Temple Beth Am Hosts Chocolate Seder

Report and photos by Beth Adler of Framingham

“Why is this night different from all other nights?” is one of the 4 questions asked at a Passover Seder.

Well, Thursday night was different from all other nights at Temple Beth Am in Framingham because there was a chocolate Seder.

Yes, you read those words correctly, a chocolate Seder.

Lead by Temple Beth Am’s Spiritual Leader, Cantor Jodi Schechtman, congregants, friends and neighbors followed the order of the Seder but instead of the traditional items one might find on a Seder plate: a roasted shankbone, a hard boiled egg, bitter herbs (usually horseradish), Charoset (a mixture of nuts, apples, wine and a little cinnamon), and parsley/Karpas; we had a chocolate bone, chocolate Charoset (melted chocolate chips, walnuts and raisens), bittersweet chocolate chips, green chocolate pieces, a chocolate egg, and an orange. There were also green apples to be dipped in chocolate sauce, chocolate covered matzah, and of course the best part of the night, the chocolate martinis; thank you Gene Laks, master mixologist, who also happens to be Cantor Schechtman’s husband.

For those wondering, as Cantor Schechtman said this evening, “Passover is about symbolism.”

Everything on the Seder plate, also chocolate of course, is there because it represents something in relation to the story of Passover and the Jews exit from Egypt.

For example, the Charoset represents the mud and mortar the Jews used to build the pyramids and the shankbone represents the Paschal lamb that was used to make the mark on the doorposts of the Jewish households so that the last plague, the death of the first born, would pass over their houses.

So why the orange you ask? There are many stories as to how the orange came to be on our Seder plates, but the simplest explanation is that while it appears out of place, it is still included in our Passover symbols, in the same way that we should include anyone who might feel ostracized from the Jewish community.