Good morning, it’s Wednesday. A zissen Pesach to all those who are going to be observing from sundown this evening to sundown on Thursday, April 13.
Oh, and for those who aren’t familiar, that’s Yiddish for “have a sweet Passover!” Another, more general option would be “gut yontif”, which translates into “good holiday.” And “Happy Passover” also works just fine.
Seder is the English transliteration for the Hebrew word “sēdher”, which means “order.”
There’s a lot of order connected to this particular Jewish holiday – the order of the items arranged on the Seder plate, for example, the order of how the prayers and songs are sung (and the four cups of wine are consumed), and the reading of the Haggadah, which is effectively the re-telling of the Biblical story of Exodus, in which God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
High points of the story include, in no particular order: the birth of Moses (the baby found floating among the rushes by Pharaoh’s daughter), the 10 plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the escaped Jews wandering in the desert for 40 years, etc. and so forth).
Passover is one of my favorite Jewish holidays. I don’t usually observe it because, truth be told, I don’t like to travel to Long Island, where my extended family tends to gather, and I haven’t – until this year – had the space to host it myself.
It’s a really BIG undertaking, if you go all out, because it includes ridding the entire house of “chametz” (leavened foods), which Jews aren’t allowed to consume during the Passover holiday.
Chametz includes grains like wheat, oats, rye, barley and spelt that have been in contact with water (or any other type of moisture) for longer than 18 minutes, which leads to to rising or “leavening.” Leavening agents, like yeast and sourdough, are also a no-no.
If you don’t want to throw out your chametz (and let’s face it, cereal is expensive), you have the option of “selling” it to a non-Jew and then buying it back when the holiday is over. Yeah, I know. Weird. But 100 percent legal, from a religious standpoint.
So what does one who is not eating anything leavened consume during the period of Passover? Well, matzoh, of course.
For the uninitiated, matzah represents the unleavened bread the Jews ate while fleeing Egypt because they didn’t have time to let their dough rise before making their escape. Traditionally, Matzah is just flour and water. There are various versions – egg, for example, which is tasty but controversial – and also chocolate covered.
One of the best things about Passover is matzah ball soup. I also happen to be a fan of gefilte fish, but I understand that it’s an acquired taste. Kosher for Passover desserts are also a thing. Macaroons – plain, chocolate-dipped and sometimes mixed with chocolate chips – are traditional, as are jellied fruit slices that don’t look remotely like anything you would find in nature.
I realize most of my Passover memories are associated with food. I’m sure that says something, though I’m not entirely sure what.
We’ll get a break from the rain today – maybe. There’s only a slight chance of a shower. Otherwise, it will be cloudy with temperatures in the low 50s.
In the headlines…
Former President Donald Trump was arrested and surrendered to authorities at the courthouse in Manhattan around 1:30 p.m. yesterday and left about two hours later, after his arraignment.
The 16-page indictment against Trump was unsealed as he became the first former U.S. president ever to be arraigned on criminal charges.
Manhattan prosecutors accused Trump of covering up a potential sex scandal during the 2016 campaign, opening a perilous chapter in the long public life of a real estate mogul who rose to the presidency and now faces an embarrassing criminal trial.
Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to his alleged role in hush money payments toward the end of his 2016 presidential campaign — the first time an ex-president has had to plead to criminal charges.
Stormy Daniels was perhaps the most well-known woman paid hush money during the 2016 election in connection with a relationship she said she had with Trump. But she was not the first.
The charges against Trump raise novel legal and political questions because he is running for the Republican nomination for president again, which the indictment and even a conviction would not bar him from doing.
Trump was arraigned before Judge Juan Merchan on the 34 charges, which resulted from an investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“That is exactly what this case is about: 34 false statements made to cover up other crimes. These are low-level felony crimes in New York state no matter who you are,” Bragg said. “We cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct.”
Anti-Trump and pro-Trump protesters, as well as the media, flooded the area outside the courthouse. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and George Santos made brief stops to join Trump supporters protesting his indictment but left amid the chaos.
Trump’s arraignment sparked an immediate — and highly caustic — dispute across Congress and the country, exacerbating tensions between Trump’s GOP allies and his Democratic critics just as House Republicans have added a probe into Bragg.
Trump’s case is being overseen by a veteran Manhattan Supreme Court jurist who also heard the Trump Organization tax fraud trial that in January ended in a jail term for Trump confidant and aide Allen Weisselberg.
Trump lost his appeal of a federal judge’s order requiring many of his top White House aides to testify in the Jan. 6 investigation.
Former first lady Melania Trump was noticeably absent from Mar-a-Lago’s ballroom last night as her husband made his first public comments hours after becoming the first commander-in-chief in US history to be arraigned on criminal charges.
During the speech, Trump ranted against his unprecedented arrest and arraignment, telling supporters at Mar-a-Lago that the real “criminal” is Bragg.
“I never thought anything like this could happen in America,” he said in campaign-style, grievance-filled remarks before a crowd of supporters. “The only crime that I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it.”
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Stormy Daniels to pay Trump $121,972 in legal fees stemming from a 2018 defamation lawsuit that she filed against him that was later dismissed.
President Joe Biden laughed when asked by a reporter if the indictment against Trump was “politically divisive.”
