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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.

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Gazans Stream Back Home as Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Holds

Palestinians gather to collect aid supplies from trucks that entered Gaza, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip October 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

Thousands of Palestinians streamed north along the coast of Gaza on Saturday, trekking by foot, car and cart back to their abandoned homes as a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian terrorist group Hamas appeared to be holding.

Israeli troops pulled back under the first phase of a US-brokered agreement reached this week to end the war, which has killed tens of thousands of people and left much of the enclave in ruins.

“It is an indescribable feeling; praise be to God,” said Nabila Basal as she traveled by foot with her daughter, who she said had suffered a head wound in the war. “We are very, very happy that the war has stopped, and the suffering has ended.”

US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was in Gaza early Saturday to observe the Israeli military redeployment, Israeli Army Radio reported, citing a security source.

He was joined by the head of the US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM), Admiral Brad Cooper, who said in a statement that his visit was part of the establishment of a task force that would support stabilization efforts in Gaza, though US troops would not be deployed inside the enclave.

CLOCK TICKING ON RELEASE OF HOSTAGES

Once the Israeli forces had completed their redeployment on Friday, which keeps them out of major urban areas but still in control of roughly half the enclave, the clock began ticking for Hamas to release its hostages within 72 hours.

“We are very excited, waiting for our son and for all the 48 hostages,” said Hagai Angrest, whose son Matan is among the 20 Israeli hostages believed to still be alive. “We are waiting for the phone call.”

Twenty-six hostages have been declared dead in absentia and the fate of two more is unknown.

According to the agreement, after the hostages are handed over, Israel will free 250 Palestinians serving long sentences in its prisons and 1,700 detainees captured during the war.

Hundreds of trucks per day are expected to surge into Gaza carrying food and medical aid, according to the agreement.

TRUMP EXPECTED TO TRAVEL TO ISRAEL AND EGYPT

But questions remain about whether the ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange deal, the biggest step yet towards ending two years of war, will lead to a lasting peace under Trump’s 20-point plan.

Much could still go wrong. Further steps in Trump’s plan have yet to be agreed. These include how the demolished Gaza Strip is to be ruled when fighting ends, and the ultimate fate of Hamas, which has rejected Israel’s demands it disarm.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump expressed confidence the ceasefire would hold, saying: “They’re all tired of the fighting.” He said he believed there was a “consensus” on the next steps but acknowledged some details still have to be worked out.

During the Hamas attack on Israeli communities, military bases and a music festival on October 7, 2023, terrorists killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and captured 251 hostages.

Trump is expected to visit the region on Monday and address the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, the first US president to do so since George W. Bush in 2008.

Trump said he would also travel to Egypt and that other world leaders were expected to be present.

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Activist Laura Loomer Blasts Pentagon Over Planned Qatar Military Facility in Idaho

Laura Loomer arrives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., September 10, 2024. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

Far-right activist Laura Loomer slammed President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday over its deepening defense ties with Qatar and made false accusations that spread on social media that the Pentagon was giving it a military base on US soil.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman al-Thani at the Pentagon earlier in the day, announcing that Qatar would pay for a facility at a US air base in Idaho. He did not say the US would give Qatar the base, or any base in the United States.

The facility, which has been in discussions for years, would support Qatar’s plans to train pilots on 12 F-15 fighter jets that the country is buying and which would be located there, a US official told Reuters. The facility would include hangars to shield the aircraft from the elements and a squadron operations building for the pilots, the official said.

U.S. TO SUPERVISE CONSTRUCTION

The arrangement, which the official said was in line with those agreed with other US allies, would result in the facility being built by local contractors under US military supervision and funded by Qatar. Pilots from Singapore already train at the US base.

“We’re signing a letter of acceptance to build a Qatar Emiri Air Force facility at the Mountain Home Air Base in Idaho,” Hegseth said, alongside his Qatari counterpart.

Shortly after the announcement, Loomer said she did not think she would vote in next year’s mid-term elections.

“Never thought I’d see Republicans give terror financing Muslims from Qatar a MILITARY BASE on US soil so they can murder Americans,” Loomer wrote on X.

She posted a clip of Trump speaking in 2017, when he accused Qatar of historically funding terrorism “at a very high level.”

In the wake of her remarks, Hegseth posted on X: “To be clear, Qatar will not have their own base in the United States — nor anything like a base. We control the existing base, like we do with all partners.”

Qatar’s embassy spokesperson said the facility in Idaho would not be a Qatari air base.

“Qatar has made an initial 10-year commitment to construct and maintain a dedicated facility within an existing US air base, intended for advanced training and to enhance interoperability,” Ali Al-Ansari said in a statement.

He said the arrangement was similar to existing programs the US has with other international allies.

Qatar is a US security partner and host to al-Udeid Air Base, the largest US military facility in the Middle East. It acted as a mediator alongside Egypt in talks between Israel and Hamas.

A self-proclaimed “Islamophobe” who for years argued the September 11, 2001, attacks were an inside job, Loomer has a history of provocative and self-promotional actions, including handcuffing herself to Twitter’s headquarters in New York in 2018 after the platform banned her for hate speech.

With 1.8 million followers on X and her own weekly program that draws a large audience, Loomer can say she speaks for many of the MAGA faithful and influences their views of the Trump administration.

In April, Trump fired US General Timothy Haugh, who was the director of the National Security Agency and head of US Cyber Command. The New York Times reported that Loomer had called for his ouster.

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Sinwar Memo Obtained by IDF Reveals Hamas Chief Ordered ‘Shocking’ Violence on Oct. 7

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar looks on as Palestinian Hamas supporters take part in an anti-Israel rally over tension in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque, in Gaza City, Oct. 1, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

i24 NewsA handwritten memo authored by late Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar shows the arch terrorist’s instructions to his men ahead of the October 7 attack included orders to target Israelis with acts of violence that would shock and destabilize the country. Sinwar specified that the violence should be filmed and broadcast, according to a New York Times report on Saturday.

“Two or three operations, in which an entire neighborhood, kibbutz, or something similar will be burned, must be prepared,” the memo is quoted as saying.

Many homes were set on fire in the southern Israeli communities devastated by Palestinian jihadists on October 7, and acts of barbaric violence were posted to social media and live-streamed.

The document was discovered in the underground hideout of Muhammed Sinwar, who briefly served as the top Hamas official in Gaza following the killing of his brother before being killed in an IDF strike.

The NYT report cites a confidential analysis of the memo and of intercepted Hamas communications on the day of the attack by Israel’s Gazit institute, a think tank affiliated with Israel’s military intelligence.

“Hamas leadership planned and carried out an attack that featured acts of ‘extraordinary brutality,’” the researchers concluded. “Its aim was to cause great turmoil in the country and the military.”

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