By Jennifer Glickel
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN EAST — Many Manhattan Jews forgot about carb-counting on Tuesday night, as sundown signaled the end of Passover and the return to eating leavened bread.
During the week of Passover, observant Jews are prohibited from eating chametz, or any of the five main grains — wheat, spelt, barley, oats and rye — in addition to the usual kosher dietary restrictions.
How strictly individuals keep to these rules varies, but those who do keep kosher for Passover were looking forward to Tuesday night.
"My typical tradition for the end of Passover, which I’ve done for the past few years, is have pizza and beer," said Elan Gordon, a "Conservidox" Jew who keeps strictly kosher for Passover each year.
"But I've found that having both is really a lot to consume, so I’m trying to scale back this year and just stick to beer. So I'll be going out to a bar with a bunch of friends," Gordon added.
For other Jews who haven't been as strict with their diets during the holiday, the end of Passover wasn’t really a cause for celebration
"My religious observance is on something of a sliding scale, so I kept relatively kosher for Passover but not even remotely kosher for everything else as far as meat and seafood goes," said David J., a lawyer who declined to give his last name.
"I’m not doing anything special tonight to observe the end of Passover because I don’t feel like I deserve it," he said.
Some Reform Jews, like Sherri Fogelman and her family, observed the last day of Passover on Monday night.
"We broke it last night with New York pizza at Lombardi's and then did dessert at Magnolia Bakery," Fogelman said.
"I kept kosher for all of Passover, but I actually cheated and broke it two hours early yesterday with a black-and-white cookie."
For the majority of Manhattan Jews DNAinfo spoke with, keeping kosher for Passover was more about the spirit of the holiday than strictly adhering to a limited diet.
"I kept kosher for the most part, but definitely cheated with a late night slice of pizza," said Tammy Berman, who works at Tiffany & Co.
Despite her slip, Berman is looking forward to not having to keep kosher for Passover again for an entire year.
"My Italian boyfriend made matzoh ball soup for me and my whole family,” she said, “so I'm definitely matzoh-ed out."
