I was in NYC last fall with SunWife, we were walking through Union Square (while a farmer’s market was there) to make a visit (pilgrimage) to the Strand. Both on the way there and while returning, we had two different someones approach us and ask if we were Jewish. Both said thank you and ended their interaction when we said no. Likely Chabad sighting?
Beards and black hats? Almost certainly. If you had said yes they would have tried to invite you to something.
IIRC they were both women, hatless. The thing I wondered at the time if it was a Jews for Jesus outreach.
Likely to put on tefillin, or hear the shofar (at Rosh Hashanah) or shake a lulav (at Sukkot).
(I have it on good authority that they don’t like being asked “Why, are you?”)
There are decent Israeli Pesach wines.
If it’s fall and a Chabadnik asks if you’re Jewish, they might invite you to Chabad for the holidays, but what they want more is for you to wave the Four Species and say a prayer.
Around where I grew up there were interfaith buildings and no buildings that housed only one faith or denomination.
I’ve had perfectly okay kosher wine. But if i get non-kosher wine, i can get a solid wine really cheap, or an excellent wine. I’ve never had either of those in “kosher”.
So, what’s actually required in a Seder? If you don’t want to spend many hours at the service? I see some answers online, but the most authoritative seem thin. But maybe that’s really all you need:
Torah requirements:
- Eating the paschal lamb (something we haven’t been able to do since the destruction of the second Temple)
- Eating matzo
- Relating the story of passover
Rabbinic requirements:
- Drinking four cups of wine
- Eating bitter herbs
- Reciting Psalms of praise
- Eating the afikomen (an extra piece of matzah for dessert as a reminder of the Passover offering)
- Demonstrating acts of freedom (reclining when we eat)
Interestingly, my family usually skips the psalms of praise, although they are in our Haggadah.
You have to sing Had Gadya, though, right?
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Other things we do:
Dip parsley in salt water
Ask the four questions
Talk about the four types of children asking questions
Talk about all the stuff on the seder plate
Eat a hillel sandwich. (Some actual calories in that one.)
Hide the afikomen
Eat a festive, multi-course meal, with
Hard boiled eggs
Matzo ball soup
Gefilte fish (well, it’s offered. No one has eaten it since my mom died.)
Some special main course
Special desserts
(Hey, the food matters!)
Hunt for the afikomen
Read some more stuff, but pretty abbreviated at this point
Open the door for Elijah
Chant “who knows one”
Chant “an only kid” (yes, we chant in English, we don’t sing it in Hebrew)
Talk about where we want the seder to be next year. (We’ve done this ever since the year my mother hosted, but loudly said, “next year in [town where my sister lives]” where the book said “next year in Jerusalem”. )
Sing “America the Beautiful”
Split up the leftovers. I seem to have left both the wine and the charoset at my sister’s house. ![]()