Symbolic Meal—

Religious Communities Gather

At Newtown Interfaith Passover Seder

Members of Newtown’s religious communities held an Interfaith Passover Seder at Congregation Adath Israel on Huntingtown Road on Palm Sunday, April 1.

About 150 people attended the symbolic religious meal hosted by Rabbi Shaul Praver.

Local clergy members attending the Seder included: the Reverend Kathleen Adams-Shepherd of Trinity Episcopal Church, Monsignor Robert Weiss of St Rose of Lima Church, the Reverend Mel Kawakami of Newtown United Methodist Church, the Reverend Janice Touloukian and the Reverend Matthew Crebbin of Newtown Congregational Church,  and the Reverend Leo McIlrath, the ecumenical chaplain of The Lutheran Home of Southbury. The seven clergy members sat at a head table at the Seder.

The Seder meal symbolizes Jewish liberation from slavery in Egypt.

The Seder is a time for families and communities to give thanks at a table elegantly set with symbolic foods laid out. These foods include bitter herbs, a sweet mixture of fruit and nuts, salt water, matzo bread, a lamb shank, a vegetable, and a hard boiled egg, as well as four cups of wine drunk at specific times during the reading of the Haggadah, the special script for the Seder celebration.

Games for the children, songs, and blessings are all part of the Seder meal.

Each of the clergy members participated in various parts of the Seder. 

(To see more photos of the Passover Interfaith Seder go to The Bee’s website at: www.newtownbee.com).