Need advice re Seder at Sea

[vandalayceo]

On the Caribbean Princess and Passover Seder will be held Friday, which passengers may sign up for. My wife and I are not Jewish but would love the opportunity to experience a Seder.

Is it alright for us to sign up and attend? Would we offend anyone?

I can find no prohibition for gentiles to attend the event, with the exception the Torah forbids us from eating of the meat of the pesach, but as far as I can gather without the Temple there can be no pesach sacrifice.

I apologize if I have mangled this interpretation.

Would be grateful to Jewish posters as to any advice.

Thank you in advance.

[TW6cruiser]

I am not Jewish but my husband is. There would be no prohibition from you attending the dinner. We have not been on a cruise at Passover so I am not sure what all it will entail onboard. Be prepared for a longer than usual dinner. Parts of the Passover story will be read by whomever leads the service. Parts may be read in Hebrew but often the books for the dinner are in Hebrew and English so you can follow along. If you are asked to participate by reading just say you would read a part in English if you want to participate. I think it is wonderful that you want to participate.

[TW6cruiser]

Also you can eat whatever is served.

[hansi]

Hi. In answer to your questions, as a Reform Jew myself, I do not see anything wrong with non-Jews joining in a Seder. I am not sure if Princess will arrange a Seder, I suppose it depends on hoew many Jewish passengers request it.

 

I am not well versed in Torah, but I don't think there is a restriction on meat eating, but in any case, most Seder meals consist of salmon or chicken, and matzo is available on request.

 

Ring Princess and ask them. I would be interested in their reply. SWe sail next week so it will be after the Seder nights.

[bigandlil]

I believve the OP said he was ON the Caribbean Princess which is in the middle of the Atlantic. Not in a position to call Princess.

 

 

I think he was looking for the cultural response from Jews.

 

We almost always have non-Jewish guests at our Seders. They participate as they feel comfortable and they eat whatever they want.

 

And some come back year after year for almost 20 years.

A wonderful learning experience can be had.

[hansi]

So why doesn't he ask at the Passenger Services desk?

[CineGraphic]

Eat, take it all in. ...Open your mind, open your eyes and ears, but most importantly, open your mouth and eat!

Just tell your fellow participants what's what so they don't look at you funny if you don't know a certain prayer.

 

Happy Passover everyone!

[SadieN]

On the Caribbean Princess and Passover Seder will be held Friday, which passengers may sign up for. My wife and I are not Jewish but would love the opportunity to experience a Seder.

 

Is it alright for us to sign up and attend? Would we offend anyone?

 

I can find no prohibition for gentiles to attend the event, with the exception the Torah forbids us from eating of the meat of the pesach, but as far as I can gather without the Temple there can be no pesach sacrifice.

 

I apologize if I have mangled this interpretation.

 

Would be grateful to Jewish posters as to any advice.

 

Thank you in advance.

 

There is a symbolic sacrifice on each Seder plate. No one eats it. Ours is usually a turkey neck.

 

Mist of our Seders have a wide assortment of people from different backgrounds.

Edited April 21, 2016 by SadieN

[Mapu]

We will be boarding the Royal tomorrow. Princess prepares a traditional Passover meal and provides a zeroxed copy of the Haggadah (service). It is brief and the Seder is run by a passenger volunteer. We were on the Diamond Princess a few years ago and enjoyed the experience. We will be attending the Seder tomorrow on the Royal Princess.

Enjoy!

[StormyStarwardCruise]

Passover celebrates the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. Since they didn't have time for the bread to rise, we eat matzoh - unleavened bread on Passover. Beef brisket it the big seller in kosher meat stores before Pesach. We normally serve brisket - and chicken (or turkey). Four glasses of wine! Expensive on Princess! - usually just sips from one glass... and refilled since you want to be able to walk back to your cabin (or drive home). Generally lots and lots of food and desserts.

 

The shank bone is a symbol of Passover. The previous poster mentioned a turkey neck.. we usually use a chicken neck. Symbolic. The shank bone (turkey neck/chicken neck) is not eaten.

 

The seder is a warm, fun, family dinner.

 

Non-jews are normally very welcome.

 

Come prepared to eat, talk, and enjoy. Since everything is typically made without leavened ingredients - kugels, sponge cakes, etc. are held together with eggs. Time for a cholesterol test in the morning.

 

A good summary of what I think you'll find on a cruise is at: http://www.reformjudaism.org/what-expect-passover-seder

 

Enjoy!

[pris993]

On the Caribbean Princess and Passover Seder will be held Friday, which passengers may sign up for. My wife and I are not Jewish but would love the opportunity to experience a Seder.

Is it alright for us to sign up and attend? Would we offend anyone?

I can find no prohibition for gentiles to attend the event, with the exception the Torah forbids us from eating of the meat of the pesach, but as far as I can gather without the Temple there can be no pesach sacrifice.

I apologize if I have mangled this interpretation.

Would be grateful to Jewish posters as to any advice.

Thank you in advance.

 

We have cruised at Passover... generally, cruise lines have a separate service. We have not attended because my DH is a Serphardic Jew the traditional folks are a bit different. Fish - non shell fish, is always kosher. I am not Jewish. Jewish families often invite non Jewish friends to celebrate the Sedar in their home. I can't see why you can't participate. I do think you need to check in with the Customer Service desk, because I think they like to know how many folks to plan for in advance.

Edited April 22, 2016 by pris993
meant to say the "traditional" foods are different in the serphardic culture l

[missymerv]

I was on the Caribbean Princess last year at Passover. DH and I attended the seder that was held in an area of the Horizon Court that was closed off. I would say about 40 people attended. A few family's with children and groups of friends that sat together. DH and I shared our table with our non Jewish friends who were experiencing Passover for the first time (they thought it was great). Princess did a fabulous job! They provided all the elements needed to do a service. Matzo, wine, charosis, wine, horseradish, wine, gefilte fish, and some more Manischevitz followed by a traditional dinner. Each table took turns reading portions of the Haguddah. It was a wonderful experience dining at sunset at sea. So much to be thankful for then and now.

[Jetswdo]

Just know that the Passover meal on ship is not the best choice if this will be your only experience-- We were on the Royal 2 years ago over Passover, and the food was really really bad for the Passover meal. Traditional matzah ball soup was really, miso soup with little hard round matzah cracker balls- disgusting, and the wine was not kosher for Passover--- The main dish was some kind of chicken thing, over cooked. A bunch of us gave up and went to the main dining room or regular buffet. There was no Rabbi to lead the service, very few Hagadah print outs ( The traditional Passover story)-- keep in mind, my dh and I are very reform-- We were disappointed with the whole thing.

[I_r_a]

Hey Van,

 

There are no prohibitions on non-Jews attending a Seder.

 

You are very welcome to join.

 

Enjoy.

 

Ira

[RASHOPPER2]

I think that it is wonderful that you want to do this. Go right ahead. Frequently non-Jews attend Seders as friends of the family. You are a friend of the Jewish Princess family. Enjoy.

[donaldsc]

I am Jewish and I have no problem with non-Jews attending the seder. On occasion, we have invited non-Jewish friends to our home seder. The potential problem as I see it and I do not see how you could prevent it is if a couple hundred of the non-Jewish passengers decide to experience a seder and they decide to come. You obviously can not ask everyone who asks to attend if they are Jewish. If the seder ends up having a large number of non-Jews who have no idea of the meaning of the holiday or how to participate, it will reduce the experience for the Jewish members of the cruise.

 

DON