April 6, 2012 | 7:25 am

Passover is important, so you might as well go to a Seder

Posted by Shmuel Rosner

A couple of years ago I wrote an article about “the Passover test” - what ‎the Seder reveals about interfaith couples. Here’s what I wrote:‎

Five traditional Jewish practices are usually used as criteria in ‎studies tasked with assessing the viability of a Jewish community: ‎lighting Hanukkah candles, attending a Passover Seder, fasting on ‎Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), lighting Shabbat candles, and ‎keeping a kosher home. The first two—Hanukkah-candle lighting ‎and Seder attendance—tend to be those with the highest levels of ‎participation among the vast majority of Jews.‎

This was not something I invented - it is what I learned from studies of ‎the American Jewish community. According to the National Jewish ‎Population Survey, 67% attend a Seder, 72% light Hanukkah candles, ‎and 59% fast on Yom Kippur. And as I noted in the post:‎

The correlation between the Hanukkah-candle lighting and the ‎Passover Seder—the two most practiced rituals among American ‎Jews—is interesting. Hanukkah is more popular for most Jewish ‎groups. The reason is clear: The holiday competes with Christmas. ‎However, the more affiliated the group, the narrower the gap ‎between these two practices. The “highly affiliated” is the only ‎group in which Seder attendance surpasses Hanukkah candle ‎lighting (96 percent to 94 percent, according to the National ‎Jewish Population Survey). For the intermarried—couples with ‎one Christian spouse—the gap between the two practices is the ‎widest (85 percent celebrate Hanukkah; 41 percent celebrate ‎Passover).‎

The Jewish Values Study, 2012

Enter the new Jewish Values Report 2012, and new numbers make ‎this picture a bit more confusing (here’s my previous post on this ‎study: The best representative of American Jewish values (guess who?). ‎Is the Passover Seder really the most important ritual celebrated by ‎Jews?‎

When asked about the most important Jewish holiday to them ‎personally, a plurality (43%) of Jews named Yom Kippur, followed ‎by Passover (25%), Hanukkah (10%), and Rosh Hashanah (10%).‎

In other words: What Jews think is important is not necessarily what ‎they practice. Yom Kippur ranks higher but is observed by fewer Jews ‎than Hanukkah. Hanukkah is ranked fairly low, but is observed by the ‎many. That should not be surprise: It is easier to light a candle than to ‎fast for a day or gather the family for the hours necessary for ‎celebrating a proper Seder. And Hanukkah, as we all know, has the ‎advantage of timing.‎

Nevertheless, 67%-68% of Jews attend the Seder (67% according to ‎NJPS, 68% were planning to attend a Seder “this year” according to the ‎Jewish Values study). And this is true for “majorities of virtually every ‎demographic group” of Jews – except for one: “Just Jewish” – namely, ‎the Jews that don’t see themselves as affiliated with any Jewish stream ‎or denomination. Of these Jews, just 33% were planning to participate ‎in a Seder, barely half of other Jews. 29% of American Jews, according ‎to this study, are “just Jewish”, and interestingly, while just a third of ‎them plan to attend a Seder, these Jews are the only group to rank ‎Passover – and not Yom Kippur – as the most important holiday of the ‎year. ‎

Lessons? I’m not sure if there are any lessons to be learned from these ‎numbers. Passover is definitely the most important Jewish holiday this ‎week. And as I’m about to attend a Seder in Tel Aviv – in fact, I’m having ‎one at home with a lot of family members – I wish you all a happy ‎Passover, a meaningful Passover. Chag Sameach.‎

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And a note to readers on our next week’s schedule: Pesach is time for ‎family, and for travel (it is spring time). It is time for rest. So the next ‎week will be light on posting – we are going to post some new Rosner’s ‎Guest items, but not much more.

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