Weekly Chasidic Story #1426 (5785-28) 9 Nissan 5785 (April 7, 2025)

"The First Passover Seder Ever in Ho Chi Minh City"

The young couple arrived in Vietnam in April 2005, with no language skills and almost no Passover provisions, due to strict baggage allowances. They had five days to find a venue, set up a kosher-for-Passover kitchen and prepare a festive meal for 75 people.

Why this YEAR? First Seder on Saturday night, as in this year as well as that year, happens relatively rarely in the Jewish cycle of holidays.

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The First Passover Seder Ever in Ho Chi Minh City

In 2005, Rabbi Bentzi & Rochie Sudak were designated and authorized by Lubavitch World Headquarters to prepare a large Passover Seder in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Amazingly, this young couple were then married only a little over a year.

They arrived in this foreign land on Monday, April 18, with no language skills and almost no Passover provisions, due to strict baggage allowances. That year the first Seder would be on Saturday night [like this year -yt], so they realized that they would have to find a venue, set up a kosher-for-Passover kitchen and prepare a festive meal for 75 people, all before the start of Shabbat on Friday eve. Also, they needed to make sure that the matza and wine they shipped would arrive on time from Hong Kong.

From the airport, their first stop was to the hotel where they had already reserved a suite of rooms. They stored their bags and immediately called Naomi Lee, a Jewish woman whose number was given to them by Rabbi Mordechai Avtzon, the head shliach of Chabad of Hong Kong [and the Far East -yt]. She took them to Coop Mart, where they filled up seven carts with pots, pans, utensils, wine glasses, tea cups and more.

Back in their hotel room, they started working the phones to call their contacts about the Seder.

Seder invitations had been sent out before their arrival, so by their first full day, Tuesday, they were already receiving responses, mostly by email. They were also busy at an electronics store, purchasing food processors, blenders, ovens, etc. Their determined efforts to find a luxurious venue for the Seder to their dismay were not successful, so they called housekeeping at the hotel to arrange tables in their suite to seat 50.

"Only residents are allowed here," housekeeping told them. "We will not give you extra tables."

They needed to start accepting reservations, but to their shock the internet wasn't working. They called the front desk and were told that no one in the hotel has internet access now. They waited a few hours and called again. This time they told them that the internet hub in Singapore was down, so there was no internet in the whole city. Oh No!

The next day, Wednesday, began with an expedition back to Coop Mart. They bought serving bowls, oven trays, aluminum foil, airtight containers, pitchers, and the main item on the remaining long list, 75 place settings of dinnerware and flatware.

The housekeeping crew's eyes were popping at the sight of this huge shipment. Housekeeping called worriedly to remind them that no parties were allowed. The Sudaks assured them: "This will not be a party. We simply are having dinner with friends."

Another trip to the electronics store gained them a freezer, gas oven and stove, all to be delivered. They returned to the hotel to drop everything off, and then rushed to the produce market. They bought so many fruits and vegetables that they were asked if they were opening a hotel.

After receiving a promise that all the produce would be delivered in the morning, they went back to the apartment, where they collapsed, exhausted, at 8:00 p.m. Little did they realize that this was merely the calm before the storm.

Soon, the quiet was interrupted by the telephone. They leapt to their feet. It was the management again.

"Mr. Sudak. We don't allow gas ranges in the hotel."

They refused to let the equipment be brought up to their suite. Everything they bought was piled on the sidewalk! They frantically negotiated with the hotel until finally they consented to return all the equipment onto the truck and lock its doors, but only for one night.

* * *

Bentzi woke Thursday morning, at 5 a.m, sweating, having dreamed that the veggie order was refused. What will they think when a truck of produce comes for two tourists?

He told the sleepy guy at the front desk that he was expecting a lot of food, because he has to cook a week's worth of food for his Passover holiday.

"Cook? With what, Mr, Sudak? No gas ranges! But no problem. I will send the produce to your room."

Sudak breathed a sigh of relief…which was quickly shoved aside by an unpleasant thought. "How did the night shift guy know about the gas range and my name?"

The produce finally arrived. They put it in one of the bedrooms with the air conditioner on at full blast... a makeshift cold storage room. The helpers started arriving. Naomi Lee's maid and her friends, as well as the waiters from the hotel bar, all wanted to help prepare the Seder. "When do we start?" they asked. They knew they would be paid a kingly sum... one U.S. dollar per hour!

