First Seder Already Took Place

Last night at 2:00 AM Eastern Time in New York began the first public Pesach Seder in the world in the South Island of New Zealand.

Rabbi Shmuel Kopel, Shliach to the South Island, and six bochurim from the Melbourne Smicha program organized seders in the cities of Queenstown, Nelson and Dunedin.

Not only are these seders the first in the world but they are also the furthest location from the Middle East where the story Pesach happened.

“We are expecting 500 people,” Rabbi Kopel said before the holiday began there. “I hope that being the furthest Galus, Moshiach will come here first to bring us back to Israel.”

He said the seders could not have happened without vital support from the Merkos Shlichus program, headed by Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky.

“Every year Merkos ensures that these sedarim happen, there is no way I would be able serve this many people on my own.” says Rabbi Kopel.