel efforts to revive talks, with discussions underway about potential alternative venues, including Doha and Istanbul.
US President Donald Trump downplayed the impact of recent military developments on diplomacy, including the destruction of a US fighter jet during operations in Iran. Speaking in a brief exchange with an NBC News journalist, he said: “No, not at all. It’s war. We are at war.”
He further fueled speculation with a cryptic social media post on Truth Social, writing: “Keep the oil, anyone?” criticising international allies on Friday over rising fuel prices. Trump appeared to mock allies such as the United Kingdom, writing that they should “keep the oil.”
Uncategorized
Report: Iran Retains Significant Missile Capability Despite Weeks of US-Led Strikes
Iranian missiles are displayed in a park in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 31, 2026. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
i24 News – Despite weeks of sustained airstrikes by the United States and its allies, Iran has reportedly managed to retain a substantial portion of its military capabilities, particularly its ballistic missile arsenal.
According to a report by The New York Times citing US intelligence assessments, Tehran has developed methods to mitigate the impact of the strikes, allowing it to preserve and restore key parts of its missile infrastructure.
While the Pentagon has claimed responsibility for striking more than 11,000 targets over five weeks and reducing the rate of Iranian missile fire, intelligence officials now caution that the actual damage may be more limited than initially assessed. Iranian forces are reportedly able to rapidly repair or reactivate missile launchers stored in heavily fortified or underground facilities, sometimes within hours of being hit.
Analysts also point to the widespread use of decoy sites, which may have drawn strikes away from operational assets. Many of the targeted locations are believed to have contained dummy installations, complicating efforts to accurately gauge the degradation of Iran’s ballistic capabilities. Combined with deep underground bunkers and dispersed storage networks, this approach is seen as enabling Tehran to maintain a higher level of readiness than publicly estimated.
US intelligence officials assess that this resilience reflects a deliberate strategy: preserving a credible long-range strike capability as both a deterrent and a bargaining tool in any future negotiations, while ensuring regime survival and continued regional influence.
Despite sustained air dominance claimed by Washington and its allies, Iran’s adaptive tactics continue to complicate battlefield assessments, leaving the true balance of power in the conflict uncertain.