(RNS) This year, when Passover begins at sundown Wednesday (April 8), friends and families prepare for an isolated — and in many cases virtual — Passover celebration.
In an unprecedented ruling late last month, some Orthodox rabbis in Jerusalem loosened typically strict prohibitions on the use of electricity, allowing families to connect on Zoom for the Passover Seder.
In the United Kingdom, the London Beth Din’s kosher certification agency, the largest in Europe, upended 500 years of tradition when it permitted certain products that are not kosher for Passover to be used for the Seder “in extremis,” even though they had not been manufactured under special rabbinic supervision.
“We are acutely aware of the pressures of this unprecedented time,” Rabbi Jeremy Conway, director of the agency’s kosher division, said in a statement. “This list should be used when regular supervised products are not available, or for people who are older or in isolation and so are unable to go shopping themselves or have Pesach (Passover) products delivered to their home.”