During this Pesach, we shared Passover seder stories from our JDC Jewish Service Corps Fellows serving around the world. Today, Sarah – serving this year in Berlin, Germany – updates us on her community seder in Berlin, planned with volunteers in the community and fellow JSC Fellow Molly. You can read more from Sarah on her blog, Deutschland here we go!

This year we organized a Pesach Seder for young adults in Berlin. Our goal was to empower the participants to lead and organize the Seder, while we provided the necessary support and resources. Our Seder was run by volunteers. Fifteen people attended, nine of Russian background, three of German background, one Israeli, and Molly and I. The demographic of our Seder was not by accident, as it represents Germany’s changing Jewish community, as a result of 200,000 Jews who immigrated to Germany in the late 80s and early 90s from the former Soviet Union.

Our Seder "table"

The Seder was hosted at our friends’ apartments, one of German background and the other of Russian background. With limited space and a lot of creativity, we made a bungalow on the ground, of pillows, blankets, and sheets, where we enjoyed the Seder. Our Hagadah was provided by the host of the party; she comes from a mixed Jewish family and had not grown up observing Passover. The Seder was conducted in German, and of course there was a lot of English and Russian floating around.

Of the people who came, several had never celebrated Passover. The Seder was led by a young man, who had immigrated at age 11 from Ukraine to Germany. He experienced his first Pesach Seder at age 17. Another young male was celebrating Passover for his first time and had just recently learned he was Jewish. One of the hosts of the evening shared that he and his family had not celebrated a Pesach Seder since his grandparents had passed.

Although Berlin is bustling with Jewish life, the community lacks pluralistic options for young adults. Many of our participants expressed how excited they were to participate in a pluralistic Seder, since their families were not observing Pesach and they did not feel comfortable going to a religious institution.

The event could not of been possible without four individuals, who volunteered their time to create the vision of the Seder, coordinator the resources, and facilitate the evening. Molly and I took a back seat as we wanted the Seder to come from our peers. JDC funded half the cost of the Seder and we divided the remaining costs among all who came. The menu of the evening, which we spent a little over a day and a half preparing, wound up to be enough food for an army! Three chickens, a ton of potatoes, charoset, several salads, matza ball soup, deserts, and more.

Hag Sameach from Berlin!

More seders around the world:

Read about Esther’s seder in Tallinn, Estonia.

Read about Aryeh and Stephanie’s seders in Kiev, Ukraine.