Jewish communities on campus celebrate Passover, host Seder dinners

With the beginning of Passover on Wednesday, Princeton’s Jewish community held numerous celebrations across campus, bringing together students and community members to celebrate the holiday. 

Passover typically lasts seven or eight days and begins with dinners on the first and often second nights. These dinners are called Seders, which means “order” in Hebrew. Seders provide an opportunity for people to recount the story of their Jewish ancestors escaping Egypt and discuss the significance of the story. Special foods are served to commemorate the Passover story, such as matzah, which is unleavened bread.

On campus, the Center for Jewish Life (CJL) hosted a Princeton Community Seder led by Rabbi Gil Steinlauf ’91 and Rabbi Rebecca Galin on Wednesday and a Kesher Community Seder and a Koach Community Seder on Thursday. The Scharf Family Chabad House, which is not University-affiliated, welcomed students for Seder dinners over two days during Passover.

Multiple student groups, including the Alliance for Jewish Progressives (AJP) and the Ivy Club, also held Seder dinners and invited students from across campus to celebrate.

“It’s kind of like one big meal, and you structure it using a Haggadah,” Elena Eiss ’28, who helped lead the AJP dinner on Thursday night at the CJL, told The Daily Princetonian. 

Eiss explained that the Haggadah serves as an instruction manual, filled with prayers, readings, interpretations, and pictures that can help direct the Seder.

The AJP brought in additional texts and readings from other organizations such as the Seattle Jewish Lesbian Group to accompany the Seder. These additional texts are discussed to help attendees consider the holiday in a new light and reconsider how the Passover story is told, according to Eiss. 

“The tone of the whole Seder was one of learning and shared history,” said Eiss.

According to Rabbi Eitan Webb, co-founder of the Chabad House, the organization hosts multiple Seders for different demographics, including undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral students, and faculty families.

According to Webb, “Judaism is rooted in questions. The most important question about Judaism is, why? Then, what, then how.”  The Seder itself starts with the question, “why is this night different from all other nights?” Webb told the ‘Prince.’

“We lean into that by encouraging students to ask questions,” Webb said. “Sometimes we answer them, sometimes not, depends how much time we have, but bringing out the importance of asking questions — the importance of thinking — is very much the way that we try to run ours,” he continued.

“I think what’s unique about the Seder is the amount of effort that we put into making sure that every student feels part of it,” added Webb. 

The Ivy Club held its 15th annual Seder on Thursday night. It began as a community service initiative to bring people together to celebrate Passover, Izzy Stahlman ’26, one of the organizers, told the ‘Prince.’ 

“You don’t have to be Jewish to come to the Seder,” said Stahlman. “It’s really about community, and I think that’s what makes it so special and so fun for everyone.”

“The essential theme of Passover is the gratitude of, ‘Wow, we’re so lucky to be here together and to be able to celebrate together,’” Julia Birdwell ’27, president of the Chabad Student Board, told the ‘Prince.’ 

“We plan the entire thing, what prayers we want to say, what reflections. So, at the end of the day, it’s us sitting down talking about our favorite traditions,” Birdwell said. “Last night, we sat on the deck and chatted about what we wanted to include in the Seder together as students.” 

Saltzman and Birdwell acknowledged the many people who helped support and put together the seder, including the Ivy kitchen staff, Rabbi Webb, and his wife, Gitty Webb. 

“My favorite part [of the Seder] is, every single year somebody leaves and says to me, Rabbi, I learned something tonight. I don’t know who it will be. I don’t know what they will learn, but that’s my favorite part,” said Rabbi Webb.

Danielle Burke is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’ She is from New Jersey and can be reached at db5008[at]princeton.edu.

Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.