Passover Calendar

Pesach or Passover is an eight-day long celebration that begins on the night of the fifteenth day of the month of Nissan of the Hebrew calendar. The highlight of the Passover celebration is the ceremony of Seder performed on the first two evenings of Passover. In 2008, Pesach will begin at the sunset on April 2nd and will ends at the nightfall on April 19th. In Israel, Pesach is celebrated for seven days only, where the first and last days are observed as holidays and no work can be done on these days. However, at other places, the first two and the last two days are observed as holidays. Work can be done on the intermediary days that known as 'Chol Ha-Mo'ed'.

In 2001, Pesach began on Saturday night after the Sabbath has concluded, which happens occasionally. It posed complications as many of the rituals that are usually performed on the day before Pesach could not be performed on Shabbat such as the 'Fast of the Firstborn'. Thus, people had to observe this fast on Thursday instead. Similarly, the search for chametz also had to be performed on Thursday night. Similarly, most of the preparations for Seder had to be done before Shabbat began. Another complication that people had to face was that one is prohibited to eat Matzah before Seder and chametz should be removed no later than mid-morning on Saturday on Pesach, while Shabbat requires eating three meals with bread!