Happy Friday!
We are nearly at the finish line of the week!
Hooray!
I have had a typical semi-retirement week.
Some days have been busy, some days have been just the opposite.
But I have always found things to do to keep me occupied.
One of the things that I have kept myself occupied with is planning for Passover, which begins at sunset on Saturday.
It is probably my favorite of all the Jewish holidays, because it is 1,000-percent family oriented.
You get together with your loved ones, you do the seder, you discuss why this night is different from all other nights, and you eat until you can’t get up from your chair at the table.
And you have matzoh, which I love so much that it often gives me “matzoh stomach” because I eat too much of it.
The coronavirus certainly has shaped our seder, and it did last year.
But in my family, the absence of my father will shape the seders we have—one each on the first two nights of the holiday—even more.
My father was the patriarch of our family, our male link to our past, and his absence will certainly be felt … but he would certainly want us to go on with the traditions of the holiday, so we are going to do it as best as we can.
Here is what I wrote just a year ago about Passover, in Rant #2,382, dated April 8, 2020. Remember, we were really just at the beginning of the pandemic when we celebrated the holiday last year. Now we are in something of the stretch run of the virus, we hope, but it bears worth mentioning again what I said, so here it is in edited form:
“Passover is one of the most joyous holidays celebrated by Jews the world over.
This year, when we ask the four questions beginning with "Why is this night different from other nights?," we will certainly have an answer to that question that we never thought we would ever have in our lifetimes.
We are celebrating the eight-day holiday with seders that will be quite different from any we have had before.
Due to the coronavirus and social distancing edicts, this most joyous of family holidays will be celebrated in isolation from our loved ones. Instead of having friends and family at our Passover table, we will simply have those who we are closest with, figuratively and literally.
In my house, where my parents live on the first floor and my family lives on the second, we are going to have two seders. Sure, the five of us--myself, my wife and son, and my parents--do interact with each other, we feel it is safer, in particular since my wife is on the front lines as a bank teller. My father, in particular, is susceptible to just about anything due to his recent physical problems, so we feel it is better just to celebrate alone this year.”
But nothing stops Passover, not even a pandemic.
Here is what I wrote about Passover in Rant No. 1,185, dated April 14, 2014. Although edited a bit, it still stands true in 2021:
"For Jews around the world, Passover is here, which means the first seder, the first of two seders during the eight-day observance, will be held.
Passover celebrates the Jews' flight from Egypt in Biblical times, and it also solidifies the fact that the Jewish religion remains a strong one.
It is a family holiday, one where young and old alike gather to go over the traditions of the holiday, first and foremost, and at the center of the celebration, the recitation of "The Four Questions."
Matzoh signifies the most visible link to the holiday.
When the Jews, who were kept in slavery by the Egyptians but were later expelled, fled Egypt, they had to do it quickly. Whatever foodstuffs they brought with them had to be used quickly, and thus, any materials that they used to create bread did not have time to rise, and became a cracker-like food known as matzoh.
So matzoh, rather than bread, is eaten on this holiday, and personally, I love matzoh, and for eight days, that is what I exist on.
Matzoh may be the most visible link to Passover, but the most important link during the holiday is known as "The Four Questions," when the youngest children attending the seder ask the adults "Why is this night different than all other nights?"
Actually, anyone can read "The Four Questions," but the younger people usually do it. It is the real centerpiece of the celebration, and it is something that all participants look forward to.
The first two nights are the seder nights, with families gathering to look at the Jews' flight from Egypt, and the modern seders are real family gatherings, with the traditions reinforced.
Modern influences are also included, and new Kosher for Passover foods are always being created to whet the appetites of all who are present.
And other things permeate the seder, including world events.
The holiday takes lots of preparation, lots of cooking, but it is all well worth it.”
Yes it does, and yes, it is all well worth it.
My family will have a small, somewhat impromptu seder on Saturday, and then on Sunday, we will have the the main seder at my sister’s house.
They have all had the coronavirus, have had their shots, and are doing well.
Our family has not had the virus, but my mother has had her two shots, I have had one, and my wife and son will get their shots somewhere down the line.
It will be a great weekend, but when we look to the head of the table, my father won’t be there.
That will take some getting used to, but we will have our seder knowing that he is there in spirit, and that spirit carries over to each and every one of us.
To my Jewish friends, have a great holiday, and to all, have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.
