Passover 2027: Dates, Seder Nights, and a Beginner's Pesach Plan

Passover 2027 begins at sundown on Wednesday, April 21, with the first Seder. It is the 15th of Nisan, 5787. Outside Israel it runs eight days and ends at nightfall on Thursday, April 29. In Israel it is seven days and ends at nightfall on Wednesday, April 28. If you have never done Pesach yourself, it can look like a lot: cleaning, special food, a long night with a book you may not know. It gets easier once you know which parts are required and which are customs you can grow into over the years. This guide sorts that out.

Quick disclosure: Bayit is our app, and this is its journal. We mention it once near the end.

When is Passover 2027?

Like every Jewish date, Pesach starts the evening before. Here is the whole week, with the places where Israel and the rest of the world differ:

Pesach 2027 is about three weeks later than in 2026, when the first Seder was on April 1. The reason is the same one that pushed Purim 2027 to late March: 5787 is a leap year, so an extra month of Adar sits in front of Nisan. If you are planning further out, here are the next few years (dates for outside Israel):

For every other date this year, see our Jewish holidays 2026-2027 calendar. Rosh Chodesh Nisan, the start of the month, is Thursday, April 8, 2027, and it is listed with the rest in our Rosh Chodesh 2026-2027 guide.

What Passover is about

Pesach remembers the Exodus, when the Israelites left slavery in Egypt. The name means "passing over," from the night of the tenth plague, when God passed over the Israelite houses (Exodus 12:27). They left in such a hurry that their dough had no time to rise (Exodus 12:39). That is why the holiday has two big themes you can actually touch: no chametz (leavened grain) for the week, and matzah at the Seder.

The Torah also says to tell the story to your kids on that night (Exodus 13:8). The whole Seder is built around that one instruction: a long dinner where the food on the table is there to make people ask questions.

Getting ready: the 2027 timeline

Most of the work happens before the holiday. Here is the order, with the 2027 dates.

Shabbat HaGadol: Saturday, April 17

The Shabbat before Pesach is called the Great Shabbat. Many rabbis give a long talk that afternoon on the laws of the holiday. If you have questions about your kitchen, this is a good week to ask.

Clean, and sell what you keep

The Torah rule is that you don't eat or own chametz during Pesach (Exodus 12:15, 13:7). Chametz is anything made from wheat, barley, spelt, rye, or oats that got wet and was left to rise. Bread, pasta, cereal, cookies, and beer all count.

Cleaning for Pesach means getting rid of chametz, not spring cleaning. Crumbs in the places where food actually goes (kitchen, dining table, car, coat pockets, backpacks) matter. Dust behind the bookcase doesn't. If you have chametz you don't want to throw out, like an open bottle of whiskey or a box of pasta, the usual solution is to sell it through your rabbi before the holiday. Many synagogues and Chabad houses have a simple online form for this. You close it away in a cabinet and it is bought back for you after Pesach.

One honest note: customs vary a lot. Ashkenazi Jews traditionally also avoid kitniyot (rice, beans, corn, and similar), and many Sephardi families eat them. Follow your family or ask your rabbi.

Tuesday night, April 20: the search

After dark, you do bedikat chametz, a search of the house for any chametz you missed. You say a short blessing, walk through the rooms with a candle or flashlight, and collect what you find. Many families hide ten small wrapped pieces of bread first so there is something to find, which kids love. Afterward you say a short declaration (it is printed at the start of most Haggadahs) that any chametz you didn't find doesn't count as yours.

Wednesday, April 21: Erev Pesach

• Fast of the Firstborn. Firstborn sons traditionally fast on this day, in memory of the Israelite firstborn who were spared. Most go to a siyum, a short celebration for finishing a section of study, in synagogue that morning, which ends the fast.
• Stop eating chametz by mid-morning, and burn or throw out the last of it a little later. In New York in 2027 that is roughly 10:41 a.m. to stop eating and 11:48 a.m. to burn, per Hebcal. Your times depend on where you live, so check a local calendar.
• Outside Israel, make an eruv tavshilin.In 2027 the second day of Yom Tov is a Friday, and it runs into Shabbat. To be allowed to cook on Friday for Shabbat, you set aside a piece of matzah and a cooked food (often a hard-boiled egg) on Wednesday afternoon and say the short blessing printed in most siddurim. In Israel, Friday is already Chol HaMoed, so you don't need it.
• Light candles before sundown and head to the first Seder.

