Celebrating Passover Culture at Emory

Emory Hillel organized 28 student-led Seder dinners for more than 550 students to attend during this year’s Passover.

The Seders were organized to give more Jewish students the opportunity to attend a Seder, said Director of Emory Hillel Michael Rabkin.

“Passover is traditionally a family holiday — you’re sitting around the table with your family. And this is an attempt to recreate that opportunity when people can’t go home,” Rabkin said, adding that many students do go home for their Passovers.

Passover, which began Wednesday night, is the major Jewish spring holiday and commemorates the freedom of Jewish slaves from Egypt 3,000 years ago. The festival lasts eight days, and during the first one or two nights, the ritual meal of Seder is prepared.

Hillel has been organizing a Seder for nearly as long as Hillel has been at Emory, which is approximately 50 or 60 years, Rabkin said. In the past, he said, Hillel had hosted Super Seders that provided centralized events for 200 or 300 people. This year’s Super Seder drew approximately 40 attendees and was held in Cox Hall at sundown on Wednesday.

But last year, Hillel decided to allow students to host Seder dinners on their own, in addition to the Super Seder. There were 23 hosts and 450 participants last year, Rabkin said.

“It was a confusing and difficult experience. But we learned a lot, so this year we are able to do a lot more and be more efficient about it,” he said. He said that Hillel was able to double the number of participants by decentralizing Seder and giving students the opportunity to have a more meaningful Passover experience.

College junior Ben Slutsker, who attended a student-led Seder last night, said he preferred them to the larger Seders. Slutsker said the Seder his freshman year was the same day as the NCAA basketball tournament, so the dinner was very quick and informal, and “didn’t have the same Passover feel.”

Hillel Passover intern Naomi Schuster, a College sophomore, organized the student Seders the past two years, which were held in student apartments, residence halls and fraternity and sorority houses. Schuster said the goal was to let each student make his or her Seder unique, and to “own” the event.

“I don’t think I’ve slept in a week. It was a lot of work organizing all this, but it was worth it,” Schuster said.

Student Seder hosts attended training workshops with Schuster to learn how to lead Seders and were given “Seder-to-Go” kits, including a Seder plate, matzah, haroset — a sweet paste of fruit and nuts — and copies of the Passover haggadah, a prayer book that outlines the Passover procedure.

College senior Danny Berger assembled this year’s haggadah. Berger said he designed the book to be more accessible to those not intimately familiar with Jewish traditions and to explain some traditional Seder elements in the text.

“It’s great for making dialogue among those who are more and less familiar with Jewish culture,” Berger said.

Berger has hosted his own Seder every year he has been at Emory. He hosted his first one in his freshman year in Trimble Hall and subsequent ones in the Alpha Tau Omega house. Both Jewish and non-Jewish students attend the Seders, he said.

Berger’s Seder dinner Thursday evening at ATO was co-sponsored by Emory Hillel and included 45 students, including College senior College senior Matthew Poliner, whose father is Jewish, had not previously attended a Seder.

“My dad called me before I went, and he said if I couldn’t understand any terms, or if I needed help finding the hidden matzah, he could give me a call.” said Poliner, who added that his favorite parts of the Seder were Berger’s explanations for Jewish cultural practices, the many songs and the Manischewitz wine.

“Manischewitz is the cornerstone of a great Seder,” Slutsker agreed.

During the Seder, Berger had guests follow along with the haggadah as he explained the food, such as bitter herbs to represent the bitter period of Jewish slavery, and eggs and parsley to represent fertility and spring.

A brief play was staged to illustrate the Exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt and the 10 plagues. Berger also explained the traditional four blessings throughout the Seder, performed the traditional washing of hands and led several prayers and songs in both Hebrew and English.

Poliner said that finally experiencing a Seder allowed him to see “the customs behind the religion.”

College senior Jeff Schram has also hosted regular Seders. Schram said he likes to include a group of people who are not Jewish in his Seder dinners.

“It’s a chance for non-Jewish people to learn about tradition, and it’s one of the more fun Jewish holidays,” Schram said.

Students also received mini-grants to offset the costs of cooking for multiple guests. To incentivize students to host Seders, each host was offered a small subsidy of $6 per attendee, Rabkin said, adding that hosts could also ask guests to chip in for the dinner costs.

Rabkin said that after the word was spread about smaller Seders, Hillel gave students the “tools and resources” to host the dinners.

“The difference this year is it’s the most amount of people we’ve been able to engage in Seder,” Rabkin said. “If you were to ask a Jewish student where they were going to Seder, they would probably tell you they were going to one sponsored by Emory Hillel.”

More than 40 students gathered at the Alpha Tau Omega house, sharing matzah and smiles, for a Passover Seder yesterday evening hosted by College senior Daniel Berger and sponsored in part by Emory Hillel.