Peretz Community Passover Seder 2026

Light is life. Winter passes and the day grows longer. Spring is here and hope is born. The light of Passover (Peysakh) is the light of the struggle for freedom.

This spring, we gather at our annual Peretz Community Seyder and return to our Hagode/Haggadah using traditional texts and our own interpretations. We tell this story over and over, all of us together, to witness the bondage of others, past and presence, and to renew our commitment to the liberation of all people, everywhere.

Alongside readings and songs from our Jewish Secular Humanist community Hagode, the Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir will perform their Passover repertoire with (traditional and non-traditional) songs in Yiddish, Hebrew, Ladino, and English.

Sunday, March 29th, 2026

Doors open at 4pm (seder starts at 4:30pm, dinner at 6pm)

Gallia & Ben Chud Auditorium at the Peretz Centre

6184 Ash St., Vancouver, BC V5Z 3G9​

➤   How to Get Here / Building & Accessibility Information

Parking is available on the street or in the underground parkade.

Food & Family Participation

• Traditional peysakh meals will be provided with vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options (pre-order required via registration form).

• This year, one piece of gefilte fish is included in your ticket!

• If we cannot accommodate your dietary needs, you are welcome to bring your own food (email admin@peretz-centre.org)

• Afikomen and children's activities will be organized by the Peretz Child Activities Committee

• Children and adults are encouraged to sign up to read a portion of the Hagoda (see registration form)

Tickets & Registration

Registration is required before Tuesday, March 24th. We encourage attendees to register early while tickets are available. Members are eligible for 10% off General tickets (code sent via email).

• General (13+): $72 per plate (at cost)

• Child (12 & under): $36 per plate

• Spirit of Passover: Pay what you can (no one will be turned away for lack of funds)

• Pnei Mitzvah students & recent grads (within 5 years): $50 per plate

• Current members of the Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir: $50 per plate

As long as there is one person in the world who does not have enough to eat, so long is our holiday incomplete. Let all who are in distress come and celebrate with us. No one will be turned away for lack of funds! Use the "Spirit of Passover" community-funded ticket option to contribute what you can to this holiday event.

You can help support other members of our community adding a donation to your reservation, or by making a tax-deductible donation via CanadaHelps.

Celebrate a Jewish Secular Humanist Passover

Our secular humanist seder includes both traditional and progressive cultural practices emphasizing our collective power to create a better world. Through readings, songs, and food, we highlight the struggles for gender, economic, social, and climate justice. We acknowledge that this seder takes place on the unceded, traditional territory of the (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples.

Let the annual recounting of our own quest for freedom remind us of the struggles of other oppressed peoples, including Indigenous peoples on whose stolen lands we reside. Passover -- our beloved Peysakh -- is not just a celebration of our own freedom. So long as any person is enslaved, politically or economically, none of us is free. Sit with us in comradeship and let people everywhere be free to do the same -- with us and with one another.

Next year, may we all live in harmony, and in a world at peace.

Image credit: Adapted from Haggadah far Gloyber un Apikorsim by M. Altschuler, Moscow, 1927 (Tsentraler Felker-Farlag fun SSSR), via the Gross Family Collection at Center for Jewish Art.