Togetherness, Remembrance

Mill Valley, CA — In the kitchen, the Scop family, including (from left) mo… Mendel Scop, 2, and his mother, Chana Scop, take time out… Mendel Scop, 2, cleans crumbs from the family minivan in …

The Mill Valley home of Rabbi Hillel Scop was bustling Sunday. As his wife, Chana, soothed their 8-month old son, Scop carried a box of supplies past her and into the kitchen, where pots rumbled on the stove and three of the Scops’ four other children busily peeled zucchinis.

There, next to plates of lettuce and herbs, piles of potatoes awaited boiling, all in preparation for tonight’s ceremonial feast, called the seder, which opens the eight-day Passover celebration. The Scops will welcome into their home some two dozen people for seders tonight and again on Tuesday, at least half of them strangers.

“We live in a very ‘me’ generation, a very ‘now’ generation, where it is all about what we can get,” said Scop, 33. “Passover is an eight-day reminder to step back and realize it isn’t just about you.”

Executive director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Mill Valley, Scop is one of dozens of rabbis who are welcoming Jews from all walks of life into homes and auditoriums across the Bay Area and the country in accordance with the Passover decree, “All who are hungry, let them come and eat.”

It is part of an effort by Project Reconnect and the North American Association of Synagogue Executives to encourage Jewish congregations to welcome college students and young adults into family and community seders — and to inspire them to embrace their heritage. A growing percentage of young Jews are rejecting organized religion, especially in the Bay Area, according to National Jewish Population and American Jewish Identity surveys and a study by San Francisco’s Institute for Jewish and Community Research done over the past seven years.

Some 180 congregations in the United States and Canada, and several more in Israel, England, Spain and Germany, are participating in Project Reconnect.

Passover is the oldest Jewish holiday, first celebrated 3,319 years ago. The festival commemorates the exodus of the Israelites from ancient Egypt, where they had been enslaved during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses II.

The primary symbol of Passover is the matzo, a flat, unleavened bread that the ancient Israelites ate during the exodus. It is said that the Hebrews ate matzo because they left Egypt in such haste there was no time to wait for bread to rise. Some scholars believe unleavened bread may have been used because it is easier to carry and does not spoil as fast as regular bread and is thus better for long journeys.

Either way, matzo serves as a symbol for Jews not to let their egos get puffed up. Other food eaten at the seder also has symbolism, like the “bitter herbs,” normally horseradish or romaine lettuce, which reminds people of the suffering and bitter times endured by Jews when in Egypt.

“Most of the steps are meant to raise the interest of children,” Scop said. “To me, it marks the need to impart our heritage and traditions to our children. If we are going to keep Judaism going, we have to pass those lessons on to the next generation.”

Most of the Seders open to the public are being put together by local Jewish groups known as Chabads, outreach organizations for the Jewish community. Chabad is an acronym combining the Hebrew words for wisdom, understanding and knowledge. The Chabad movement started 300 years ago as an effort to unite rival forms of Judaism.

“The idea is to do something meaningful with your every bite,” said Rabbi Yehuda Ferris, whose Chabad of the East Bay is holding a seder for hundreds of people in Pauley Ballroom on the UC Berkeley campus. “It’s a universal message of going beyond your own limitations, of going out and saying I can do it, of going from slavery to freedom. It’s part of a continuous mission to perfect the world.”

Mendel Scop, 2, and his mother, Chana Scop, take time out from preparations for Passover at their home in Mill Valley. Chronicle photo by Kat Wade

In the kitchen, the Scop family, including (from left) mother Chana, Chaya, 4, Schneur, 8, and Devorah, 6, get organized to prepare the Passover seder, which will be served tonight, with help from chef Sage Callaway. Chronicle photo by Kat Wade