“Relive the Passover Exodus” with Rabbi Shaya Hurwitz in Hilo next week. Community members are invited to participate in Chabad Lubavitch of Hilo’s community seders to be held on Monday night, March 25, and again on Tuesday night, March 26. Both Seders will feature rich discussion about Passover, excellent food and joyous singing.
“Relive the Passover Exodus” with Rabbi Shaya Hurwitz in Hilo next week. Community members are invited to participate in Chabad Lubavitch of Hilo’s community seders to be held on Monday night, March 25, and again on Tuesday night, March 26. Both Seders will feature rich discussion about Passover, excellent food and joyous singing.
Chabad Rabbi Shaya Hurwitz of the Chabad Lubavitch of Hilo will facilitate the inter-generational program at 6:30 p.m. on Monday and at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Uncle Billy’s Hotel at 87 Banyan Drive.
The seders cost $18 per adult. Family plans are available upon request and must be reserved in advance by contacting the rabbi at 770-990-4993 or email shh770@gmail.com. No one will be turned away for lack of ability to pay.
The eight-day festival of Passover is celebrated this year from sundown on Monday until after nightfall on Monday, April 2. Passover commemorates the exodus of the Jews from Egypt and is traditionally celebrated with the festive seder dinners. Other holiday observances include restricting the consumption of leavened products such as bread and pasta, instead eating unleavened matzah. Additional information about the Passover holiday is available at www.chabadbigisland.com.
Chabad Lubavitch of Hilo is an outreach organization, said Hurwitz: “The goal is to rekindle the Jewish spark and invigorate the people, to provide stimulation and to bring Jews back to their roots. It’s an organization based out of Brooklyn, N.Y., with more than 4,000 centers around the world. We go out to metropolitan and small cities looking for unaffiliated Jews.”
Chabad welcomes people of all faiths and levels of observance, regardless of background, he added. The idea is not to overwhelm Jews, but rather to provide them a hospitable entry point to discover their faith, or to renew it, he said.
“A lot of the big synagogues in Europe and on the mainland, they do a lot of preaching and singing. We start off at a very basic level for beginners, with a lot of explaining, and going through the Torah. We’re saying what it means to be a Jew, and what our purpose is as Jews,” said Hurwitz. “We talk about the meaning of the holidays. We don’t want anyone to feel left out.”
“The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, taught that no solitary Jewish person ought to be left out. Every Jew, regardless of their background, affiliation or even location, should have access to the provisions they need to celebrate Passover,” said Hurwitz. “There are Chabad emissaries across the globe are working feverishly to provide Jews with matzahs, holiday guides and much more.”
For more information on Chabad Lubavitch of Hilo, please contact the rabbi at 770-990-4993 or email shh770@gmail.com or visit the group’s website at www.chabadbigisland.com.