Kids & Family

Jewish-Catholic Family Leads Seder At Church

More than 100 Catholics show up to learn the symbolic meanings of the Passover seder. They sample traditional foods such as bitter herbs and charoset, then enjoy a potluck together.

As guests streamed in to the Interfaith Seder at St. Martha Church Thursday evening, they saw decorations in familiar springtime colors like lavender and yellow. On the tables, though, they saw something unfamiliar to some: Passover plates labeled with places for bitter herbs, charoset and other ritual foods of the seder dinner.  

The parishioners at the Morton Grove church took their seats, and the Hofeld family began leading the interfaith seder. Jeannie Hofeld, who is Catholic and attends St. Martha's, began by saying a prayer in Hebrew, and her husband Tony, who is Jewish, took over by reading from the haggadah, the text Jewish families follow for the seder service. Their three children, who are in their teens and twenties, and some of their friends, also took turns doing readings.

Tony Hofeld guided the guests as to how to dip the parsley in salt water as one part of the seder ritual, then make tiny sandwiches out of matzoh and horseradish, even adding a bit of charoset, if one chose to. When the ceremony concluded, guests lined up for a potluck buffet. 

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"We've been doing this for 10 years," Jeannie Hofeld said after the seder concluded. "We want to give the kids both of our traditions. They've been hearing Hebrew since they were babies. They know this is a strong tradition with our family."

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