Passover Seder in Hong Kong

Last night Jeff and I had one of those special moments.  We looked at each other and said "Can you believe we are celebrating Passover on the other side of the world?"
And what a wonderful celebration it was!

We attended the UJC (United Jewish Congregation) Passover Seder at the Aberdeen Marina Club http://www.aberdeenmarinaclub.com/ along with 235 guests.  The venue is elegant.  The tables were set beautifully:  a large lazy Susan held a Seder plate, endless bottles of wine, matzo, salt water, horseradish and charoset (not as good as mine).  The chairs were covered (at no extra charge!) and place cards adorned the table.

We sat at table number 3 and had a lot of fun with our fellow guests.   We were a very international group!  Brazilians, French, American, Canadian, and Hong Kongese.   We elected Anna as our captain - she was responsible for breaking and hiding the Afikoman, and doing other rituals.  All of us knew the words and lyrics to the songs, and we sang loud and clear.

As for the meal, the gefilte fish was terrible, but the horseradish was potent enough to please Joe Kotler!  Jeff was in heaven eating the chicken soup with rock-hard matzo balls.  The main course (chicken, of course) was delicious, and the dessert looked as nice as most Passover cakes and tasted equally bland.

Rabbi Stan Zamuk was entertaining and full of fun as he guided all of us through the Haggadah and all of the traditions.  The female chazan, Shani, led us in all of the familiar tunes.  It was very moving when  the young children went up on the stage and sang the Four Questions with Shani.  Jeff and I were choked with emotion as Stan went around the room and asked people to say the first line of the questions in their native language - we heard French, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Tagalog, and Korean.

The children were mostly well-behaved, but when they became obnoxious they were banished to kids' room where the helpers waited to look after them.

We had a wonderful time, it was lively and joyous and it even made Jeff smile!

"L'Shana ha ba'a b'Yerushalayim".  (Next year in Jerusalem - who knows!)