The north-eastern Italian city of Trieste rests just a few minutes away from the former communist state of Slovenia, Yugoslovia. In past decades the lives of Italian Jews have been remarkably different from those residing north of the border. This Passover Rabbi Ariel Haddad, of the Chabad Center of Trieste, was determined to spend the holiday in the capital, Ljubljana, and conduct traditional Passover seders for this community of several hundred Jews.

Along with his wife, Chabad Center co-director Esther and their four children, Rabbi Haddad rented Ljubljana's most prestigious address - the Grand Hotel Union - for the seders, importing Passover provisions from Italy. The family traveled days in advance to make the hotel kitchen kosher for Passover and prepare the holiday food. To Rabbi Haddad's great satisfaction more than eighty guests from Ljubljana and beyond, arrived on the first night's Seder. Several families from Trieste also joined the celebration.

"The seders conjured up memories and emotions throughout the Jewish community," recalls Rabbi Haddad. "Jewish families have been living in this region for thousands of years."

The Haddads, who established the Chabad Center in Trieste eight years ago, found that the community in Ljubljana still maintains an intensive interest in all things Jewish. Several seder guests approached Rabbi Haddad with requests to assist in sending their children to a Jewish nursery school and others wanted to enroll older students in yeshiva.

According to co-Director Esther Haddad: "Having been deprived of Jewish education and programs for so long has only intensified their longings. Passover in Slovenia taught us that the Jewish community here is alive and we in Trieste must work to provide them with everything that they need."