St. Lydia’s, 304 Bond Street
Deconstruct and reimagine the Passover seder in this unique, community-devised ritual.
With six altars, four cups of wine, and one ecstatic ritual for welcoming dew, explore the seder plate symbols through smell, taste, touch, and story. Includes small group discussions, crafts, live music and singing, as well as a variety of new and old Passover delicacies.
This ritual serves as a return to the earth-based, embodied, and experiential rituals that form the origins of the seder we know today. Whether this is your first or your hundredth time going to a seder, there’s something new for you to learn and experience. Come connect with community as we receive the spring through an all-welcome, participatory gathering.
Presented in partnership with Shamir Collective, whose missions is: “Renewing the Jewish relationship with the earth through creative ritual, mindfulness, and transformative experiential learning.”
This is a 21+ event.
Our seder leaders will be Kohenet Shamirah aka Sarah Chandler, a weaver of earth-based rituals, along with musicians Éléonore Weill and Laura Elkeslassy who will lead and teach a medley of Passover songs in a range of Jewish languages, including Moroccan, Occitane, Yiddish, and Hebrew.
About our seder leaders:
Sarah Chandler (she/her) aka Kohenet Shamirah is a Brooklyn-based Jewish educator, artist, activist, healer, and poet. She teaches, writes, and consults on issues related to Judaism, earth-based spiritual practice, respectful workplaces, mindfulness, and farming. An ordained Kohenet with the Hebrew Priestess Institute and a trainer for “Taamod: Stand Up!”, she is also an advanced student of Kabbalistic dream work at The School of Images. Previously, Sarah served as the Director of Romemu Yeshiva, Chief Compassion Officer of Jewish Initiative for Animals, and Director of Earth Based Spiritual Practices at Adamah’s Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center. Currently, she is the CEO of Shamir Collective, as a coach and consultant to high-profile and emergent artists and authors. www.shamircollective.org
Laura Elkeslassy (she/her) is a vocalist, theater maker, spiritual leader and educator based in Brooklyn. Born and raised in France, with Moroccan and Israeli roots, Laura’s work focuses on reclaiming the North African Jewish folk and liturgical musical heritage from a feminist standpoint. In 2021, she released the multimedia project Ya Ghorbati: Divas in Exile. Developed in collaboration with Ira Khonen Temple, Ya Ghorbati weaves together the music and stories of Judeo-Arab divas from mid-century North Africa. Laura has performed music at countless venues including Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the World Music Institute. In the theater, she has worked at the National Opera of Paris, the Venice Film Festival, La MaMa ETC among others. As a spiritual leader, Laura has been active in developing Egalitarian Sephardi practice in New York, Boston and Paris over the last four years. Learn more at www.lauraelkeslassy.com
Éléonore Weill (she/they) is a French-American vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, creating and performing soulful interpretations of Klezmer, Yiddish, French, Occitane music as well as original compositions, poems and improvisations. In addition to her social justice Yiddish music ensemble Tsibele, she performs and records internationally in a variety of ensembles with Frank London, Michael Winograd, Walter Thompson, Joey Weisenberg and the Hadar Ensemble, Kenny Wallesen, FADA, the Baroque Music Center of Versailles (C.M.B.V.), Orchestre National de Toulouse, Midwood, Les Saqueboutiers, Miqueu Montanaro, and many others. She also composed and played for theater companies such as Doppelskope, Great Small Works and Bread and Puppets and performs at leading international festivals including Yiddish New York, the Ashkenaz Festival (Toronto), Kleztival (São Paulo), and KlezKanada (Quebec), Fun Dor Tsu Dor (Chateau Ligoure, France) on wooden flutes, piano, accordion, hurdy-gurdy, and as a lead singer. Éléonore will perform Kleztronica with Chaia at Joe’s Pub on May 4. www.eleonoreweill.com
