Seder passes over the Internet

For Jodie Kahn and thousands of other reformed Jews celebrating Passover, last night was different from any other because their rabbi officiated from cyberspace.

Kahn gathered with friends and family last evening around a traditional Passover table and alongside a computer with a recorded broadcast of a Seder held last year at Manhattan's Temple Emanu-El.

The Seder is a Passover ceremony commemorating Jewish deliverance from slavery in Egypt. The symbolic foods consumed during the feast include matzoh, bitter herbs, and roasted eggs and bone.

The ceremony is led by the grandfather, father or oldest son, and visitors, by custom are welcome guests.

Kahn and the other guests drank the traditional four cups of wine, tasted the bitter herbs, the sweet haroseth and heard children from the virtual congregation ask the four questions: Why is this night different from any other? Why do we sit reclined? Why do we eat bitter herbs? Why do we eat unleavened bread?

"You have the feeling that you are at a large Seder with a very big congregation. We're using it as a guide," said Kahn, who works for a company that connects clients to the Internet.

The 55-minute program, which includes screen images from a historic Haggadah, a book of prayers and songs that tells the Passover story,

Kahn and her fellow Passover celebrants were among an audience estimated at several thousand who tapped into the virtual a Seder during the 36 hours it was broadcast.

During a two-minute test shortly after it went online at 4 a.m. EST Wednesday (sundown in Australia), more than 250 computer users logged onto the program.

"We're getting hits from Japan, Spain, Australia - it's just incredible," said Robert Gould of WebSine, the company that designed the Web site. "We cannot believe the people are really getting this story and coming to visit us from all over the world."

The Web site can be reached at: http://www.emanuelnyc.org.