In honor of 11 Nissan, Rabbi Meir Moscowitz, regional director of Chabad of Illinois, was invited to give the invocation at both the state senate and the house of representatives in the Illinois state capitol.

“The Rebbe taught that education is not just about accumulating knowledge; rather, it is about building character and a strong moral backbone,”Moscowitz said. “This is also the theme of the seder: ‘You shall teach your children.'”

After sharing his remarks, he and Rabbi Avraham Kagan, emissary to River North and director of government affairs for Chabad-Lubavitch of Illinois, met with Jewish legislators and distributed shmura matzah and Passover literature.

They also met with Illinois lieutenant governor Evelyn Sanguinetti and other state leaders.

In what has by now become a tradition, Governor signed a proclamation declaring 11 Nissan as “Education and Sharing Day.”

The visit culminated in a ‘model seder’ at the governor’s home led by Rabbi Avraham Kagan and joined by emissary Rabbi Dovid Tiechtel of nearby University of Illinois.