JCoS hosted a lot of Pesach events in and around Glasgow this year – click here to read about some of our earlier activities, and carry on reading below to find out what happened next!

We started Pesach by co-hosting a communal Seder together with Giffnock Newton Mearns Synagogue, where participants of all ages, backgrounds, and experiences came together to celebrate Pesach together. It was organised by a committed group of volunteers, alongside staff from both organisations, and was a wonderful opportunity for people to come and celebrate together.

"It was a wonderful chance to connect with people from different backgrounds and hear about everyone’s different traditions and customs around Pesach." one participant told us, and another commented, "When we read “let all who are hungry come and eat” in the Haggadah, I felt really moved. I was surrounded by interesting, enthusiastic participants, and if not for this fun, open and welcoming event, we might have been on our own, or in small groups of close friends. I also loved that there was vegan food, grape juice, and shmurah (specially supervised) matzo, so we all felt included and no one had to compromise on anything."

On the Tuesday of chol hamoed Pesach (the middle days of Pesach), we launched a new programme at Giffnock Library, aimed at providing a space for people of all backgrounds to come together to learn about Jewish traditions. This was a session for children and families, and enabled them to taste traditional foods such as matzah and grape juice, sing Pesach songs, and find out what happens at the Seder, and how we celebrate the festival. It was a great opportunity for families to share their own traditions and learn about others, and an important way to help spread knowledge about Jewish traditions in the neighbourhood with largest Jewish population in Scotland.

On the Thursday chol hamoed, we held our monthly Chodesh session slightly early, as we gathered to learn about Sefirat Ha’Omer, or Counting the Omer, a process which begins on the second night of Pesach and continues each evening until Shavuot. Rabbi Rubin of Giffnock Newton Mearns Synagogue us in a fascinating discussion about how the ancient harvests informed sefirat ha'omer, and how we regard the different types of grain today. We learnt how to count the omer, as well as about different creative practices that people use to enhance this mitzvah (commandment).

And finally, on the last day of chol hamoed, we partnered with the Scottish Jewish Youth Alliance (SJYA) to put on a Matzah Ramble in Calderglen Country Park. 70 people gathered amongst the trees as we cooked up Matzah Brei over the campfire and celebrated together. There were crafts for the children, led by the SJYA’s Shayna Conn, and a foraging walk for adults led by Sydney Switzer of JCoS, where we learnt about different plants traditionally used for the maror (the bitter herbs that we eat on seder night), and discovered some native Scottish equivalents.

"I had a lovely time, and met some young people I never met before." said one participant. "The foraging walk was a highlight, when young and old(er) were squealing with laughter together as we were munching on foraged dandelion and sharing traditions on maror on our seder tables."