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Seder from page 71
"We've given choices and options people
can use to make the seder more meaningful
for them, which is the point of the book,"
- Steve Roberts
To All Our Valued Clients Happy Healthy Passover
DAILY
"We like having people to our home,
but I'm happy to say the extended fam-
ily in town is so many that most of
our entertaining is family," says Cokie,
daughter of Lindy Boggs, a former
congresswoman and ambassador to the
Vatican who reads passages at the seder.
"My mother's birthday was the other
day, and I just had 25 people for brunch.
"It appears that people think the
Passover invitations are lifelong, and
I'm very pleased about that because
one of the many points of Passover is
the sense of community. This is a com-
munity gathering to celebrate ritual.
The fact that people want to come is a
reflection of that spirit.
"We try to make it a communal ritual
and not an individual relationship with
faith and religion. We're not talking
about our private behavior or thoughts','
she says. "I think that's different.
When they were married, says Cokie,
the dynamics were all in place that
would make it likely for interfaith or
interracial marriage to take place.
"Young people were leaving home,
going off to college and meeting people
different from those they knew grow-
ing up. I'm sure [these kinds of rela-
tionships] were very predictable. It's
the Americanization of all the different
groups of people who come to this
country."
With the completion of Our
Haggadah, new projects are in the
works. While Cokie is involved with a
text about women during the American
Civil War, Steve is deciding on a subject
relevant to immigration or interracial
marriage.
"We've noticed how much more
comfortable the subject of intermar-
riage is," Steve says. "The trends have
made it imperative that Jewish institu-
tions be more inclusive rather than
exclusive.
"Rabbinical seminaries now have
courses teaching rabbis how to deal
with interfaith couples. More and more
rabbis are willing to participate in
interfaith services.
"Of all the Jewish holidays, Passover
is, in some ways, the easiest one
because it has such universal themes.
People can observe it in places and
ways that are comfortable for them,
and we hope our book will be a
starting point for families to enjoy a
renewed connection to Jewish tradi-
tions."
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how it recurs throughout the seder, or
the history of the afikomen. There are
so many references that people repeat
every year and don't really understand."
The Robertses, who have two chil-
dren and six grandchildren, are used to
working on writing projects together
and separately.
They have collaborated on a weekly
syndicated column, magazine articles
and the book From This Day Forward,
which tells about their interfaith mar-
riage.
Independently, she is the author
of We Are Our Mothers' Daughters,
Founding Mothers and Ladies of
Liberty; and he is the author of Eureka,
My Fathers' Houses and From Every End
of This Earth.
"Over the years, we have learned to
edit each other and trust each other's
judgment:' he says. "We've also learned
to edit each other gently. That might
serve as a metaphor for marriage."
For Our Haggadah, after separate
introductions, she wrote about the
basic service as modified over the
years, recipes paired with cook-time
tips that keep her with guests and
researched websites. He took care of
the commentaries and conclusion.
Recollections of past seders bring
the observances to life. One memory
takes them back to living outside the
country.
"In the early years when we were
first creating the traditions, we moved
to Greece and knew nobody so every-
body was new to the seder," Steve
recalls."Any time you move abroad,
you have to make friends quickly.
"There was one woman who remains
close. She grew up in Germany, and her
father was conscripted into the army in
World War II and killed in France. She
was married to an American foreign
correspondent and asked to come to
the seder very much as a gesture of
reconciliation. It was a very profound
moment to have her there
The Robertses enjoy home entertain-
ing with large guest lists for Christmas
and Chanukah in addition to Passover.
Because they know many authors,
they host book-signing parties at least
once a year. The nature of their home
has made it the setting for a number of
wedding parties.
The most important gatherings are
every Sunday, when four generations
can be at the table.
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