By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer

To Rabbi Hillel Katzir, the events of 3,500 years ago – “give or take a week or two” – need to feel as if they were recent.

Katzir uses the word “we” when he talks of the ancient Jews’ deliverance from slavery in Egypt and of God’s intercession. So should every Jew, the rabbi said.

It’s part of the celebration of Passover, which begins at sunset on Saturday and continues for eight days.

Katzir, who leads Temple Shalom Synagogue Center in Auburn, hopes to gather as many as 130 people for a special holiday gathering on Sunday morning. There were about 110 people a year ago.

Since arriving in Auburn just over two years ago, Katzir has reached out to area Jews who have either stopped attending the synagogue or never did.

He has also begun working with Jews in Farmington, meeting with a small group every month. He hopes to do the same in Bethel. Neither area has a synagogue.

Of course, the first night of Passover is typically celebrated in homes, as families gather to tell the Exodus story at a ceremonial meal called a seder. It’s meant to remind Jews that God acted for them, parting the Red Sea and leading them from bondage.

Some scholars believe it is Judaism’s defining holiday, setting up the the belief that God chose Jews to be his “partners in finishing the world’s creation,” Katzir said.

It doesn’t make Jews better than other people, the rabbi said, just held to a higher standard.

In the observance of Passover, tradition calls for them to eat unleavened bread, a slave’s food. Prohibiting yeast in food is also an acknowledgment that the Jews didn’t have time to wait for bread to rise before taking the opportunity to flee Egypt.

It’s all part of the story to be told once again.

“In every generation, each one of us should see ourselves as if we personally came out of Egypt,” Katzir said.