Passover Seder Moves to Internet -- 03/30/1999

Passover Seder Moves to Internet

30 March, 1999

By Ben Anderson
CNS Staff Writer

(CNS) – The largest Jewish house of worship in the world is expecting a quarter million extra visitors in the next two days, all through the Internet, to participate in a cyber-space version of its Seder Passover Service.

Congregation Emanu-El in New York City will webcast its Seder service Wednesday, retelling the ancient holiday story of the Jewish exodus from Pharaoh's Egypt.

The traditional Seder normally involves the retelling of the story through a family meal, but CyberSeder organizer Robert Gould said this version will be a condensed, one-hour version accessible to Internet users with speakers, soundboard and a modem.

The Seder will be the fourth Internet webcast of its kind, and Gould said he expects it will reach 250,000 people. Congregation Emanu-El, founded in 1845 serves 3,000 families or approximately 10,000 individuals. Gould said in the past three years, more than one million visitors from 71 countries have observed the Seder via Emanu-El's Internet broadcasts.

"People from all over the world who otherwise do not have access to a traditional Passover Seder can listen through their computers to the Rabbis, Cantor and School children of Emanu-El as they celebrate Passover, the meal time holiday that retells the ancient story of the Jewish exodus from Egypt," Gould said.

The Internet Seder begins Wednesday at 12:00 Noon EST, coinciding with sundown in Israel. The service will be repeated every hour for 24 hours, to permit people in all time zones to observe and participate in the event.

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