Syracuse-Area Jewish, Catholic Students Share a Passover-Like Meal

April 1, 2009

Author: Nina Wegner

Source: The Post-Standard

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf?/base/news-17/1238576405130260.xml&coll=1

There's a hush in the room as two towering candles are lit. Sixth-graders sit at elaborately set tables, peering at each other over cups of grape juice that represent wine. Some students wear yarmulkes. Others wear the navy polos of a Catholic private school.

With Passover set to begin April 9, Holy Cross Church in DeWitt hosted a model Seder on Tuesday morning organized by two enterprising teenagers. The event mimicked what many Jewish families will be doing next week to celebrate the beginning of Passover: having the Seder meal.

Katie Lord, 16, who is Jewish, and Annemarie Wolken, 16, a Roman Catholic, planned the Seder presentation to teach Catholic and Jewish sixth-graders about the similarities and differences of their religious cultures.

Five students from Hebrew Day School and 21 students from Holy Cross School attended.

"They're somewhat culturally isolated in private school, and it really gives them a chance to learn about each other and interact with each other," Lord said.

The two-hour banquet was thorough and interactive: not only did it include all the traditional Seder foods - matzoh, parsley and horseradish (bitter herbs), charoset (a fruit and nut compote), boiled eggs and grape juice (wine) - but it also went through all the steps in the traditional Seder.