Local Passover Seder

Novato Participates in Passover Solidarity Campaign by Ukraine Rabbis

Chabad Jewish Center of Novato will Participate in “Fill an Extra Seder Seat” campaign,

in Solidarity with Ukraine’s Jews Unable to Celebrate Passover

Novato, CA — Passover is the most observed Jewish holiday in America, yet many Jews, especially those less fortunate, don't have a Seder to go to. The Seder—the festive ritual-heavy dinner on the first two nights of the holiday—are usually celebrated with extended family and friends. This year many Jews in Ukraine will not be able to attend a Seder because of the war, and Ukraine’s rabbis are now calling on all Jews everywhere to “fill an extra Seder seat” by inviting even just one more guest, who otherwise wouldn’t have somewhere to celebrate the Passover Seder.

“Reach out to a family member, neighbor or co-worker who doesn’t have Passover Seder plans and invite them to your home, please,” said Rabbi Avraham Wolff, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Odessa. “Do it for us, the Jewish people in Ukraine who may not be able to attend a Seder.”

Heeding their call, Novato’s residents are ordering more brisket and matzah to expand the capacity at their home Seder for others in solidarity with the people in Ukraine.

Communal Seders will be stepping up as well, and Chabad Jewish Center of Novato will be hosting a giant community Seder open to all Marin Jews on Friday evening, April 15 at 7:00PM at 695 De Long Ave Novato. Communal Seders have long been a tradition in Novato since 2012, but after two years of pandemic Passovers, the organizers are expecting record numbers of attendees to mark the festival as well as many coming in solidarity to those displaced or sheltering in Ukraine.

“My colleagues in Ukraine, where the rabbis are heroically providing relief and Passover supplies even as bombs are falling, have reached out asking that we ensure everyone here in Novato has a Seder to go to because many in their community can’t attend one,” said Rabbi Landa. “It’s the least we can do for them! A simple yet profound Passover gift.”

The Seders will take participants through the Exodus of the Jewish people from bondage in Egypt while sharing the relevance and beauty of the age-old festival with a timeless message for our modern times. Included are the 15 steps of the Seder, drinking of the four cups of wine, eating the bitter herb and matzah—many are seeking out the traditional handmade round “Shmurah” Matzah and have reincorporated them into family Passover tradition.

“While Novato’s Jewish community joyfully joins together in a communal Seder after two Passovers of Covid,” said Mrs. Adina Landa, Co-Diector of Chabad of Novato, “the needs of those suffering across the globe will be on our minds. In Jewish tradition, Matzah is referred to as the ‘Bread of Faith’ and the ‘Bread of Healing,’ at this time faith, hope and healing are desperately needed as we pray for the wellbeing of our brothers and sisters in Ukraine.”

The local Jewish community has joined in the global effort to save lives, with many community members contributing to the Ukraine Jewish Relief Fund at jewishnovato.com/Ukraine.

The campaign launched by Ukraine’s rabbis is being done in honor of the 120th anniversary (on April 12th) since the birth of the Rebbe — Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, the most influential rabbi in modern history — in Ukraine. The Rebbe built Jewish life in Ukraine since the fall of the Soviet Union through his 384 Chabad emissaries who built just about all the Jewish infrastructure that exists in Ukraine today, including scores of synagogues and schools across 32 of Ukraine’s largest cities, as well as the world’s largest Jewish community center in Dnipro, the city the Rebbe grew up in. In 1954, the Rebbe also launched a Passover campaign to encourage and enable all Jewish people to participate in Passover traditions.

To join the community Seder, visit www.jewishnovato.com/seder