We are nearly at the finish line of the week!
Hooray!
I have had a typical semi-retirement week.
Some days have been busy, some days have been just the opposite.
But I have always found things to do to keep me occupied.
One of the things that I have kept myself occupied with is planning for Passover, which begins at sunset on Saturday.
It is probably my favorite of all the Jewish holidays, because it is 1,000-percent family oriented.
You get together with your loved ones, you do the seder, you discuss why this night is different from all other nights, and you eat until you can’t get up from your chair at the table.
And you have matzoh, which I love so much that it often gives me “matzoh stomach” because I eat too much of it.
The coronavirus certainly has shaped our seder, and it did last year.
But in my family, the absence of my father will shape the seders we have—one each on the first two nights of the holiday—even more.
My father was the patriarch of our family, our male link to our past, and his absence will certainly be felt … but he would certainly want us to go on with the traditions of the holiday, so we are going to do it as best as we can.
Here is what I wrote just a year ago about Passover, in Rant #2,382, dated April 8, 2020. Remember, we were really just at the beginning of the pandemic when we celebrated the holiday last year. Now we are in something of the stretch run of the virus, we hope, but it bears worth mentioning again what I said, so here it is in edited form:
“Passover is one of the most joyous holidays celebrated by Jews the world over.
This year, when we ask the four questions beginning with "Why is this night different from other nights?," we will certainly have an answer to that question that we never thought we would ever have in our lifetimes.
We are celebrating the eight-day holiday with seders that will be quite different from any we have had before.
Due to the coronavirus and social distancing edicts, this most joyous of family holidays will be celebrated in isolation from our loved ones. Instead of having friends and family at our Passover table, we will simply have those who we are closest with, figuratively and literally.
In my house, where my parents live on the first floor and my family lives on the second, we are going to have two seders. Sure, the five of us--myself, my wife and son, and my parents--do interact with each other, we feel it is safer, in particular since my wife is on the front lines as a bank teller. My father, in particular, is susceptible to just about anything due to his recent physical problems, so we feel it is better just to celebrate alone this year.”
But nothing stops Passover, not even a pandemic.
Here is what I wrote about Passover in Rant No. 1,185, dated April 14, 2014. Although edited a bit, it still stands true in 2021:
"For Jews around the world, Passover is here, which means the first seder, the first of two seders during the eight-day observance, will be held.
Passover celebrates the Jews' flight from Egypt in Biblical times, and it also solidifies the fact that the Jewish religion remains a strong one.
It is a family holiday, one where young and old alike gather to go over the traditions of the holiday, first and foremost, and at the center of the celebration, the recitation of "The Four Questions."
Matzoh signifies the most visible link to the holiday.
When the Jews, who were kept in slavery by the Egyptians but were later expelled, fled Egypt, they had to do it quickly. Whatever foodstuffs they brought with them had to be used quickly, and thus, any materials that they used to create bread did not have time to rise, and became a cracker-like food known as matzoh.
So matzoh, rather than bread, is eaten on this holiday, and personally, I love matzoh, and for eight days, that is what I exist on.
Matzoh may be the most visible link to Passover, but the most important link during the holiday is known as "The Four Questions," when the youngest children attending the seder ask the adults "Why is this night different than all other nights?"
Actually, anyone can read "The Four Questions," but the younger people usually do it. It is the real centerpiece of the celebration, and it is something that all participants look forward to.
The first two nights are the seder nights, with families gathering to look at the Jews' flight from Egypt, and the modern seders are real family gatherings, with the traditions reinforced.
Modern influences are also included, and new Kosher for Passover foods are always being created to whet the appetites of all who are present.
And other things permeate the seder, including world events.
The holiday takes lots of preparation, lots of cooking, but it is all well worth it.”
Yes it does, and yes, it is all well worth it.
My family will have a small, somewhat impromptu seder on Saturday, and then on Sunday, we will have the the main seder at my sister’s house.
They have all had the coronavirus, have had their shots, and are doing well.
Our family has not had the virus, but my mother has had her two shots, I have had one, and my wife and son will get their shots somewhere down the line.
It will be a great weekend, but when we look to the head of the table, my father won’t be there.
That will take some getting used to, but we will have our seder knowing that he is there in spirit, and that spirit carries over to each and every one of us.
To my Jewish friends, have a great holiday, and to all, have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.
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