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Passover 2027
Event overview
Eight-day Jewish festival commemorating the Exodus from Egypt. First Seder on the evening of Wednesday April 21, 2027; first day on April 22, 2027; ends April 29, 2027 (in the Diaspora). Seder meal with Haggadah reading, eating matzah, abstaining from chametz (leavened bread) for 8 days.
Passover 2027 (Pesach) – the eight-day Jewish festival commemorating the Exodus from Egypt – begins with the first Seder at sundown on Wednesday April 21, 2027 and ends at nightfall on Thursday April 29, 2027 in the Diaspora (April 28 in Israel, where it is seven days). One of the three biblical pilgrimage festivals (regalim), observed by Jewish communities worldwide.
Passover, called Pesach in Hebrew, commemorates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt – the foundational event of Jewish national and religious memory. The story is told in the Book of Exodus: after centuries of slavery under Pharaoh, the Israelites were freed when God brought ten plagues upon Egypt, the last being the death of every Egyptian firstborn. The Israelites were spared because they had marked their doorposts with the blood of a sacrificed lamb – the angel of death "passed over" their houses, hence "Passover."
The festival's English and Hebrew names both come from this moment. In Hebrew, Pesach derives from pasach – "to pass over" or "to skip." In Greek, the festival is called Pascha, and Christianity's Pascha (Easter) takes its name from the same root. The Last Supper was a Passover Seder, and the central Christian theological idea of Christ as the "Paschal Lamb" comes directly from the Exodus narrative.
The Torah commands the festival's observance in Exodus 12 and reiterates it in Leviticus 23 and Deuteronomy 16. Three rules anchor the festival: the eating of matzah (unleavened bread), the strict avoidance of chametz (leavened bread or any fermentation of the five grains – wheat, barley, oats, rye, spelt) for the entire eight days (seven in Israel), and the family Seder ritual on the first night (and second night in the Diaspora).
Passover preparation is one of the most intensive in the Jewish calendar. In the weeks leading up to the festival, observant households perform a deep cleaning called bedikat chametz, removing every trace of leavened food, breadcrumbs, and grain-based fermentation. Kitchens are kashered for Passover use; separate Passover dishes and utensils are brought out; remaining chametz is sold (through a rabbi as agent) to a non-Jew for the duration of the festival. The night before the first Seder, a final candlelit search for chametz is performed; the next morning, any remaining chametz is burned (biur chametz).
The Seder is the festival's centerpiece – a structured ritual meal lasting three to five hours, performed at home on the first night (and second night in the Diaspora). The Haggadah, a Jewish text compiled in the early medieval period, guides the evening through a fixed sequence of fifteen steps – beginning with Kadesh (the blessing over wine), continuing through the Four Questions traditionally asked by the youngest child, the retelling of the Exodus story, the eating of matzah and bitter herbs (maror), the meal itself, the searching for the hidden afikomen (a piece of matzah hidden for the children to find), the Birkat Hamazon grace after meals, and the Hallel psalms. Four cups of wine are drunk through the evening, mirroring the four expressions of redemption in Exodus 6:6-7.
The Passover meal varies widely. Ashkenazi households serve gefilte fish, chicken soup with matzah balls, brisket, charoset (a sweet apple-and-walnut paste representing the mortar of the bricks the Israelites made), and macaroons. Sephardic and Mizrahi tables include lamb, eggs in saffron, leeks, and rice (which Sephardim consider permissible during Passover, while most Ashkenazim do not). The intermediate days (Chol Hamoed) are working days but with a festival atmosphere; the seventh day (Israel) and seventh and eighth days (Diaspora) are again full festival days.
The closing days commemorate the splitting of the Red Sea and the final escape from Pharaoh's army – the moment of complete liberation. Many Sephardic communities, especially Moroccan Jews, observe Mimouna at the close of Passover with a festival of sweets, the symbolic return of bread to the home, and open-house visits.
Passover falls on 15 Nisan in the Hebrew calendar – the first month of the Jewish religious year. Nisan begins on the new moon closest to the spring equinox, and 15 Nisan is therefore close to the first full moon of spring. In 2027, 15 Nisan 5787 falls on April 22, with the first Seder on the evening of April 21 (the Hebrew day runs from sundown to sundown). The festival continues for eight days in the Diaspora (ending April 29, 2027) or seven days in Israel (ending April 28). The Hebrew calendar's leap-month system keeps Passover in the spring; this is also why Easter, which is computed from the spring full moon, often falls near Passover.
Passover 2027 follows Hanukkah 2026 (December 4–12, 2026) and is followed by Shavuot fifty days later. The family overview is at the Jewish festival hub. For comparable spring redemption and renewal festivals, see Easter 2027 (which begins April 22 in Holy Week through Easter on March 28), Eid al-Fitr 2027, and Holi 2027.
When is Passover in 2027? Begins with the first Seder at sundown on Wednesday April 21, 2027; ends at nightfall on Thursday April 29 in the Diaspora (April 28 in Israel).
How is Passover observed? Through the Seder ritual meal on the first night (and second in the Diaspora), eight days (seven in Israel) of strict abstention from chametz (leavened grain), the eating of matzah, and full-festival-day rest on the first, second, seventh, and eighth days.
Is Passover a public holiday? Yes, in Israel for the first and seventh days; observed but not a civil holiday in the Diaspora.
What is the typical greeting? "Chag Pesach Sameach" (happy Passover) or "Chag Sameach" (happy holiday); "Gut Yontif" in Yiddish; "Pesach Kasher V'Sameach" (a kosher and happy Passover) is the more religious form.
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