“Seder is a group experience. It’s not something good to do by yourself,” Davidson, 55, told the AJN this week after trekking with wife Gale and eight-year-old son Eitan to a seder in Darwin — the closest one to his home in Jabiru, where he works as the community-relations manager for Energy Resources of Australia.
Outback Jews trek 250km for seder
There are four well-known reasons why seder night is different to all other nights. But Jeffrey Davidson, who lives in a small mining town in the Top End, 250 kilometres from the nearest seder table, has a fifth: Jews must not celebrate Pesach alone.
“Seder is a group experience. It’s not something good to do by yourself,” Davidson, 55, told the AJN this week after trekking with wife Gale and eight-year-old son Eitan to a seder in Darwin — the closest one to his home in Jabiru, where he works as the community-relations manager for Energy Resources of Australia.
The seder was organised by Chabad of Rural and Regional Australia (RARA) and the Melbourne-based Rabbinical College of Australia and New Zealand which jointly organised nine Pesach celebrations in remote places including Nowra and Newcastle, in NSW, and the Sunshine Coast and Townsville in Queensland.
But according to Chabad of RARA’s Rabbi Dov Oliver, the Davidson family’s trek was the furthest he’d heard about in the 10-plus years he has facilitated seders.
“Jeff’s voyage is inspirational and shows a huge commitment to preserving Jewish identity even out there in the outback,” Rabbi Oliver said.
