We’re just over a month away from Passover (1st Seder is Friday, April 22), so what better time to start thinking about ways to make your seder special.  Every family has their own traditions – we’d love to hear about some of yours.  Please send your comments to [email protected].

Our member, Jennifer Bordenstein, shared her family’s truly unique seder experience:

Our Passover Seder tradition is quite unique.  After WWII ended, and 6 siblings on my husband’s side emigrated to the US, they began holding a Seder each year.  During the Seder, they spoke of their “Exodus” from Russia to America.  They spoke of l’ador vador, and how they hoped generations ahead would continue with their Seder tradition.  

My children began the 6th generation of the Dobro Family Seder.  We have our own Hagaddah, that is filled with stories of how the family began their new lives in Boston.  The Seder is ‘MC’d” by a relative who was a Broadway actor, so you can imagine the laughter that ensues.  There is a yearly family tree that is printed to show the new babies, marriages, and deaths.   We “facetime” with the now elderly, Florida contingent of the family.  The Seder ends with “Good and Welfare”, where each of us must stand up and tell something about our year.  People announce new jobs, new homes, good and terrible health situations, and there have been 2 marriage proposals.

The Seder fluctuates in size each year, with 120 people at its largest.  Family fly in from all parts of the country and it has gone from us all cooking together in a community center, to hosting it at a banquet hall in Boston.  I began attending the Seder in 1996, with my boyfriend, turned fiance, turned husband.  Each person outside the family must be deemed “Seder Worthy”, which is a huge step in the relationship.