East Lyme — During an informal ceremony that alternated between English and Hebrew, more than a dozen friends and family members of Gail and Steven Weber gathered Saturday at their home to celebrate the second day of Passover with a traditional Seder supper.

"No one goes to temple for a Seder," said Gail Weber, president of Temple Emanu-El in Waterford, chair of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut board of directors and co-owner with her husband of Minuteman Press in New London and Norwich.

The Seder is a joyous occasion, said Rabbi Alan Lefkowitz, a friend of the Webers who leads Congregation Beth Ahm in Windsor and oversaw the hourlong ceremony. It is traditionally held in the homes of Jewish families on the first or second day of Passover, which celebrates the Israelites' freedom from slavery under Egyptian pharaohs.

"It's just special the way everyone feels about being together," Gail Weber said at the start of the Seder, in which 14 people managed to pack elbow-to-elbow at one long table barely contained in the confines of a narrow dining room.

This was the 12th Seder at the Webers' home, and it was clear from the banter that everyone enjoyed the annual ritual, though some grumbled good-naturedly about having to wait an hour to hear the story of Passover when whiffs of chicken, matzo balls, chopped liver and gefilte fish had them craving some food.

"This is our 12th year — we know the story," joked the Webers' son Aaron, in from Los Angeles.

Lefkowitz recounted the familiar story of the Israelites' enslavement and the 10 plagues that were visited upon the Egyptians by God to punish them for their mistreatment of the Jews. God passed over homes of the Israelites because Jews smeared their doorways with lamb's blood to distinguish themselves from their oppressors, according to the story.

The pharaoh eventually relented and let the Israelites leave Egypt, but then changed his mind and sent the army out to slaughter them. Miraculously, according to Jewish legend, the Red Sea parted, allowing the Israelites to leave while drowning the Egyptians who dared to follow them.

The Seder ritual is full of symbolism, Lefkowitz said, including the eating of bitter herbs to recognize the difficulties of slavery; the consumption of matzo to reflect that the Jews' sudden flight had to be accomplished so quickly, they couldn't wait for the bread to rise; the use of roasted shank bones to represent the sacrificial lambs of the Passover story, and roasted egg to represent new beginnings.

"The egg is the only food that the longer we cook it, the harder it gets," Lefkowitz said. "Life's hard. We come up against hard stuff. Life strengthens us so we come out like the egg."

The Seder also included the singing of songs, reading of prayers, drinking of wine and lighting of holiday candles.

"The light shines on the world, and the world can certainly use it right now," Lefkowitz said.

On the lighter side, Lefkowitz led the group in the "Ballad of the Four Children," in which adults are instructed how to tell the Passover story to the wise, the wicked, the simple and the rebellious. The song was sung to the tune of "Clementine."

The legend of Moses and the burning bush also is part of the Seder tradition. But Lefkowitz was quick to point out that Jews are not supposed to celebrate Moses' vanquishment of the Egyptians — or any of their military foes — unlike what happened, he said, after terrorists struck U.S. targets on 9/11.

"If your enemy fails, do not celebrate," he said. "We do not cheer because they are still God's creation."

He said of all the plagues that befell the Egyptians, the only one that brought everyone together was the plague of darkness.

"What happens when there's darkness?" he asked.

"There's no cable," said Andrew Goldman of Ledyard, to appreciative laughter.

Actually, Lefkowitz explained, darkness brought people together because the Jews did not choose to loot during this time — unlike what happened in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

"We are a people that are respectful of people's property," he said.

l.howard@theday.com

Twitter: @KingstonLeeHow