Mobility, assimilation, and the passage of time have frayed so many traditions. Not so the Tepman family seders. Though no one at the gatherings still bears the name, Jacob and Temma Tepman’s descendants — now Bergers, Presses, Danzigers, and many others — gather with as much eagerness as they did at the clan’s first American seder, back in 1905.

Jacob and Temma and their six daughters and one son gathered in Jersey City for the festive meal soon after they emigrated from Pinsk, on the Russian-Polish border. Over the years, the family grew, and many moved away — but never too far. And they and then their children took turns orchestrating and hosting the annual seder. MORE…