# How would I, a Gentile, go about attending a Seder? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 12, 2011, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-a-gentile-go-about-attending-a-seder/578070 "2011-04-12T09:48:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-a-gentile-go-about-attending-a-seder/578070/61 "2011-04-14T18:53:18Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > One year we had Jehovah’s witnesses. The funny part is that they knocked _right_ after the door/Elijah part. I was kind of thinking, uh dude, wrong door. > > The hostess was SO pissed. 😛 OK, first, that’s funny. What timing! But second, why get pissed? We’d have invited them in. It’d be a bit crowded if they accepted, but still. It’s not like they’re really gonna get a chance to give their conversion spiel. Reminds of an SCA friend. After a weapons practice, the gang (still in garb with weapons) were lounging around the house. Non-SCA roommate answered a knock at the door. When the JWs asked if they could come in, roomie said “sure”. The missionaries stayed for a very few, panic-filled moments and then fled. For years afterwards, missionaries avoided that house like the plague. Going so far as to cross the street just for that house, so as not to walk on the sidewalk in front of it. What more could you ask for? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-a-gentile-go-about-attending-a-seder/578070/62 "2011-04-14T19:31:11Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > I second the Hillel suggestion. If you are a current student of the school, then there may be laws or policies on nondiscrimination that require them to admit you. If you aren’t affiliated, I don’t know if they can refuse you - it may depend on their policy and the school’s. > > I believe that organizations at public colleges in the US can get in serious trouble with the university (e.g. being barred from reserving rooms for X months) for discrimination in attendance and membership. I don’t know, bobert, I sort of get the sense that the OP would like to go to a seder that doesn’t require getting a consent decree. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-a-gentile-go-about-attending-a-seder/578070/63 "2011-04-14T21:31:41Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > It is my understanding that the current thinking is that the Last Supper was NOT a seder. Correct. The bottom line is that the Gospels disagree/are unclear. However: - There is no mention of the Passover sacrifice. In Temple times, they would have sacrificed a lamb and eaten the meat at the seder (we don’t do that today.) It would be logical/symbolic for Jesus to say that the meat (of the Pascal sacrifice) is his body, but that’s not what he says, he says his body is the bread, not the meat. That’s not conclusive, but it is indicative. - If it was a seder, the next day would be a holiday. There wouldn’t have been a trial or an execution in a Jewish court. (Counter argument: it wasn’t a Jewish court but a Roman court.) Current academic thinking (majority) is that it was a later night of Passover, but not seder night. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-a-gentile-go-about-attending-a-seder/578070/64 "2011-04-20T02:25:44Z")
Well? Did you find a seder? ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-a-gentile-go-about-attending-a-seder/578070/65 "2011-04-20T03:43:18Z")
The OP is probably suffering from a combo of indigestion and constipation from eating all that Joo Food. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-a-gentile-go-about-attending-a-seder/578070/66 "2011-04-20T06:25:15Z")
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it to one. The rabbi of the Chabad group wrote me back politely saying I wouldn’t be able to attend because the Torah prohibits them cooking for non-Jews during Passover. That left the interfaith Seder, which I had to miss because I’ve just started a new job (Tuesday was my first full shift, in fact) and I wasn’t in a position to take time off. Thanks for all the advice, though. There’s always next year. (In Jerusalem?) ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-a-gentile-go-about-attending-a-seder/578070/67 "2011-04-20T15:28:07Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > …The rabbi of the Chabad group wrote me back politely saying I wouldn’t be able to attend because the Torah prohibits them cooking for non-Jews during Passover. WTF is this? This is Halacha? Anyway, stay the fuck away from them until you’re thinking of converting… ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-a-gentile-go-about-attending-a-seder/578070/68 "2011-04-21T03:03:40Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > WTF is this? This is Halacha? Yes, that’s accurate. Jews are not allowed to cook at all on Shabbat. We’re allowed to cook on the major holidays, but only for holiday purposes. For example, it is against halacha (Jewish law) for a Jew to cook on the holiday if he plans to eat it after the holiday, even if he is cooking it for himself. The Jew isn’t even allowed to cook for the next day of the holiday, if the next day has less holiness than the day that he’s cooking on. Similarly, a Jew is not allowed to cook on the holiday for a non-Jew, because it isn’t a holiday for the non-Jew, certainly not as much of a holiday as it is for the Jew. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-a-gentile-go-about-attending-a-seder/578070/69 "2011-04-21T03:11:45Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > Yes, that’s accurate. > > Jews are not allowed to cook at all on Shabbat. We’re allowed to cook on the major holidays, but only for holiday purposes. For example, it is against halacha (Jewish law) for a Jew to cook on the holiday if he plans to eat it after the holiday, even if he is cooking it for himself. The Jew isn’t even allowed to cook for the next day of the holiday, if the next day has less holiness than the day that he’s cooking on. Similarly, a Jew is not allowed to cook on the holiday for a non-Jew, because it isn’t a holiday for the non-Jew, certainly not as much of a holiday as it is for the Jew. As described [here](http://www.adathshalom.org/RK/a-Gentile-to-the-Passover-Seder.pdf) other halacha could apply with equal if not greater force, in arguing that gentiles should be included. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-a-gentile-go-about-attending-a-seder/578070/70 "2011-04-21T03:25:10Z")
I thought it was a tradition to invite gentile friends to your Seder. The drunken Chabad Rabbi never told me about it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-a-gentile-go-about-attending-a-seder/578070/71 "2011-04-21T06:14:51Z")
For clarity’s sake, this is what the rabbi wrote back to me. [QUOTE=Rabbi Cheski Edelman] I would love to be able to invite you to join our Seder, but Jewish law prevents me from being able to do so. The Torah gives special permision to cook on Holidays (cooking is prohibited on the Sabbath), however this exemption is only limited to cooking for people who are Jewish. Because of this Jewish law states that one may not invite a person who is not Jewish to a Holiday meal because you will be cooking for them (a non-Jew may be invited to a Sabbath meal because all cooking is done before the onset of the Sabbath). Tha being said, if a gentile does attend a Seder he is welcome to stay… [/QUOTE] I read this to mean something along the lines of “It’s not like we’d kick you out if you showed up, but I can’t tell you it’s OK for you to come either.” I definitely got the impression that I wouldn’t be welcome, though. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-a-gentile-go-about-attending-a-seder/578070/72 "2011-04-21T10:23:23Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I thought it was a tradition to invite gentile friends to your Seder. I have been invited and attended seders at the invitation of a Jewish co-worker, so obviously this is not observed in all quarters. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-a-gentile-go-about-attending-a-seder/578070/73 "2011-04-21T11:41:09Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > For clarity’s sake, this is what the rabbi wrote back to me. > > I read this to mean something along the lines of “It’s not like we’d kick you out if you showed up, but I can’t tell you it’s OK for you to come either.” I definitely got the impression that I wouldn’t be welcome, though. He chooses to believe that one statement of law (limit cooking on holidays to what is necessary) overcomes another (do that which spreads peace and goodwill). This is an opinion or interpretation of which principle is more important, and it makes him, in _my_ opinion, an asshole, but it is the prevailing view among his sect. As stated earlier, Chabad Lubivatchers are extremists and their views are not widely shared. I hope you will not be put off from attending in the future. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-a-gentile-go-about-attending-a-seder/578070/74 "2011-04-21T11:47:49Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > As stated earlier, Chabad Lubivatchers are extremists and their views are not widely shared. I hope you will not be put off from attending in the future. And they are sloppy drunks. 🙂 I hope you are able to attend in the future, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-a-gentile-go-about-attending-a-seder/578070.md?page=3)