Pesach in February? Shabbaton trains Polish participants to lead this year’s Seder
Preparing for Shabbat ata Polish Shabbaton
It was a cold Shabbat in February but for a group of young Polish Jews, it must have felt like Passover already. That’s because the focus of the mid-winter Shabbaton held at the Oki Doki Hostel in Warsaw was to prepare its six participants to lead the Pesach Seder in just two months time.
The Shabbaton was the first of a new program called Arevim, organized by Shavei Israel’s emissary to Poland Rabbi Yehoshua Ellis. The program’s goal is to train representatives from some of the larger Polish Jewish communities to visit smaller ones that don’t have a rabbi.
The Shabbaton began on a Thursday evening and included seminars for Pesach preparation on everything from matza, maror and how to make a home kosher for the holiday, to how to keep a Seder flowing and – perhaps most important of all – interesting and relevant to community members from a wide variety of backgrounds (or lack thereof).
Shabbat was focused on “integration and building a sense of common purpose,” explained Tzivia Kusminsky, Shavei Israel’s head of the “Hidden” Jews of Poland department. But there was still time for one more intriguing Pesach session: the Kabbalistic Secrets of the Seder – held at Warsaw’s historic Nozyk Synagogue. On Saturday night, a Model Seder was held.
The six Arevim program participants will be leading their Seders in pairs. Two are from Krakow, another two from Lodz, and the remaining pair live in Warsaw and Wroclaw.
The group will have one more meeting before Pesach – at the Limud Poland event in March.
The Arevim leadership program is sponsored by the Polish Jewish Community, the JDC, the Chief Rabbi of Poland and Shavei Israel.
Let’s raise a cup – no, make it four cups – and say l’chaim to the newest young Polish Jewish leaders.