These days - Wednesday and Thursday... the 23rd and 24th day of these notes about The Virus were spent doing preparations for Passover. Cooking and setting a script were things I did. I made my persian style charoset. It came out ok... a bit dry and not so finely chopped as sometimes but tasty with ginger and cayenne and lots of dried fruit and nuts. I also made a potato kugel and that was very good.... not excellent but very good.
And i set the script for my/our 2nd night seder. We went to George and Hila's for 1st night. Both night were ZOOM Seders for the health of all and for connecting in spite of The Virus.
For the "record" here is my script which everyone got as an attachment. When we did the 2nd night Seder we went through all on the script.. pretty much as noted. There were discussions and additions and input from others. Those who came were - Nancy and Bill, Arnie and Fern, Sarah, Amy, Susan Hildreth, Michael Hirsch, Jonathan and Joojeung, Deanne and me, Al Sokolow. and Denise.
And here is the script:
PASSOVER, 2ND NITE, 2020
INTRO: A
little housekeeping…
ZOOM… mute a
lot and unmute as you need to and I may mute all along the way. Unmute and speak
up… wave hands as you want to say something.
NOW - First
of all – Thank you all for being here. Passover is the ultimate home Jewish
celebration and this year some homes only have one person. I hope that those people
who are not here and are alone know… it is ok to celebrate alone.
It IS nice
we are all together in THIS special year of sheltering in place for the safety
and health of all. Thank you for doing that! Our Seder tonight, on zoom, may
be, a bit shorter and abridged and maybe re-ordered and with time for
discussion and comments, too. AND – when it is time for the Festive Meal we will
consider how to proceed.
In a moment
we will have a check in but let us first light the Festival Candles…
THE PRAYER..
for the candles.
We begin all
our holidays with the lighting of candles… So we may see the new Jewish day
that begins at night.. So we may see what we are doing. So we may see happiness
and suffering in our world. So we can see to do good with great joy.
Now that we
can see each other in the lights of the festival – let’s check in… as they say…
Whoever wants to say how they are doing and IF any help is needed.
PAUSE..
ALSO – now that we can see … let me show you the Seder
Plate…..
SO -- THE FIRST STEP…
of our journey …. FILL YOUR GLASSES…
We will have the first of four glasses of Wine – the symbol of
joy and happiness. We thank God that we are able to gather together again with
friends and family to observe this Festival. Let us say The Kiddush: FROM THE HAGGADAH….
ASK SOMEONE TO READ TRANSLATION…. From haggadah…
And…
Shehechy-yanu… from haggadah
The four
cups of wine we drink this evening honor G-d’s four promises to us in Torah as
G-d says: ONE: “I will take you out from under the burdens of Egypt; TWO I will deliver you from their bondage; THREE:
I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments; and FOUR:
I will take you to Me for a people.”
In drinking
the first of the four cups of wine, we thank God for giving us life, for
sustaining us, and allowing us to reach this moment. We know that life is
fragile. Each day is a gift to be cherished and no moment should be taken for
granted. We thank God for helping us maintain a life of meaning and we are
thankful for having opportunities to sanctify our lives by performing good
deeds that make a difference in the world.
THE SECOND
STEP is a symbolic washing of our hands so we are cleansed before our service
and I feel sure we have all done this… especially in these days of The Virus..
THE THIRD
STEP … is the eating of greens and the first DIPPING to honor spring and the
sweat of work and the tears of the suffering of slaves.
OUR STEPS
FOUR AND FIVE have us breaking one of the three ceremonial Matzahs and
recognizing Matzah as the Bread of Affliction and welcoming all into our homes
who are in need. At this time we will open our door to welcome in hospitality all
who may be hunger and tonight we will also welcome Elijah who we hope will come
in our days with blessing of peace.
SING Ha
Lachma…..
Sing –
Eliyahu hanvavie…
Next are the
QUESTIONS and the types of people who question, and the Story in answer..
There is a
lot to know and remember… and be curious about… There are the traditional FOUR
QUESTIONS and in the haggadah a listing of the FOUR CHILDREN.
SING:
Mah
Nish-tana… etc. etc.. and then in
English..
A new
version – for these times of The Virus – of the four children:
The
inquisitive child – wise?
The worried
child – does not trust?
