Yes, this Seder night will be different from the Seder nights we have held in previous years and that we will hold, with God's help, in the years to come. We will do it with the nuclear family, without the guests we had planned to invite. Grandpa will not sit at the head of the table.
Our hearts will shrink when we think of our elderly parents, who are preparing the Seder alone. We will not return from the synagogue to the prepared table, but will pray the holiday prayer at home.
Yes, it will be strange. And yet we will celebrate Passover and do the Seder according to its rules.
This Seder will join hundreds of Passover seders throughout Jewish history that were held under unusual and even difficult conditions. Seders held underground during the time of the Spanish Enemies. Seders held in the death camps of the Holocaust. Seders held in the Gulags (labor camps) in Siberia.
And the truth is, compared to those arrangements, suddenly everything falls into proportion.
Returning to the heart of the holiday
In a way, the upcoming Seder night brings us back to the heart of the holiday. In normal years, we often focus on the surrounding things, the 'decor.' These are certainly important and contribute to the joy of the holiday and the splendor and grandeur of the Seder table, but they can also distract from the main point. This year, we will focus more on the inner essence of the holiday.
In general, this is one of the things that happens to us these days – we give up the noise and the bells and go to the main thing. Weddings were held not as an 'event' behind which there are producers, but as couples establishing a home in Israel. Covenants take place without eye-popping halls and an endless guest list. The baby, who enters into the covenant of our forefather Abraham, is at the center.
This will also be the Seder we will hold this year. There will be those who will have to overcome the difficulty of celebrating a Seder under these circumstances. Elderly people who live alone. Young couples who never thought of holding a Seder at home. Those who were used to going out to a hotel for a Seder. This year we will all sit at home and hold the Seder as a personal mitzvah that connects us to Jewish tradition dating back to the days of the Exodus from Egypt.
The father will take on the grandfather's regular role, reading the Haggadah and telling his children the story of the exodus from slavery to freedom. The grandmother will replace the grandson and ask the grandfather the four questions. And whoever is sitting alone in isolation will make the seder for himself, and will also try to connect to this Jewish continuity.
Invest thought and creativity
But that is the strength of Judaism, that it is not dependent on external circumstances. Jews organized and celebrated the Jewish holidays even when the reality in which they lived was very far from an atmosphere of joy and celebration.
The holiday comes from within us, from the inner faith in our hearts. We create a holiday under any conditions and in any situation.
On the contrary, in this reality we must invest thought and creativity in order to elevate the atmosphere, make the children happy, and compensate ourselves for the canceled plans. And it is worth doing so, because this will be an unforgettable Seder night.
Never before in history has there been a situation where Jews around the world have locked themselves in their homes and established order under such circumstances.
We will celebrate Passover, pass on the Jewish story to our children, drink four cups, eat matzah and maror, and pray that the ancient Jewish prayer, "Next year in Jerusalem," will come true very soon.
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