There’s not much that unites Democrats and Republicans in Washington, D.C. But a foreign attack on American energy prices might do it.
OPEC’s surprise decision to slash oil production stands to enrich an unexpected cohort: U.S. shale drillers.
Experts say the OPEC+ oil cartel’s shock decision to slash production will make the next few months “pretty painful for drivers” — and wide-eyed motorists are already reeling from sticker shock.
Biden said it remains to be seen whether artificial intelligence (AI) is dangerous, but underscored that technology companies had a responsibility to ensure their products were safe before making them public.
Speaking at the start of a meeting with science and technology advisers, Biden said technology companies had a responsibility to ensure their products are safe before their release.
A start-up in New York is among a group of companies working on systems that can produce short videos based on a few words typed into a computer.
House Republicans charged into the majority vowing an investigative onslaught against Biden and Democrats. But they’ve gotten almost nowhere so far — and some in the party are getting frustrated.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Biden agreed in a telephone call ahead of a visit to Beijing by Macron to engage China to hasten the end of the war in Ukraine, the Elysee Palace said.
The French president hopes Beijing can be useful in pressing Russia to end the war in Ukraine. How exactly is not clear.
The FDA plans to allow older and immunocompromised Americans to get a second updated coronavirus booster shot in the near future, an acknowledgment of the virus’s continuing risks to vulnerable people whose immunity might be sagging.
Despite a statistical shortfall, the FDA granted emergency-use authorization to Inflarx NV’s monoclonal antibody for the treatment of hospitalized COVID patients when initiated within 48 hours of receiving artificial life support.
New data shows the prevalence of diabetes in severe and deceased COVID-19 patients is almost 50% higher than in all hospitalized patients, indicating a correlation between COVID-19 severity and global diabetes prevalence.
Deciphering long Covid is not just a medical problem, it’s also a data problem, says Indra Joshi, director of health, research, and artificial intelligence at Palantir, which specializes in analyzing big data.
New Labor Department numbers indicate that fewer Americans worked remotely last year. But many experts criticize the government’s data collection.
Negotiations between top Democrats in the state Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul for a budget agreement continued yesterday, even as rank-and-file lawmakers have left Albany for the next week.
Hochul is continuing to pressure legislative leaders on such issues as bail reform, as she seeks to make it easier for judges to jail criminal suspects based on the perceived danger of them threatening public safety or getting accused of other crimes.
Climate action groups and scientists are denouncing an effort by Hochul to gut the state’s signature emissions reduction law, as the governor’s office claims the move is aimed at saving money for consumers and says it’s a technical accounting change.
More than 50 school districts across New York State received swatting threats yesterday, including in Central New York, Long Island, the Southern Tier and the North Country.
Hochul said in a statement that State Police and education officials have been working since last week’s “swatting” incidents to investigate the threats.
With state budget negotiations extended at least an extra week, advocates are hopeful the $230 billion spending plan might include money to revive the state’s troubled ombudsman program for long-term care facilities.
As state lawmakers and Hochul continue to negotiate a state budget, Sen. Jeremy Cooney says he wants to boost ridership on mass transit in upstate cities as more people return to work in the wake of the pandemic.
A coalition of 18 attorneys general from around the country – including New York’s Tish James – signed onto an amicus brief supporting a transgender student’s challenge to a West Virginia law that bans transgender students from female sports teams.
Newly introduced legislation would officially ban New Yorkers from keeping pets such as elephants, hyenas, rhinoceroses and whales, after years of controversy surrounding a Long Island business peddling sloths and kangaroos.
Mayor Eric Adams is ordering most city agencies to slash their budgets by another 4% on top of his administration’s two belt-tightening directives from last year.
For the first time since he took office last year, Adams raised the specter of cutting critical municipal services in response to what his budget director described as worsening economic conditions.
The latest round of cuts came one day after the City Council issued a rebuke of the mayor’s nearly $103 billion proposed budget for failing to invest in key programs for the most vulnerable New Yorkers.
The City Council is pushing to expand the city’s Fair Fares program, which offers half-priced MetroCards to low-income New Yorkers.
A state inspector has been asked to review whether Yeshiva University, which is in a court battle with a group of L.G.B.T.Q. students, should have received $230 million in taxpayer funds after the university has said that it is a religious institution.
After being bought by a surprise contender, the Flatiron Building’s fate is once again up in the air, and more bidding may well lie in its near future.
Papaya King shuttered its iconic hot dog stand on New York City’s Upper East Side last week after 90 years — but it reportedly will reign again, reportedly moving to a space across the street at 1535 Third Ave. between East 86th and East 87th Streets.
Dave Portnoy, founder of the Barstool Sports media company, has purchased a $1.4 million house in Saratoga Springs with backyard views of the Oklahoma Training Track, according to a deed filed early last month with the Saratoga County clerk’s office.
Passenger train service between Albany and New York City hit delays yesterday as crews worked to restore the tracks in Dutchess County that were the scene of a partial freight train derailment on Thursday night.
Gregory Reid Wiseman, who received his undergraduate degree in 1997 from RPI, will command NASA’s Artemis II mission to the moon, the agency announced.
Moderate drinking turns out not to be good for your health after all.