The Seder in plain English

Every Haggadah follows the same fifteen steps. Many families sing the list at the start so everyone knows where they are. You don't need to memorize it. Just know the shape:

That list has fourteen rows because Motzi and Matzah are done together. Counted separately, you get the traditional fifteen.

What actually matters most

If the full Haggadah feels like too much for your first Seder, the core is short. Eat matzah. Tell the story of leaving Egypt in your own words if you need to. Drink four cups of wine or grape juice over the evening, and eat the bitter herbs. The Mishnah (Pesachim 10:5) adds that whoever didn't talk about three things, the Pesach offering, matzah, and maror, hasn't done their duty, so make sure someone explains what each one stands for.

Questions are the point. The Four Questions are a script for the youngest person at the table, but any question counts. A Seder where people interrupt to ask "wait, why?" is going well.

The Seder plate

Most plates hold the same six things: a roasted bone (zeroa) for the Pesach offering, an egg (beitzah) for the festival offering, bitter herbs (maror, usually romaine or horseradish), charoset (a sweet paste of apples, nuts and wine that looks like mortar), the karpas vegetable, and often a second bitter herb (chazeret) for the sandwich. Three matzot sit next to it, under a cloth.

Which Haggadah?

Pick one with Hebrew and English side by side and short notes. If guests are new, get a few copies of the same edition so everyone can follow along and find the page.

The second Seder, Chol HaMoed, and the last days

Outside Israel, there is a second Seder on Thursday night, April 22. You can't prepare for it during the first day, so wait until nightfall on Thursday to light candles and set up. That night, in Israel and everywhere else, you also start counting the Omer, the 49 days to Shavuot. Friday, April 23, is the second Yom Tov day, and it flows straight into Shabbat.

In Israel there is one Seder, and Chol HaMoed starts on Friday.

Chol HaMoed runs through Tuesday, April 27 (Saturday through Tuesday abroad, Friday through Tuesday in Israel). Saturday, April 24, is Shabbat Chol HaMoed, so there is no regular weekly parsha that week. Our Torah portion schedule for 2026-2027 shows how the readings line up around it.

The seventh day, Wednesday, April 28, remembers the splitting of the Sea. It starts Tuesday night with candles. Outside Israel, the eighth day is Thursday, April 29, and Yizkor, the memorial prayer, is said that morning. In Israel, Yizkor is on the seventh day and Pesach ends Wednesday night.

A simple Pesach plan for first-timers

If this is your first time hosting or even just doing it at home, here is a plan that fits around a normal work schedule:

1. Early April: book your Seder, as a guest or a host. Buy matzah, grape juice or wine, and one Haggadah per two people. Sign the form to sell your chametz.
2. The weekend of April 17-18: clean the kitchen and the places food goes. Use up the bread and pasta.
3. Tuesday night, April 20: search for chametz with a flashlight. Ten minutes is plenty for an apartment.
4. Wednesday morning, April 21: last chametz breakfast, then burn or toss the leftovers by the local deadline. Outside Israel, set aside the eruv tavshilin.
5. Wednesday night: the first Seder. Read the Haggadah, eat the matzah and maror, drink the four cups, and let people ask questions.
6. The rest of the week: matzah and no chametz until Pesach ends on Thursday night, April 29 (Wednesday night in Israel).

Keep going after Pesach

The Omer count gives you a built-in daily habit from the second night of Pesach until Shavuot, which begins at sundown on Thursday, June 10, 2027. One line a night, 49 nights. If you want something slightly bigger, read the story itself before the holiday: Exodus chapters 1 to 15, a chapter a day, finishes in about two weeks and makes the Haggadah much easier to follow. Our guide to starting a daily Torah habit has more ideas, and if you are new to the idea of commandments in general, start with what a mitzvah is.

Bayit gives you the whole Tanakh in Hebrew and English, including the Exodus story, plus this week's parsha one aliyah a day and a place to ask what a verse means, with the sources quoted. Want a short Daily Plan to start before Pesach? Try Bayit on the App Store.