NORWICH – After a 20 year hiatus, Passover Seder was held at the Jewish Community Center on 72 S. Broad St. Tuesday night with approximately 35 members of the Jewish community in attendance.

The celebration is part of this week’s most celebrated holiday of the year, Passover, which began at sundown Monday, and commemorates the Exodus of the Israelites from ancient Egypt. At a ritual dinner called Seder, Jews from throughout the region recounted how Moses championed his people's freedom, and how God sent plagues upon the Egyptians when the pharaoh refused to grant it. The story tells how God parted the Red Sea, allowing the Jews to escape, and how they wondered in the dessert for 40 years before arriving in Canaan, their Promised Land.

Participants attributed the gathering to the efforts of Rabbi Dawn Rose from Brooklyn who travels to the area for such special holidays and occasions.

“Dawn has been exceptional. She pulled us together. Our community here has changed from a dying congregation, with little motivation to do anything, to a positive one,” said Dr. Linda Horovitz of Norwich.

During the celebration, Rabbi Rose said she recognized “so little life coming together” when she visited Norwich back in 2005. “You’ve come out of narrow straights. You did this. You’ve effected your own coming out of Israel and that’s respectable.”