The
compassionate child – loving.
The
resilient child… - we will all be ok!
AND MY FOUR
QUESTIONS, which are for me and maybe you have others?
Why
is this YEAR different from any other?
What
does FREEDOM mean and/or what are the many faces of Freedom as we shelter in
place?
To
what have we been enslaved and now miss, need, or find truly and really
UNnecessary?
AND:
How are we all living in this special time? Stress of many types are real for
many of us. How are we doing?
MY ANSWERS
in full for your to read at your leasure… - I will highlight.
This year is one of a great crisis – for our personal health, our economic health, our national
health, and our planet’s health. Health
for all people is in terrible crisis.
Freedom is a hard thing to define.
Like art we like when we see it – do we know freedom when we see or have it? Reb
Nachman of Bratzlav says “Freedom is the
world of joy”.
As for being a slave – I have been a slave of many thoughts and behaviors
and this time of The Virus is providing time for reflection and change as basic routines and activities are
in disarray. I must take long walks instead of doing the elliptical at the gym.
I have time to write… and read… and can watch more TV or movies…. With no
excuses necessary. And I am not snacking
in the middle of the afternoon or late at night, by choice.
Finally – the stress of these days means I have a consciousness of how I live and think and behave and feel.
These days I both express more care to more people and am shown and accept more
care from more people and it feels good to give and accept and to get and to
take. The best in people has come out –
as Anne Frank said: “in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at
heart.”
QUESTIONS FROM OTHERS????
AND NOW – LET’S
TELL THE STORY…..which is THE TORAH task of our Festival of Passover.
The story is
essentially this:
The Children of
Israel… Israel being third patriarch - Jacob son of Issac who was the the son
of Abraham – goes to Egypt with all his family to escape the ravishes of a
great famine. Egypt becomes a place of refuge for the Israelites. Joseph the
son of Jacob the patriarch has risen to power and grants land to his father and
family in Goshen where they live and prosper.
After several hundred years the
Israelites have become numerous and the Egyptians begin to fear them and that
fear gives them the idea to enslave and subjugate the Israelites to weaken and
destroy them. (SING – V’HE-SHAY AMDAH) The
Israelites in their suffering call up to G-d who hears their cry and sends a
redeemer, Moses, who with signs and wonders causes the Pharoah, the King of
Egypt to let the people of Israel, GO…!!!
THE SIGNS AND WONDERS.. WERE THE
PLAGUES… LIST THE TEN…. AND DEPLETE SOME WINE FROM YOUR SECOND GLASS OF WINE.
The Israelites leave quickly and
their bread does not have time to rise … and so today we remember the time of
their rushed leaving by eating a flat, un-risen bread – the unleavened bread we
call Matzah. Matzah may also have been eaten by the Israelites as slaves as we
call Matzah the Bread of Affliction.
There IS more to the story… there is
the frightening scene at the Reed Sea as the Egyptians, haveing changed their
minds about letting the people go are pursuing the Children of Israel to kill
and/or take them back into slavery. On one side is the sea and coming on the
other side are the soldiers of Egypt… And then the miracle of the parting of
the sea allows the Israelites to cross and then the parting of the waters ends
and drowns the Egyptian soldiers. While Miriam, the sister of Moses, leads the
people in a song of happiness and joy .. G-d quiets his angels in heaven
because those Egyptians are his children, too, and their deaths may have been
necessary but are not to be celebrated in Heaven. We humans were not heavenly
then and today we are not heavenly enough, in my opinion. We all have a ways to
go towards true freedom for all.
Gratitude was and is part of the
human psyche and is a way, I think, to become more free and we now will sing
the song of gratitude – Dayenu, which essentially recounts the story of
Passover…
AND NOW… we will do as Rabban Gamliel
said when he taught we must explain the following three symbols of Passover.
NOW WE COME TO JUST BEFORE THE
FESTIVE MEAL OF OUR SEDER –
We have the second glass of wine
We taste the matzah
We dip the bitter herbs into the
charoset
We eat the Hillel sandwich of matzah
and bitter herbs…
AND NOW WE EAT…..
All are invited to remain on zoom and
chat… or let us say our good byes, our good nights.. with NEXT YEAR… IN
JERUSALOM … AND/OR NEXT YEAR IN PERSON!!
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