Elizabeth Roy - Passover Seder

We did a mock Passover Seder in class. While I’m a huge fan of Passover foods, especially haroseth, I was very uncomfortable with doing a ‘Passover Seder.’ I’ve read that many Jews, especially Orthodox Jews, find it offensive, and that makes sense to me. It’s a ritual of faith, and we don’t have the faith, nor do we have the background to appreciate all aspects of the ritual meal. Most Christians would be uncomfortable with a class doing a mock Communion, I think. I was discussing this with my dad, who is a devout Catholic, and he suggested that perhaps having it led by an Orthodox Jew would make it more acceptable. I’m not sure that even that would suffice. I think what is disrespectful is performing the ritualized meal with only the action component and not the emotional and faith components. I think that what would make it more acceptable to me would be studying and partly experiencing the personal content of the Seder for an Orthodox Jew. Not simply ‘what do they do’ or ‘what does this symbolize’ but ‘what does it really mean personally for a Jew?’