While the fundamentals remain the same, different cultures, different backgrounds, and even different creativities can result in very different Sedorim

No matter the city, the ages of those participating, or the language spoken, Leil HaSeder is still conducted in a very specific, well, seder. There’s an order to the night’s mitzvos, and every three-year-old knows it by heart.

Kadeish, Urchatz, Karpas, Yachatz…

But the beauty of Leil HaSeder is that while the fundamentals remain the same, different cultures, different backgrounds, and even different creativities can result in very different Sedorim.

Let’s explore some unique Sedorim.

The Fredmans live in Boro Park and are Bobover chassidim

Urchatz

At our Seder, only the head of the household washes for Urchatz.

Yachatz

During Yachatz, the broken matzah remains in the matzah tasch (decorative matzah bag).

Maggid!

Something beautiful that is well-known in Bobov circles, the Bobover Rebbe takes all of his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren until bar and bas mitzvah age onto his lap to ask the Mah Nishtanah.

Maror

For maror, only romaine lettuce is used (no horseradish); the lettuce is dipped into charoses, which is then shaken off and not eaten.

Ke’arah

We do not use a ke’arah, we simply place the items for the Seder plate on the matzah tasch.

During Avadim Hayinu, my father-in-law takes the afikomen bag, puts it on his shoulder, and marches around the table, symbolizing the Jews who left Mitzrayim with matzah dough on their backs. When I was a kid, my father used to ask my grandparents to talk about their ovdus in the Holocaust at this point. They’d speak about how Hashem saved them and took them out of their despair. They’re no longer alive, so now we repeat what we remember them sharing.

»We’re very careful about gebrochts. My mother-in-law doesn’t stack the plates when clearing the table on Pesach, for fear of gebrochts. If a fork or knife falls on the floor, it is not used until the last day of Pesach (when we are less strict). Everyone, including the women, have a matzah tasch (matzah bag) at the Seder. We keep it under the plastic tablecloth in order to avoid gebrochts. But interestingly, the female descendants of the Bobover Rebbe do eat gebrochts on Pesach, on separate dishes.

»The second night, the men leave the Seder in the middle to go to a shtibel to count the Omer with a minyan.

»There’s someone in the Bobover kehillah named Fishel Beigel. The entire Pesach no one refers to him by his last name, as it is chometz!