The festival of Pesach has finished, but which community in Asia eventually held the largest Seder gathering? Jewish Times Asia is in the process of getting the nittygritty of the final numbers.

Nepal’s world-famous Passover Seder, held annually high in the Himalayas in the capital city of Kathmandu, reaching a peak of some 2,000 guests last year on its 30th anniversary, stands as a perpetual icon of Chabad-Lubavitch’s “no mountain too tall to climb” approach to Jewish education and outreach.

Well, a few countries to the southeast and a sea away in Thailand on the island of Koh Samui, the annual mega-affair in Kathmandu, commonly dubbed “The World’s Largest Seder”, now has company – lots of company.

This year, Koh Samui was threatening to outstrip Kathmandu’s numbers by as many as 1,000 guests. “Yes, in fact we are looking forward with much excitement to yet another great experience with even more people this year,” said Rabbi Mendel Goldshmid, who codirects the Koh Samui ChabadLubavitch organisation and its Seders with his wife, Sara.

Goldshmid added: “We are planning new features this year such as a separate Seder in English in addition to our usual large Seder in Hebrew, as the majority of our guests come from Israel. The whole affair is the high point of our year.”

Last year, one of his three Seders – three of 14 total held in the tropical Southeast Asian nation – was already in the 2,500-guest range.

Still, in the end, we all agree that it’s not really the numbers that matter. Chabad’s Asian Seder sprawl – from Nepal to Thailand to Cambodia to China – and elsewhere in the world is being produced by one big happy family with a common vision.

As reported in April issue of Jewish Times Asia, local dignitaries, Jewish community members and others gathered on 31 March for the grand opening event at the Grand Hyatt Seoul of the first-ever mikveh (a bath for ritual immersion) to be completed in South Korea.

Among those who attended the event were US Ambassador South Korea Harry B. Harris and US Army Chaplain Rabbi Henry Soussan, who served as master of ceremonies. The mayor of Seoul, Park Won-Soon, sent a video greeting with former South Korea National Assembly member Jin Park, who was in attendance.

“We were overwhelmed by everyone’s reaction,” Rabbi Osher Litzman, who serves as co-director of Chabad of Korea with his wife Mussy, told Chabad.org. “Everyone found the mikveh design appealing. Each person had their own reason for liking the design, but all about the unique and welcoming experience they felt by entering the mikveh room.”

In addition to a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the mivkah, the dedication celebration included a gala dinner at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Seoul. Among the evening’s speakers was Israel’s Consul in South Korea Anat Evyatar, who expressed her happiness at having a mikveh in the capital city.