At 8:30 a.m. the Sudaks met with the hotel supervisor and explained to her: "We are planning a dinner and many of your important clients will be there. The U.S. Consul General is coming. And the Chilean Consul General. Are you suggesting turning these people away?"

She relented, "Okay. Use the party room." Great idea! However, she then continued, "But don't use a gas range." Oh well, he thought, I guess we'll have to improvise.

Back at the hotel, preparations were in full swing. Rochie had a crew of maids busy cutting commercial size salads, and squeezing oranges and lemons. Six of the maids almost fainted when he grated the horseradish for marror, the 'bitter herb.'

It appeared as if Rochie was running a marathon to cook all the food. Every spoon, fork, plate, you name it, had a label that takes a night of soaking to remove. Every vegetable, too, had to soak in anti-bacterial soap and then be rinsed with mineral water. Rochie became an expert at non-verbal communication. All instructions were given through hand motions, hastily drawn illustrations, and mostly, just by example.

Friday dawned. The salmon finally arrived. The lady at the fish store found the last new filleting knife, still in the wrapper. Rochie had convinced someone from the store the fish in their kitchen had to be filleted for reasons of kashrut.

Bentzi went yet one more time to Coop Mart. Some of the employees expressed surprise that a rabbi loved shopping so much. He asked for ten tablecloths, and insisted that he had to repeat the order ten times until they finally understood. Whew!

Not so fast. A few minutes later they came back with ten table clocks.

* * *

Two hours to Shabbat and Sam arrived, referred by the Israeli embassy in Hanoi. Sam had been living in Vietnam for ten years. He was married to a Vietnamese woman and raising their children in that culture. He was willing to come to the Seder, but he wanted to make sure it would be roomy, that it would run on schedule and end early! Rabbi Bentzi assured him of all three things, at the same time praying that it really would happen.

Next, they received an email from distraught American parents whose son, John, lived in Vietnam. They wrote, "Our son is not interested in coming, could you email him? He doesn't speak to us; we have nothing to do with him."

Bentzi tried to reach John many times, but no response. At the last minute, though, they got a visit from John. He said he would come to the Seder.

An hour to Shabbat. The salmon smelled fantastic. Rochie got it together against all odds.

Shabbat ended. It was now Saturday night, Passover. Rochie opened the evening by welcoming everyone and inviting the women to light candles for the holiday while their families stood around them.

The party room was "L" shaped, with a large double door in-between. Bentzi decided to seat the guests separately: Americans and those who spoke English well in one room, Israelis and any others who preferred to speak Hebrew in the other. The young rabbi stood in the doorway, and did his best to keep both rooms in sync. All songs were sung in both languages.

Seder ended at midnight. It was a huge success! The Sudaks could barely move, due to exhaustion and relief. It was unbelievable. They had seated exactly 75 guests, including a group that came with the U.S. consul in Ho Chi Minh City, who subsequently became a very close friend. How Rochie managed a gourmet meal under these circumstances is beyond human comprehension, mused Bentzi. It was a miracle of hard work, ingenuity, and Divine help.

A postscript about John. For most of the Seder, he kept to himself and didn't participate. But by the end of the Seder, his face was flushed. With tears in his eyes, he said, "Of all the things my parents did for me my whole life, sending me to this Seder was the best."

In the following weeks:
The Sudaks were clearly in sync, saying as one that hectic as it had been, it was one of the happiest weeks of their lives!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Source: Adapted by Yerachmiel Tilles from an article in the NeShei Chabad Newsletter, a year after the unique Seder in Vietnam.

Why this year?
First Seder on Saturday night, as in this year as well as that year, happens relatively rarely in the Jewish cycle of holidays.

Biographical note:
Rabbi Bentzion ("Bentzi") Sudak, born in 5739 (Dec. 1978), is a leader in the "Chabad Hamstead Garden Suburb" synagogue and community. Also, in 2009 he was appointed the Chief Executive of Chabad-Lubavitch in UK.

Yerachmiel Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, and chief editor of this website (and of KabbalaOnline.org). He has hundreds of published stories to his credit, and many have been translated into other languages. He tells them live at Ascent nearly every Saturday night.

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