Poll: 98 Percent of Israelis to Attend Seder

Over 98 percent of Israeli Jews will participate in a Pesach Seder, a poll by the Geocartigraphia organization said. The poll of a representative sample of 500 Israelis of various ages shows that the Seder is perhaps second to circumcision in the Jewish events that Israelis participate in the most.

However, “Seder” has different meanings to different people. For most – 66 percent – the Seder is a family event, where everyone gets together to celebrate the holiday. Only 23 percent saw it primarily as a religious event. Six percent said it had “no meaning” for them, yet they attended one anyway. Only 2 percent said they did not bother to attend one.

More young people saw the Seder as a religious event, with 36.6 percent of those between ages 18-34 saying it was primarily a religious event, compared to 71 percent of Israelis aged 35-54, who saw it as primarily a family event. Not surprisingly, 96 percent of those who termed themselves religious or chareidi saw the Seder as a religious event, compared to 79 percent of those who considered themselves secular, who saw it as a family event. Of those, 61 percent said they followed the traditional Seder as laid out in the Haggadah.

Reflecting the fact that many chareidi families earned less than the national average, 68 percent of families in that position said that the Seder was a religious event for them, compared to just 19 percent of those who earned above the average national income, the poll also showed.