The Passover Seder in the Time of COVID-19
What does it mean to celebrate Passover in the time of a plague? Of ritualized hand washing? Of changing definitions of freedom? Some discussion questions from our family’s (virtual and in-person) Seder this year.
The Passover Seder is, at its heart, a storytelling performance. It is a meal eaten in a certain order, with certain foods to symbolize certain things, while certain songs are sung and certain histories are told. Rather than just retelling an ancient story, the Seder meal allows us to experience it, to taste and to smell and to remember it. In many families and traditions, it is supposed to be silly and fun and relaxed. You lean on pillows at the table, you sing songs you learned as children, you invite anyone to join you (Jewish or not), you drink a whole lotta wine. And hopefully, by doing this, you make the retelling of a holiday history that could feel stale and distanced from us feel engaging to everyone, year after year. Because the reason to retell any holiday story, any history, is so that we can remember and feel like we are invested in, the morals and lessons of that story.
The Passover story is about freedom; we are asked each year to celebrate our own freedom but also to remember that we will never be truly free until everyone is free. But this year, we celebrated in quarantine! During a plague! My grandparents joined us via video call! The questions we ask ourselves during the Passover seder, the lessons we are asked to participate in once again, all felt more relevant than ever. What does the Passover story mean in the time of COVID-19?
Some of the questions from our Passover discussion:
FREEDOM
Passover is about freedom.
What does freedom mean this year?
In what ways do we feel less free? More free?
How is freedom affecting people differently right now?
Who gets to be free? Who needs to be freed?
What work can we be doing to free people?
HAND WASHING
There are two ritual hand washings in the Passover Seder.
How can we look at hand washing right now as a sacred act in our daily practices?
As a moment of pause and reflection?
As a ritual we do for our communities?
PLAGUES
In the Passover story, ten plagues warn pharaoh to change his behaviour.
Living through a plague right now, how can we listen to its symbolism?
What about our behaviour do we/will we need to change?
What should we be listening to?
What does this moment symbolize?
If you chat about any of these, I’d love to hear about it :-)
Happy Pesach.
