The Third SeDER
During the pandemic, I co-produced and edited The Third Seder, a global virtual celebration of Passover featuring the leading artists of the contemporary Yiddish cultural revival. Together with my brother, Rabbi Avram Mlotek, I helped reimagine a beloved 20th-century Yiddish tradition for a new generation—uniting musicians, actors, and performers from around the world in a single, pre-recorded performance. The 90-minute event reached tens of thousands of viewers internationally and was widely recognized as a vibrant expression of hope, continuity, and cultural pride in a time of distance and uncertainty.
The Third Seder follows a tradition begun in the 1960s by young survivors of the Holocaust who sought to express their communal resilience—and that of their beloved mother tongue—through a unique stage performance featuring the Yiddish cultural luminaries of the day. Those original Third Seders were grand annual events held in the ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria under the auspices of the Workers Circle/Arbeter Ring and its visionary education director, Joseph Mlotek, my grandfather.
The Third Seder (2021) was presented by the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan with lead sponsorship from the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, and co-sponsorship from dozens of Yiddish cultural and educational institutions worldwide, including The Forward, The Yiddish Book Center, Ashkenaz Festival, KlezKanada, and others.
Starring, in alphabetical order:
Michael Alpert (Scotland), Shane Baker (USA), Alan Bern (Germany), Nicole Borger (Brazil), Joanne Borts (USA), Josh Dolgin (Canada), Sarah Gordon (USA), Adrienne Greenbaum (USA), Elmore James (USA), Daniel Kahn (Germany), Yanky Lemmer (USA), Marilyn Lerner (Canada), Frank London (USA), Shura Lupovsky (Netherlands), Sahsa Lurie (Germany), Avram Mlotek (USA), Sarah Mlotek (Israel), Zalmen Mlotek (USA), Revaya Mlotek (USA), Eleanor Reissa (USA), Joyce Rosenzweig (USA), Merlin Shepard (UK), Polina Shepard (UK), Dina Slepovitch (USA), Zisl Slepovitch (USA), Steven Skybell (USA), Lorin Sklamberg (USA), Eric Stein (Canada), Theresa Tova (Canada), Susan Lankin-Watts (USA), Tatiana Wechsler (USA), Steven Weintraub (USA), and Michael Winograd (USA).