Many people - Jews and non-Jews - are familiar with the Passover seder, a tradition that takes place on the first two nights of the holiday (or first night only if you live in Israel). The seder is open for people to add their own questions, words of wisdom, stories, family customs and more. I mentioned earlier that a very high percentage of Jews - affiliated and non-affiliated - do attend Passover seders. I wanted to bring you a further excerpt from this article in the San Diego Jewish Journal which takes a thoughtful angle on the matter.

The Passover seder is the perfect fit for this form of modern Jewish individualism. It takes place in the home, among family, which is the defining locus of modern Jews’ identity.

In this era of declining level of Jewish education, the home provides an important comfort zone for Jewish involvement. Unlike in synagogue, there is little fear that you will be judged if you mess up.

Even more importantly, Passover comes with a how-to guide. The Haggadah serves as a sort of “Passover for Dummies” guide for those large portions of the Jewish population who don’t know much Jewishly. Everything is explained inside: the how, the who, the when and the why. All you have to do is cook and arrange the seder plate. Shabbat, Sukkot, Purim, Chanukah – none of these holidays come with this kind of instruction manual. “The idea of a very prescribed order is something people can wrap their head around: I can follow step one, two, three,” says Kay. “I think that’s what makes it so accessible.”

But at the same time, the home environment allows for experimentation. You can make the seder as long or short as you want, as formal or casual as you want. “The Passover seder is a uniquely flexible ritual,” says Esty Pastor, a San Diego-based Jewish educator. “How the details are handled – from which Haggadot are selected to whether new ritual objects are added to the seder table – is as reflective as a mirror of the religious and political beliefs of the participants.”

. . . The richness and density of the Passover ritual is a key to its appeal. Unlike Chanukah, which involves about 15 minutes (at most) of ritual, the Haggadah provides hours of ritual if you want it. But unlike the Yizkor service during Yom Kippur, you can modify its length to the demands of your audience – it’s interactive Judaism.

Meanwhile other holidays are in decline, victimized by their traditional reliance on the synagogue. . . .But Passover’s success is also a sign of how alienated from Judaism most Jews are. It is the perfect holiday for the reluctant Jew. Because it takes place in the home, the holiday does not require any kind of public demonstration of Jewish identity, the way walking to synagogue during the High Holidays might. Because it takes place at night, it doesn’t require adults to miss work or children to miss school. The only commitment Passover really requires – at its minimum – is preparing the objects for the seder plate and cooking a larger dinner than normal.

. . . But beyond all the sociological and anthropological reasons, Passover endures because of the power of its message: simply put, seemingly insurmountable obstacles to freedom can be overcome. “It isn’t just it takes place at night and it involves kids,” says Arnow. “It’s a story that resonates and meets human needs in a profound way.”