A few weeks ago, a group of Assistants decided to accompany our Jewish Assistant friend (shalom, Lisa) to the Seder dinner hosted by the Liberal Jewish Community Center for Passover. Most of us had never been to Seder before (the extent of my Jewish experience is a few Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and one night of Hannukah dinner), but figured it would be a cool thing to check out.
So the 5 Americans showed up with our “family” dish to contribute to the buffet (a sort of matzah casserole) and a few bottles of wine, all kosher of course. From the second we walked through the door, everyone we met was more than welcoming, coming up to introduce themselves and find out who these newcomers were, where we were from, and if we were single. After a serious attempt to engage me to a Jewish girl about my age down the table (“Her mother really wants her to marry an American…”) the Seder started. The ceremony was done both in Hebrew and in French, with certain repeats done in English. Luckily we had a book to follow along with so that we could read a little more about what the chants and actions represented.
We soon realized that we were also supposed to have brought a plate with various vegetables and Matzah, but as soon as they were needed in the ceremony and the others realized we didn’t have any, shout rang out across the room: “Help the poor Americans! They don’t have anything. Does someone have any extra to give the Americans?” After some shuffling around the room to supply us with the essentials, the ceremony continued with our 4 glasses of wine being raised and then drunk, until finally the feast came. With the ceremony starting out slow and including only celery leaves, radishes, and Matzah, I had no idea what I was in store for. 2 plates of every kind of kosher dish and 2 helpings of dessert later, I was bursting at the seams and walking out with leftovers that had been offered freely to us. Jewish experience win. Sign me up for another.
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