I’ve moved this topic into it’s own thread to try to get some targeted answers.
“FIRST is aware of these issues, but has so many issues on so many levels to deal with for scheduling. It was discussed during the Senior Mentor meetings in NH. I sure wouldn’t want the scheduling job they have to cope with and obviously they are not trying to purposely alienate anyone.
That said, I have a couple of suggestions.
I think there will many students and adults at the Championship who celebrate Passover, which is a major Jewish holiday and starts on Sat. night, including, hopefully, some of the Israeli teams. This could be a great opportunity to at least do a little Seder. I’m sure that FIRST would be willing to work with anyone who took some initiative. Any ideas? If the group can put together some realistic ideas and suggestions, these could be presented to Bob Hammond. I’ll help you deliver the message, if you come up with what you would like to do.”
My name is Tami and I am a parent from Team 22, Northridge CA. We have at least 4 maybe as many as 8 looking for a community Passover Sader. As a suggestion, we could contact the Chabad in the area. Also, check with the University, maybe Hillel is having a service for the students … I know there are major hotels that have Sedar.
As a farfetched idea, I was thinking of going to Atlanta and cooking but I need a kitchen, adult aid, and we need a place to eat.
I’m Genia Gabrielov from W. Lafayette IN, and I would love to help out. This year is gonna be really tough for me, since I keep kosher and am a vegitarian from that. Having a community for a Seder means a lot. I’ll defintly have matzah with me for the trip home and stuff, and at the competition.
Gimme a holler about planning this. Keep in mind that it would have to be simple, since I imagine a few people that don’t know the story or the religion may want to come just to watch.
Would anyone be willing to contact the local Hillel and find out what the options are? It is going to be very difficult to get exact counts, which is going to make this even more of a challenge. Is it reasonable to try to combine a little Seder with a little of the social? Is an abbreviated symbolic seder an option? Let’s talk about what the expectations are and then we can decide if we can make this happen.
Keep in mind that every team will have transportation issues. The only thing I’m worried about is that I really can’t leave my hotel after dark, because my team is responsible for me, and it is my responsibility to respect them.
There may be a hillel near the social site, but that may be hard for some people to go to. If we have a seder it would have to be a Seder Lite probably :).
That’s a good idea Jon, thanks for taking up the responsiblity. However, I have no idea how advisors would feel about that. Hopefully all will be good.
I am still willing to help you with this. One of the biggest issues is figuring out how many are involved. And there will be the issue of students leaving their group, being transported and the concerns of the chaperones about this, as Eugenia has said. Greg, if you could contact the local Hillel and get an idea of how many they could accommodate and when they would need to know. Ditto for Jon. Once we know what is available, then it will be easier to offer it as an option.
I have been in touch with Alisha Lowenstein from FIRST in Israel. We are exploring some options, especially looking at having a “mini” Seder, maybe one hour, not a full meal but to touch on some of the symbolism, songs and rituals, at the event. There are a lot of details to be worked out here, so bear with us as we figure out whether this is doable.
i have been trying to reach some one with no luck yet but i will keep trying…but i thought i might have a good idea for a solution. since that saturday is also the wrap dinner maybe we can convince first to set up a small tent and have it at the wrap party. considering most of us who are interested have tickets to the wrap party but would be unable to eat anything and it is the same money it might work out…would this be something that you could talk to first about…maybe they can send out an email blast to find out the interest
Just a quick update and then I’m off to help run a regional…
Alisha is following up with FIRST this week. We should have more details by next week.Stay tuned.
we were won the best rookie robot or something like that… (i cant remember…) and we were in the fourth place…
we had 4 wins against 2. and we didn’t won them because we were being against 3 very good robot and our Alice’s weren’t the best…
but it was very fun to play in those games.
right now we don’t have enough money to get to Atlanta…
I think it would be fun, I know I’d like to talk to you guys. It’s possible that there would be some of us from my team interested. I guess the problem would be getting people to the seder.
We have gotten the go ahead to plan a seder.
I am working on an email blast to all the teams to get an idea of numbers.
I will be coordinating with Alisha, the FIRST Israeli Regional Director.
This will be a mini-seder.
It will be held for about an hour on Sat. after the comp. ends. This will allow people to go to the social afterwards.
It will not include a full meal, but will include the ritual elements of a traditional seder,
We will probably have to charge $5-10. Depends on numbers.
This is not coordinated by FIRST, but they will assist with space at the venue.
For those wishing a more traditional seder, Alisha will assist you finding a local family.
We need a couple of volunteers to work with Alisha to modify a haggadah and to arrange for printing.
We also need volunteers to work with Alisha to help lead the seder.
Alisha is working with the local Jewish community in Atlanta.
Direct questions and offers of help to my email [email protected]
If it is not against your traditions to allow non-Jews to attend, please include an explanation of a seder in the blast. There may be people who are interested in learning about customs that are not familiar to them.