TAMPA, Fla — This weekend begins the Jewish holiday of Passover. A theater group in Tampa has a long-standing tradition of putting its own creative twist on the Seder, and it’s all for a great cause.
The group is called Kosher Hams and for the past 20 years they’ve been putting on a show called the Greater Seder, combining popular music with Jewish tradition and humor.
When Rande Friedman started Greater Seder back in 2005, he had no idea how popular it would become.
“Proud and amazed to be quite honest with you but we have a great supporting community, and a great supporting cast,” said Friedman.
Performers Jerry Slutzky and Lynn Heller have been with the show since the beginning.
“I’ve been performing in Broadway musicals as a hobby for over 40 years, and so they know I can sing, I can dance, and I also love writing parody,” said Slutzky.
“We get together, and we write, and we laugh, and we come up with funny things that we can do, and the spoof writing of the different Broadway musicals is so much fun,” said Heller.
The group says it’s truly a unique way to celebrate the holiday.
“We’ve done the Music Mensch, we’ve done the Wizard of Schnoz, we turned the musical Grease into Shmaltz,” said Slutzky.
“What I really like about it is all the rabbis and all the synagogues. They all like it even though it’s not a traditional Seder because it’s bringing people back into the community, back into the religion, and gets them involved a little bit, which is really nice,” said Friedman.
They say it doesn’t matter what your religious background is; everyone is welcome to the show, and you don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy it.
“I have a lot of friends who are not Jewish who come because they love it,” said Heller.
All proceeds from ticket sales go to Tampa Jewish Family Services, which provides the Hillsborough County community with everything from a food bank to social wellness counseling to educational programming and financial assistance.
“We’re so blessed to have them. Not only are they an amazing group of individuals that put on the most entertaining show, but the fact that they have such big hearts and that any proceeds that are made at the event come directly to us for our food bank in particular,” said CEO Beth Ann Gemunder.
These performers say two decades of Greater Seder is an amazing achievement, but they also like to think they have enough good ideas to continue for another 20 years.
“The Jews wandered through the desert for 40 years. I mean, I’ll be 92 if I make it to the 40th presentation, but that’s okay,” said Slutzky.
The dinner show is one night only, Sunday, April 13, inside the Jewish Community Center on Howard Avenue. For tickets and more information, go to greaterseder.com
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