Happy Pesach!

[Holman]

Tonight is the first night of Passover.

(Full disclosure: I'm not Jewish but my wife is, and we live with her parents [FIL is Jewish] and our semi-Jewish kids.)

Normally we attend a Passover Seder with our friends who really pour it on, setting a lavish all-day table for as many as twenty guests and reading through a creative modern Haggadah that involves two or three hours of fun debate and wine-drinking.

This year there is no such luck as everyone is social-distancing. Nevertheless, my wife has edited up a short Haggadah for the six of us, and already the kitchen smells wonderful. The real issue is that this could very well be my FIL's last Passover. (He is 91 and suffers from dementia and other issues.)

We are trying our best. The holiday is intended as a celebration of liberation, and in modern times many Jews extend that concept far beyond just the historical freedom of ancient Hebrews.

Here is wishing you all the best of the Pesach!

[Z-Corn]

L'Chaim!

I've been completely fiending for latkes so tonight is the night.

[stessier]

I hope you have a good celebration and I'm sorry about your FIL.

[Hipolito]

Joyous Pesach!

[Jag]

Same to all. We aren't religious, so didn't do a Seder if my parents weren't running it. We did do a Zoom with my folks and sister's family. Made matzoh brie and potato latkes. That's about our Passover cooking skill.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

We did a shortened Zoom Seder. It worked out well enough and got the whole extended family together, so that was nice. Unfortunately it meant my Passover dinner wasn’t up to snuff since I had to make it myself.

[Kurth]

Doing our virtual seder tomorrow night. FIL is running the show from Boston, and our family and a couple other close families here in Portland, OR are going to join via Zoom. I've been cooking up a storm today. Maybe to compensate for the fact that this year is going to be virtual, I'm making a very real feast for us to enjoy, taken entirely from the NYT's seder menu this year: Alison Roman's Passover Menu. Already made the matzo ball soup, and the short ribs are seasoned and resting. The ribs are going to take the majority of the time tomorrow, along with the chopped liver (that's a new one for me). Wish me luck!

And a Happy Pesach to everyone!

[Holman]

Passover 2021 began last night. After a year (see OP), we are still social distancing.

We put together a modest ad hoc Seder with a truncated Haggadah and a number of substitutions to the traditional menu and routine. Passover is a very verbal holiday, with narrative and interpretation of one of the oldest liberation stories our civilization maintains. It felt meaningful, and it seemed like a memorial for my Jewish FIL, who passed away in August.

Next year at our friends' big busy Seder across the neighborhood! (Theirs was modest this year too.)

[Kurth]

We had a virtual Seder with my wife's family yesterday. It was nice, but I’m more than ready to get back to actually seeing people in person.

[Holman]

We had a virtual Seder with my wife's family yesterday. It was nice, but I’m more than ready to get back to actually seeing people in person.

+1