Chabad of San Clemente’s Passover Celebration

The Chabad Center of San Clemente celebrated the first two nights of Passover last Monday and Tuesday evening with a traditional holiday Seder and dinner program.

“Every year on Passover we celebrate our freedom from the first bondage the Jewish people faced,” said Rabbi Mendel Slavin, sharing some of his thoughts on Passover. “It is also a great time for all, to free themselves from their personal spiritual bondage by rededicating ourselves to the Torah and it’s values which adds meaning to our lives.”

In all, more than eighty people attended this year’s events and participated in the reading of the Haggadah–a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover seder, or dinner–to commemorate the Jews’ miraculous freedom from bondage that has become a symbol for freedom for all nations.

There are two primary mitzvos (commandments) associated with this holiday. One is to eat only matzah (unleavened bread) for the entire 8-day period of Passover, and two is the mitzvah (commandment) to read the Haggadah. It is mentioned four times in the Torah: “And you shall tell it to your children on that day.”

During the seder itself, there are also two mitzvos to eat at least one ounce of matzah and to drink four full cups of wine during the ceremony.

A highlight of any seder is the asking of the “four questions.” It is a tradition that brings everyone their memories of their own seders as children and recalls the unbroken links between the generations.

This years’ four questions were asked by both of Rabbi Mendel and Tzippy Slavin’s two sons Yossi age six and Shua eight. Yossi spoke a very spirited Hebrew and English version of the four questions singing them and saying them as well, while his older brother Shua performed the four questions in Yiddish.

Just before the fourth cup of wine is consumed the Passover dinner is served. Traditional foods such as gefilte fish, various salads, roasted chicken with potatoes and, of course, all the matzah you could eat were served.

“The Holiday of Passover is when families all over the world come together to celebrate,” said Tzippy Slavin, Co-director of the Chabad Jewish Center. “We are thrilled to to have our community celebrate together as one family.”