San Diego, CA (special) -- The regional Anti-Defamation League on Monday, April 9, hosted what it hopes will become an annual tradition, "a Third Night Seder," intended to "open a window to the Jewish community" for Gentiles who are curious about exactly what occurs at the festive Passover meal.

Guests at the first event, held at the Doubletree Hotel in Mission Valley, primarily were members of the law enforcement, civil rights and legal communities--people with whom the ADL works on an ongoing basis in combatting discrimination and hate.

Ironically, that very morning graffiti of a racist and anti-Semitic nature was being removed from La Jolla High School--proof, if any were needed, that more education and more law enforcement may be required in this community. The school had marked "diversity week" just the week before.

ADL's Regional Chairman Richard Barton told the 100 assembled guests that "you are all here because you are all our allies in this fight against hatred, against bigotry and the things that continue to haunt our society."

Barton, an attorney, suggested that "bigotry starts with ... ignorance." 

"Yes," he added, "you can attribute some of it to evil, but so much of it is attributable simply to ignorance, and hopefully what we will do tonight is to educate ourselves about one and another. And we are opening a window into the Jewish community, hopefully so that you will learn more about us, on a night, and at a time, which we consider to be very significant."

Each guest's place was set with a small seder plate, containing the symbolic foods of Passover, which Barton explained one by one. Morris Casuto, ADL's regional director, pronounced the blessings over the four glasses of wine. The children of ADL staff member Tina Malka -- Maya, 5, and Matan, 8, -- chanted in Hebrew the Four Questions which initiate the retelling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt.

Instead of reading the story from the Haggadah, Barton conducted what might be described as a "pop quiz," asking guests such questions about how the Israelites got to Egypt in the first place, why did the Pharaoh fear the Israelites, what caused Moses to go into exile, and so forth. 

Passover blessings and readings concerning the holiday's essential message of freedom were shared by Jews and by members of the Gentile community. Among those called to the microphone were Jodyne Roseman of ADL's Regional Advisory Board; Deputy District Attorney Hector Jiminez; Kelly Gwinn, 13, daughter of San Diego City Attorney Casey Gwinn; Loren Casuto, son of ADL's regional director; civil rights advocate Clara Harris; FBI special agent Bill Gore; Jacob Sapochnick of ADL's Steinberg Leadership Institute, and Craig Kessler of ADL's Student Alliance for Equality.

Among the listeners were Superior Court Judge Robert Coates and his son, Cameron, who that same morning had witnessed the graffiti at La Jolla High School before it was painted out.

Young Coates, who plays catcher on the high school baseball team, told me that he saw on the administration building such nazi symbols as "SS" with lightning bolts drawn through them, as well as the name of a school counselor written on the outside of the school's administration building.

San Diego Police Detective Al Vitela later told HERITAGE that several members of the school staff were the subjects of graffiti; that the extensive vandalism also included swastikas, and that there was a spraypainted protest against the school's new track as well as a depiction of a marijuana leaf. Vitela said it could not be determined immediately whether there was more than one perpetrator. As names of high school staff members were known, the suspect is believed to be or to have been affiliated with the school. 

Without alluding to the La Jolla vandalism, Barton told the "Third Night" Passover assemblage that Jews mix the sweet charoset on their seder plates with bitter herbs, for the same reason that they break a glass (remembering the destruction of the Temple) at a wedding: as a recognition that in life there is both good and evil, and to view the world with balance. 

"I found that part most interesting," said attorney Dan Holsenback who attended the seder along with his wife, Jana, a YMCA staffmember.

Called the "Third Night" seder because it came on the third night of Passover, after many Jewish families already had seders for two nights, the ADL event was subjected by the organization's staff members to some intense analysis the next morning. 

Asking each other how the event could be made even better, and more meaningful for participants, the staff considered suggestions that ranged from changing seating arrangements so that a Jewish host was at every table to allocating more speaking roles during the ceremony. 

ADL staff members took thank you telephone calls throughout the day from guests who had attended the event. According to Casuto: "The general comment we heard was that people felt honored to be invited, to be included. They found the program informative, humorous, meaningful and touching."

Although he has attended seders in private homes, City Attorney Casey Gwinn told HERITAGE he felt that ADL's Third Night seder was a wonderful learning experience, not only for his daughter, who read "The Innocent Child" passage from the Haggadah, but for himself as well.

"To have a chance to share a part of what you believe, to attain a deeper understanding -- I certainly gained understanding of the whole meaning of Passover seeing the teenagers and young adults there." The fact that the youngsters were important participants in the seder had the effect of "drawing them in, passing on the leadership to them," Gwinn said.

The city attorney added: "I hope that the community does more of those events. They're a great way to raise awareness, and to cause people outside the Jewish community to have appreciation of your beliefs and values, and even to share in them. 

"It is a very intimate setting that you normally don't get," Gwinn said. Participating in a seder affords far greater insights into Jewish beliefs than studying about them in a class or reading about them in a book, he added.

Judge Coates commented that he too was particularly impressed by the way Jewish tradition is passed by families from one generation to another--whether at a seder or through bar/bat mitzvah training.

The judge said there is no similar mechanism for passing on such traditions in many non-Jewish families. Regarding the bar/bat mitzvah ceremony, he suggested that "the only analagous thing in America is the process by which a young boy in the Boy Scouts goes through the 860 accomplishments to become an Eagle Scout .... and then is told you are a 'marked man.'"

"In modern society, with the media blaring its inane messages, voices of parents are muted these days, unless control is put on the input of the media," the judge added. "When my kids were six, we turned off the TV, except to watch baseball games, science and sometimes the news."