Rob Agree: A Humanistic Seder

The Ethical Culture Society of Essex County will host a Humanistic Seder serving a traditional supper in pot luck style. What marks this Seder as Humanistic? Our Ethical Culture member Rob Agree, who will conduct the Seder, is also the Ceremonial Leader of Kahal Chaverim, the NJ Center for Humanistic Jews. He has rewritten the traditional Passover Hagadah to emphasize the theme of Slavery in this Festival of Freedom. References to Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King Jr. are cited in the Seder. It will emphasize the universal desire for political freedom and personal liberty, uniting us with Muslims and other refugees currently undergoing a horrendous International struggle in our contemporary world. Rob's modernized Hagadah unites us with historic heroic ancestors from the days of Moses, the Spanish Inquisition, the pogroms of Russia, and the Warsaw Ghetto uprisings in defiance of the unspeakable catastrophe of the Holocaust. Though this Humanist Seder Is scheduled well past the traditional time for Jewish people celebrating the "Passover" from slavery to freedom, we felt this occasion highly significant and thus arranged these plans. This later date is based on Rob's availability and that of the meeting room. We are immensely grateful to Rob Agree for his generosity in making time to include this Seder in his crowded schedule. If you wish to participate, please RSVP by calling the Ethical Culture Society office, 973-763-1905, with your name, number of family members with their names, age of children, phone number, and what food you will contribute for the meal. We shall provide the symbolic foods for the ceremony; our limited facilities will allow attendance to only 35 people and a $5 donation will be welcomed. Volunteers are appreciated for kitchen duty, setting up, and cleaning chores afterwards.