Passover 2012

April 2013 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 April Fools Day Monday April 1 -11 years -25 days or -4043 days 2 3 4 5 6 7 Passover Sunday April 7 -11 years -19 days or -4037 days 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Earth Day Monday April 22 -11 years -4 days or -4022 days 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Passover for the year 2012 starts on Saturday, April 7th and ends the 7 day holiday on Friday, April 13th. For the Jewish calendar night begins before day, thus the holiday begins on the sunset of the previous day on the evening of Friday, April 6th. For Reform and Reconstructionist Jews who follow the Biblical text they celebrate the holiday over 7 days, however, Orthodox, Hasidic, and other Jews in the Diaspora will celebrate the holiday as 8 days ending on Saturday, April 14th.

Passover is a spring festival that begins in the months of March or April on the Gregorian calendar. Passover starts on the 15th day of the month of Nisan which is on the first night of a full moon after the northern vernal equinox (except leap months can make the festival start after the second full moon after the northern vernal equinox as in the year 2016).

The 7 or 8 day festival is one of the most important celebrations on the Hebrew calendar commemorating the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. It begins with families gathering together the first night (first 2 nights for many communities outside Israel) for dinner called seder (meaning “order” of “arrangement” in Hebrew) and ends 7 to 8 days later.

Why do Jewish holidays start at nighttime?

According to the Torah, the story of creation in Genesis says “And it was evening, and it was morning day one”, “And it was evening, and it was morning; the second day”, thus night comes before day. So for the Jewish calendar all days begin at nightfall and end the next day at nightfall including holidays.

Days to Passover 2012

Saturday, April 7th is day number 98 of the 2012 calendar year with -12 years, -19 days until the start of the celebration of Passover 2012.