Setting the Seder Table for a Large Group
If you’re conducting a Passover seder demonstration for a large group, it’s efficient to set the tables as pictured above. Although this isn’t how an authentic Jewish seder would look, the setup works well for teaching purposes and saves loads of time.
At each seat, place a plate containing the key elements: horseradish, charoset, a fourth of a hardboiled egg, and parsley. Each place setting also gets four small cups already filled with grape juice. Several other cups contain salt water. We’ve found it best to label those “salt water” so no one attempts to drink them. Also place on each table one or two baskets of matzohs that have been broken into roughly the size of saltine crackers.
At an authentic seder, everyone receives a Haggadah, the booklet used to conduct the service. That way people can follow along, recite the prayers, and sing the songs. As the leader explains the meaning of each seder item, participants follow his directions and partake of the elements.
Conducting a seder demonstration this way allows everyone to take part and makes the best use of time because nothing has to be passed around the table.
Passover is truly a wonderful Jewish holiday, filled with significance. Understanding it should illuminate the unbreakable bond between Judaism and Christianity. We wish all our Jewish friends a very Happy Passover.
