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The New York Times article
A Seder in Style
The Empire Hotel, as any good student of juicy television will tell you, is owned by Chuck
Bass, the fictional hotshot in the show “Gossip Girl.” On Tuesday night, a dining room there
was taken over by other dark-suited men, and much more modestly clothed women: several
dozen Jews, mostly Orthodox, were there under the crystal chandeliers to celebrate the
second night of Passover.
The Seder was hosted by CCF New York, a Chabad-Lubavitch organization that serves
primarily New York’s French expatriate Jewish community; the Midtown Young Leadership
Committee; and the West Side Jewish Center. It was open to all denominations and cost $75
to attend. Before a single parsley frond was dipped in salt water, David Abergel, an
organizer, insisted we speak to the rabbi, with some explicit instructions about respecting his
orthodoxy: “You can ask the rabbi questions, but you’re not allowed to write or take pictures
on a holiday,” Mr. Abergel said. Surreptitiously recording the rabbi, however, he said upon
inquiry, was fine by him.
We declined.
Stacks of matzo were arranged on the tables while a hip-hop remix of Fatboy Slim’s “Praise
You” thumped in the lounge downstairs. Since we could not take notes, the rabbi, who is
friendly with the hotel’s real owners, told us to e-mail him. “Rabbi is so cool!” Mr. Abergel
said. “He is very Internet-savvy. We are on Facebook. We can be ‘friends’ now.”
He turned toward Nocturnalist’s correspondent: “Rabbi will find you a nice Jewish husband.”
A Seder in Style
The Empire Hotel, as any good student of juicy television will tell you, is owned by Chuck
Bass, the fictional hotshot in the show “Gossip Girl.” On Tuesday night, a dining room there
was taken over by other dark-suited men, and much more modestly clothed women: several
dozen Jews, mostly Orthodox, were there under the crystal chandeliers to celebrate the
second night of Passover.
The Seder was hosted by CCF New York, a Chabad-Lubavitch organization that serves
primarily New York’s French expatriate Jewish community; the Midtown Young Leadership
Committee; and the West Side Jewish Center. It was open to all denominations and cost $75
to attend. Before a single parsley frond was dipped in salt water, David Abergel, an
organizer, insisted we speak to the rabbi, with some explicit instructions about respecting his
orthodoxy: “You can ask the rabbi questions, but you’re not allowed to write or take pictures
on a holiday,” Mr. Abergel said. Surreptitiously recording the rabbi, however, he said upon
inquiry, was fine by him.
We declined.
Stacks of matzo were arranged on the tables while a hip-hop remix of Fatboy Slim’s “Praise
You” thumped in the lounge downstairs. Since we could not take notes, the rabbi, who is
friendly with the hotel’s real owners, told us to e-mail him. “Rabbi is so cool!” Mr. Abergel
said. “He is very Internet-savvy. We are on Facebook. We can be ‘friends’ now.”
He turned toward Nocturnalist’s correspondent: “Rabbi will find you a nice Jewish husband.”