ADL’s Interfaith Seder Declared Huge Success

March 30, 2009

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Wicked Local Marblehead

http://www.wickedlocal.com/marblehead/news/x180617723/ADL-s-Interfaith-Seder-declared-huge-success

Students from Lynn’s Ford School Choir joined more than 300 people from various ethnic groups and faiths on the North Shore at the 17th annual North Shore Interfaith Seder hosted by the Anti-Defamation League New England Region. The Interfaith Seder was held at North Shore Community College’s Lynn campus.

The ADL hosts this event to build bridges of understanding between various ethnic groups and faiths on the North Shore. With the ADL noting an alarming rise in hate crimes targeting Latinos, immigrants, homosexuals and Jews, the event brought different groups together to celebrate their respect and appreciation for each other’s beliefs.

A traditional Seder is the first two nights of Passover and celebrates the exodus of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. This Seder event was not held during Passover but rather as a special opportunity for communities to come together around the universal theme of freedom.

“This Seder was a celebration for people of various religious and ethnic communities to express the pride we all feel in our unique journeys to freedom,” said Derrek Shulman, regional director of ADL New England. “These journeys were expressed in an evening of song, dance and prayer, and we have built a powerful community of respect on the North Shore that will long outlive the Seder itself.”