THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 4, 1996 TAG: 9604040336
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ESTHER DISKIN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 139 lines
Stella Kremenchugskiy, who moved to Norfolk from the Ukrainian capital of Kiev in 1994, used to celebrate the Jewish festival of Passover by gathering with her entire family at her grandmother's house.
They kept their family celebration a secret. Passover commemorates the Jews' exodus from slavery in Egypt, but Jews in the republics of the former Soviet Union weren't free to observe it. To live openly as Jews meant discrimination and the threat of violence.
In Norfolk, Kremenchugskiy enjoys her freedom to go to synagogue whenever she chooses, but Passover - a holiday centered on the family dinner table - presents another problem. A true family gathering isn't possible: Her brother and her husband's parents and brother all remain in Kiev.
So as Passover began on Wednesday night, Kremenchugskiy turned to her ``extended family'' at Temple Israel on Granby Street, where Rabbi Michael Panitz conducted a Passover seder in three languages - Hebrew, English and Russian.
``I am so glad to see a lot of people going there. People are so happy,'' she said. ``You can go to synagogue and celebrate every holiday. I like it.''
These days, the Passover table is getting bigger. While the festival still retains its focus on family, many local synagogues are following a national trend in holding Passover seder services for their congregations.
The change is a response to the realities of modern American life, local rabbis say. Many families, scattered across the country, can't rearrange their schedules or afford the travel costs to come together during the holiday.
For some Jews, the prospect of holding a home ``seder'' - the Hebrew word for the Passover meal, with its highly-ordered rituals and recounting of the exodus story - can seem daunting.
A seder at the synagogue can give these families a sense of community and comfort.
``The congregation today serves as an extended family,'' said Rabbi Israel Zoberman at Congregation Beth Chaverim. ``We have people who do not have family with them in Virginia Beach . . . there is no greater joy than being with your congregation in telling the story.'' He expects 200 to attend Beth Chaverim's seder, which is being held at Grand Affairs.
Orchestrating a Passover meal for a group of a hundred or more comes with its own set of challenges. Chief among them, say several rabbis, is the task of creating an intimate mood to echo a home setting.
The traditions of Passover are suited for a small, close-knit group: Everyone around the table - particularly children - has a role to play in retelling the story of the Jews' escape from Egypt.
With a big crowd, not everyone can get into the act, but rabbis can work up a sweat trying to engage a crowd ranging from great-grandmas to toddlers. They often grab a microphone and rove from table to table, picking people to read aloud, leading songs, even throwing in a little humor.
Timing is everything. ``There is an iron rule to a community seder,'' jokes Panitz. ``Forty minutes from kiddush to knaydlech.'' Kiddush, the blessing over the wine, comes at the start of the service. Knaydlech, a Yiddish word for soup dumplings, signals that the rituals are largely over and it's time to dig in to the meal.
Orthodox Jews, who most strictly observe the religious and dietary laws of Judaism, aren't typically fans of the congregation-wide Passover seder.
``The idea is to have the family unit together,'' said Yosef Friedman, rabbi at B'nai Israel Synagogue, an Orthodox congregation. ``There is an intimacy in the home that you can't replicate in a group.''
Instead, he serves as a sort of holiday matchmaker during the weeks before Passover, making sure everyone in his congregation has a place to celebrate. Several people usually end up at his house, where he enlivens the seder with a puppet show to entertain his five kids.
``It is said that a person who hasn't had someone poor at their seder hasn't really had a seder,'' Friedman said, noting that his definition of ``poor'' would include those who don't have family members nearby or who are simply lonely.
Fans of the congregational Passover say that people tend to strike up conversations and make friends they would not have met if they'd celebrated at home. The large group setting can also spark opportunities for teaching, rabbis say.
Zoberman, at Beth Chaverim, seeks to connect the Passover theme of freedom to current events. This year, he plans to focus on the search for peace in the Middle East. He has invited George Azar, a Virginia Beach restaurant owner and a native of Lebanon, and his family to share the meal.
Azar is not Jewish but ``is one of those who believes in peace, and he has quite a story to tell about the dangers he suffered because of that,'' Zoberman said.
At Norfolk's Temple Israel, the influx of about 100 families from the former Soviet Union into the congregation prompted a shift into the trilingual seder so that Russian-language speakers could follow the story, Panitz said.
However, many of them are unfamiliar with Passover rituals, he said, because religious repression under communism forced generations of Jewish families to abandon many of their traditions.
Even as the newcomers have learned about their heritage from members of the synagogue, they've given American Jews insight into the power and relevance of the exodus story.
``Many who come to our seder are escapees, immigrants to freedom, so that for many of them the seder has a special meaning,'' Panitz said. ``There is a sense of immediacy.'' MEMO: WHAT IS PASSOVER?
Pesach, the Hebrew word for Passover, is a seven-day festival that
commemorates the escape of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt under
the tyrannical ruler Rameses II. The festival's name comes from Chapter
12 of Exodus, which tells that God cursed the Egyptians by slaying the
first-born son in every Egyptian household.
God spared, or ``passed over,'' the homes of the Jews. Stunned by the
tragedy, the Egyptians allowed the Jews to depart.
The holiday, which focuses on the broad theme of freedom, began this
year at sundown Wednesday.
How is it celebrated?
On the first two nights of the festival, Jews traditionally gather at
home for a ceremony and meal called a ``seder,'' a Hebrew word meaning
order. The book used to conduct the service is called the Haggaddah,
which tells the story of the Exodus through biblical excerpts, poetry
and songs. Numerous versions of the Haggaddah have been published, some
linking the story to modern events like the Holocaust.
Some biblical scholars believe that the Last Supper that Jesus ate
with his disciples in Jerusalem was a seder.
What special foods are eaten during Passover?
Ceremonial foods at the center of a seder table symbolize aspects of
Jews' bondage and their flight to freedom.
Three are most closely associated with the Exodus: bitter herbs,
usually horseradish, are a reminder of the Israelites' suffering as
slaves in Egypt; matzoh, unleavened bread also called ``the bread of
affliction,'' recalls the Jews' haste in fleeing Egypt - they did not
have time for their bread to rise; and the shank bone of a lamb, which
recalls the sacrificial offering of ancient times.
Before Passover, many observant Jews cleanse their homes of leavened
bread. During the festival's seven days, they do not eat any bread
products made with leavening. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by HUY NGUYEN, The Virginian-Pilot
Ian Wittenberg stands next to his father, Sam, while praying during
a Wednesday night ceremony at Temple Israel.
Photo by HUY NGUYEN, The Virginian-Pilot
Gershteyn Lev pours the first cup of wine for his table during the
community seder at Temple Israel on Wednesday night, the first night
of Passover.
by CNB