As we have recently been getting ready for our first competitions of the season, it has become a concern to me that the Jewish holiday Passover falls on the same night as the finale party in Atlanta during Champs, the night of April 19th. I was wondering if, perhaps, there are members of other teams going to Atlanta that also have this same concern and would like to group together to find places, a chabad house or synagogue hospitality in which it may be possible to still observe the holiday and perhaps pool together to get an organized transportation system for the possible conflict. we could even collaborate to conduct our seder if that is the best option. If you are interested, please reply as well as for any questions. Supervision would also be needed. Thank you for your time.
I am a mentor on 401, and would like to join in on the search. I am a member of Hillel up here @ VT, so I will see if they know people at the Hillel at Georgia Tech.
Let me know if you find anything else out.
Three years ago when this issue arose I believe there was a FIRST sponsored(or at least organized) sader. I was not there that year but my cousin was and Ill get the details on what it was from him.
Well I don’t know if my team will get to Atlanta, but in case we do, then that would be a serious concern. Not only that, the last day of the competition is on Sabbath.
Thank you all so much. Your replies are very much appreciated. I think FIRST should take consideration toward being a religious Jew in robotics or even secular as Pesach is so universal, since most competitions are over Shabbat, but it seems that in 2002 what they did was to begin a thread like this and found a way to host a seder in that area possibly helped by FIRST and ended up getting around 70 people (that was over the first two nights of the chag). They had a seder for about an hour and a half and then continued to the party…we can decide how we can go about it this year with those of you who have replied with interest. To be Shomer Shabbat, however, is of greater concern such that all FIRST competitions are over Shabbat, I believe. I will bring this up to my coach, perhaps. Because really most if not all competition activity isn’t compatible with the observance of Shabbat but perhaps if it is necesary we can bring candles etc. and conduct a service. If anyone has any thoughts on the subject, concern or just comments, please address them.
For the 2005 Competition, “Tripple Play,” at the Championships in Atlanta they did have a Seder and Dean Kamen was in attendence. I personally was not there, but the seniors on our team who were said that this happend. I wouldn’t be surprised if FIRST, or a team, hosts a Passover seder for the holiday.
I’m a very secular Jew, and I was NOT looking forward to missing the first seder. I commend you all for working on this so far in advance.
I’ve e-mailed some friends, and we’ll see if anyone has a location.
Also: There will, by definition, be three Israeli teams in Atlanta. I think the Israeli regional is this weekend (?). Does anyone know if they would be interested, or have made any plans?
I’ll let you all know if anything pans out.
Nesher [email protected]
(Representing the entire Jewish population of Winnebago - me!)
There has been ofcourse much talk about the seder.
4 teams consist mostly of secular jews, but there are 2 full teams whose members are all religious (they were “kiput” or “yarmulkes”).
Right now we have a place at the convention center for the seder, and the big wigs over here are trying to determine what kind of seder it’s going to be (the big question seems to be if it will include food or not)
obviously anyone wanting to attend is invited, but if there is food we would probably go for a pre-registration kind of thing so we know how much food to get.
You should be in touch with Alisha, she is taking care of things.
as it seems now (update from 20 minutes ago):
-The two religious teams from Israel will be doing a more traditional seder at places they were invited to. they are going to as guests at a seder (as far as I understood) and it is not an open seder for all FIRST teams (though i’m sure you could talk to them an arrange to be part of that!)
-There will be a seder at the dome but arrival of non-Israeli needs to be co-ordinated with Alisha since it will be catered.
(Note: though it will be catered this will not be a full and complete seder. due to logistical problems it is only possible to have cold/room temperature food)
I’ll try and get more concrete information later this week as things unfold and give out a user announcement so everyone can know about it…
feel free to talk to me (here or PM)if you have any questions…
Well, in case you guys need a programmer (or anything else, heck, I’d be a cheerleader just to go with you to ATL), it would be a dream for me to join you =]
Wait! Tottanka, you will not be at the championship event ???
Anyways, I wanted to give some piece of advice to the Israeli teams and everyone else who will visit Atlanta.
The 2 highlights of my stay with Kiryat Motzkin team 2217 last year were the CNN Center and Six Flags amusement park which is outside the city.
Don’t miss those 2 musts !
And more importantly, make sure you don’t skip any of your matches.
As a matter of fact, we skipped a match our alliance won without us!
:o That was embarrassing so make sure you don’t repeat our mistakes!
And last but not least, team 2217 has got a whole stock of stickers and flags from Habanim organization (for the release of the abducted soldiers)
We would hand them to other teams if we won.
You can contact me by phone and take those giveaways.
Good luck to all the Israeli teams!
We hope you will be the first to come home with an award!
Shalom Leav!
How do we contact Alisha? We’d be happy to bring cold food, like Matzot and maror and such. We’d also insist on helping with expenses.
FYI, I contacted some folks from Habonim/Dror (Noar Oved v’Lomed) here and they offered a shul, Hillel House, etc. So there are lots of folks eager to help if we need it. Obviously, the Convention Center is best so nobody has to drive all over Atlanta.
See you in a few weeks,
Nesher
