Ranges are for THU-THU, 8- 29Nissan - April 10 - May 1, '03

Candle lighting on the left; Havdala on the right See below for earliest candle lighting times, Rabbeinu Tam Shabbat-out times, and other halachic z’manim

6:30 Shabbat-HaGadol 7:45
6:33 First-day-of-Pesach 7:49
6:34 Shabbat-Chol-HaMoed 7:50
6:37 Sh’vi’i-shel-Pesach 7:53
6:39 Parshat-Acharei 7:56

In addition to the candle lighting and Havdala times above, here are the earliest times (Plag Mincha) for candle lighting and the Rabbeinu Tam time for Havdala. In similar style to the front page, the earliest candle lighting is on the left and Rabbeinu Tam time on the right.

5:45 Shabbat-HaGadol 8:21
5:48 First-day-of-Pesach 8:25
5:49 Shabbat-Chol-HaMoed 8:27
5:51 Sh’vi’i-shel-Pesach 8:30
5:52 Parshat-Acharei 8:33

Many communities wait until the Shabbat after Pesach to start their “early Shabbat” minyan. We are taking Shabbat early at the Center for the Shabbat HaGadol Shabbaton. For the first day of Pesach, it is generally not done. Not only does the Seder need to begin after stars-out, but Hallel in shul should also be after stars-out. It is a good idea not to drag out the Leil Pesach davening, so that the Seder can begin sooner than later. For Shabbat Chol HaMoed and last day of Yom Tov, there can be an early minyan, with the reminder to repeat the Sh’ma and count the Omer at the proper time. Still, it is not common to find early minyan on those two occasions.

Erev Pesach, 14 Nissan, Apr.16
Last time to eat chametz (Ashkenazim) 9:57am
Last time to eat chametz (S’faradim) 9:31am
Last times for “benefit”, sale, and burning chametz11:17am for Ashkenazim 10:47am for S’faradim

Leil HaSeder
Preferable to eat Afikoman (and even finish Hallel) by halachic midnight, which is 12:38am

Other Z'manim
The following time ranges are from Thursday, April 10 through Thursday, May 1. The z’manim for each Thursday within the range are given. Times for other days can be determined by extrapolation.
Thursdays. ..April 10 April 17 April 24 May 1
Earliest Shacharit: 5:26am 5:17am 5:09am 5:01am
Sunrise: 6:17am 6:09am 6:01am 5:54am
Sof Z’man Kri’at Sh’ma (GR”A):9:28am 9:23am 9:19am 9:15am
Sof Z’man Kri’at Sh’ma (Magen Avraham):8:42am 8:36am 8:31am 8:25am
Sof Z’man T’fila (GR”A) 10:32am 10:28am 10:25am 10:22am
Sof Z’man T’fila (Mag. Av.)10:01am 9:57am 9:53am 9:49am
Chatzot (halachic noon): 12:40½pm 12:39pm 12:37pm 12:36pm
Mincha Gedola (earliest Mincha):1:13pm 1:12pm 1:11pm 1:10pm
Plag Mincha: 5:44½pm 5:48pm 5:51pm 5:55pm
Sunset (taking elevation into account):7:09pm 7:14pm 7:19pm 7:24pm
Sunset (sea level, no elevation):7:04pm 7:09pm 7:14pm 7:19pm

Explanation of the Z'manim
Sunrise for Jerusalem does not take into account elevation, since the eastern horizon (where the sun rises) consists of the Hills of Moav across the Jordan River, which are approx. at the same elevation as Jerusalem
Sunset, on the other hand, is given for an elevation of 825m and, in parentheses, as if at sea level. There are different opinions as to which sunset time should be used for halachic purposes. We present both times.

The deadlines for the SH'MA and the Shacharit Amida can be calculated in two ways. Either considering the day to be from sunrise to sunset or from dawn to stars out. The first way of reckoning is known as the opinion of the GR"A, and is the first time given in each case. The second method is known as the Magen Avraham, and is presented in parentheses.

Aside from candle lighting and havdala, the times are presented as a range, from the current Thursday of the issue of Torah Tidbits until the coming Thursday, a span of 8 days. Days between the two Thursdays can be determined by interpolation (which means: a method by which to estimate a value of between two known values - this is something that people above a certain age might remember from high school trigonometry and logarithms, but younger people who went to school during the calculator era might not be familiar with).

It is usually wise to "pad" the times with a minute or two in the "play it safe" direction. E.g. Plag Mincha. Better to finish Mincha a minute or two before the given time. But, better to not light candles until a minute or two after the given time.