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(IsraelNN.com) According to a White House schedule released on Saturday, United States President Barack Obama plans to host a Passover seder in the White House for the second straight year. Obama became the first president to preside over a seder last year when a group of friends and some Jewish members of his staff joined him and the First Lady for the holiday celebration.

hen Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them: 'Draw out, and take lambs according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. 24 And you shall observe this matter for an ordinance for you and your sons for ever. 26 And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you: What do you mean you by this service? 27. And you shall say: It is the sacrifice of G-d's Passover, for He passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses.'...

The "first" first family is proving themselves worthy of the title, indeed. In addition to seeding the first ever White House vegetable and herb garden (I'll have more on today's planting festivities, which are set to kick off momentarily) the AP reports that the Obamas are hosting a Seder tonight to celebrate the first night of Passover. For those not up on their Old Testament, the Jewish holiday remembers the sparing of Hebrew lives during slavery in ancient Egypt. On the eve of Easter, the Obamas nod to interfaith communion—one of the four priorities of the president's new Faith Office—will...

I've been invited to a Seder this Saturday, at the home of friends. Theirs is a "mixed" marriage, she being Reform Jewish and he being somewhat Catholic. I've been to a Bar Mitzvah and a Bat Mitzvah for their children, but am sort of stumped as far as any expectations of me, as a guest, and hope to avoid having to ask them what I'm supposed to do, lol. Gift? Attire? Thanks for any help you can offer.

US President Barack Obama will celebrate Passover Thursday night with staff and friends in what is believed to be the first White House Seder attended by an American president. The event was slipped onto the president's public schedule Tuesday night with little fanfare, following a letter signed by Obama earlier in the day wishing Americans who mark the day a "peaceful and relaxing holiday."

A Jewish outreach organization has called on mainstream booksellers including Barnes & Noble and Amazon to remove a Christian missionary version of the traditional Passover Hagaddah from the Judaism sections of online and conventional bookstores. Rabbi Tovia Singer, director of Outreach Judaism, said, "Despite the innocent-sounding title 'Passover Family Pack: Everything You Need to Enjoy a Passover Seder Dinner,' the guide quickly departs from the traditional holiday message once it is opened." Jewish families seeking to celebrate the ancient exodus of the Jewish People from Egyptian slavery find once they open the package that they are encouraged to express their...

Concluding the Passover Seder half an hour after it began was almost a family tradition for the Sifens. Larry and Pam Sifen, together with their children and parents, would sit around the table in their Norfolk, Va., home as the aroma of holiday foods warming in the neighboring kitchen competed with the text of the Haggadah for attention. In recent years, however, the Sifens have taken a new approach to the annual Passover ceremony and feast, ditching the house altogether to embark on an inspirational holiday learning experience away from home. The experiences of other families suggest the Sifens are...

Katmandu hosts world's largest Passover meal; hoards of Israelis ignore travel warning Despite the political turbulence and travel warnings issued by the Foreign Ministry before Passover, about 1,500 Israelis celebrated the Seder in Katmandu, Nepal. Many of the Israelis chose to participate in the Chabad sponsored Seder held in the Chabad house and considered the largest Seder in the world. Twenty years ago, the Israeli embassy in Katmandu started the tradition of holding a Seder for Israeli travelers and seven years ago members of Chabad took over the task. Israeli Ambassador in Katmandu Dan Stav noted that "when Israeli tourists...

You know that Passover is coming when the Arab workers in the supermarket start cleaning up the crumbs from the bread aisle, and marking the shelves Hametz. You can see the special matzah lining the shelves: organic whole wheat, wheat bran, egg, chocolate-covered. People take this holiday very seriously here in Israel. Everyone is buying gifts for their Seder evening hosts. Or they are stocking up on food for the groups that will descend on them to be hosted. And although forty rockets were fired from Gaza (gee, that unilateral pull-out was such a brilliant move, saving so many lives),...

Clara Rosenberger, 77, may she rest in peace, is widely known today as the 30th person to die from the Passover Massacre at Netanya's Park Hotel. It wasn't the first time she was known by a number. She had one tattooed on her arm. Clara was born in Czechoslovakia, and remembered a time in her childhood when the head of state came to a wedding in the town's rebbe's family. But then everything changed. Her family was rounded up and taken to Auschwitz. Her father perished. Young enough to work, she sorted the personal items of men, women and children...

After three weeks of intense fighting, the American military offensive against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq more or less ended last Saturday. The military operation can be compared to smashing down pieces on a chess board by a violent hand and rearranging them according to a new guiding logic. The manner in which the pieces of the Iraqi regime were smashed down and are now being rearranged will serve as a basis for the work of politicians and an inspiration for military planners for years to come. I was privileged to bear witness to large swathes of the chess pieces...

This year's Seder meal will be especially poignant at Netanya's Park Hotel, where one year ago a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 29 and wounded more than 60. "This evening will be very symbolic," says hotel proprietor Corinne Mamami. "All the guests will come to identify with us, to prove that the Palestinians will not destroy us. This is our country and we will not move from it. They will not break our spirit." About 150 paying guests are expected at this evening's service and meal, to be held under unprecedented security arrangements. "We will conduct a regular Seder service," Mamami...

Scientist Defends Account of Exodus By RICHARD N. OSTLING The Associated Press Thursday, April 10, 2003; 12:18 PM A British scientist is making two claims about Jewish history this Passover season that could surely spark discussion over the Seder meal. Colin J. Humphreys of Cambridge University has concluded that science backs traditional beliefs that the Israelites' exodus from Egypt was led by Moses pretty much the way the Bible and the Haggadah ritual tell it. He also says that Mount Sinai, where Scripture says Moses received God's Law, is located in Saudi Arabia, not Egypt's Sinai Peninsula - moving a...

Elhanan and Rivka Berkovitz have decided to spend this Pessah at Netanya's Park Hotel, the site of last year's Seder night suicide bombing in which 29 people were killed. "We're returning in order to make a statement that terrorism won't work," Berkovitz , who had Seder last year at the Mitzpeh Yam Hotel, just five minutes away from the Park Hotel, told The Jerusalem Post. "I think it's something that you have to do davka to show your enemies that you're not afraid." "When the attack happened last year, we said we won't allow terrorism to reap any benefit from...

An as-yet-unidentified virus has confounded the Seder plans of Rabbi Ya'akov Kermayer, the modern Orthodox rabbi who leads the Ohel Leah Synagogue of Hong Kong. With his wife and children and most of his congregation's families having temporarily fled to their native countries, the young rabbi is planning the festival meal but doesn't know who will come to dinner in two weeks. Kermayer, who was raised in Maryland and graduated a decade ago from Yeshiva University in New York, told The Jerusalem Post in a telephone interview that Israeli males who continue to work for their company branches have remained...

Holy Week Hymns - WednesdayThe Wednesday in Holy Week is observed in different ways by different communities. Some will gather for the Service of Shadows called Tenebrae. Some may have a common Seder Meal to learn more about the Passover Meal that is behind the Lord's Supper. May this Wednesday be a day of rich blessings for you in the presence of Christ's Holy Spirit. Lord Christ, when first thou cam'st to earth,Upon a cross they bound thee.And mocked thy saving kingship's worthBy thorns with which they crowned thee.And still our wrongs may fashion nowNew thorns to pierce that steady...