New Passover Traditions Emerge From Pandemic Year Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again. × Search search POPULAR SEARCHES SUGGESTED LINKS Join AARP for just $9 per year when you sign up for a 5-year term. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Leaving AARP.org Website You are now leaving AARP.org and going to a website that is not operated by AARP. A different privacy policy and terms of service will apply.
New Passover Traditions Emerge From Pandemic Year
This year s celebrations are a hybrid of virtual and in-person events
Sam Feinsilver/Getty Images Last year via Zoom but this year in person? That's the question many Jews are asking as they clean, shop and cook in preparation for Passover. As people get ready to celebrate the biblical story of the Jews’ liberation from slavery, families are figuring out the best way to do it safely. and new federal guidance that allows some in-person gathering has some Jews tentatively moving away from the year of Zoom festivals, bar mitzvahs, weddings and funerals. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Roberta Safer, 81, and her husband, Klaus Zwilsky, 88, of Palm Springs, California, have both had COVID-19 and been vaccinated, and they are excited to gather with extended family. After what Safer calls a “depressing” Zoom seder last year, they'll host 14 people this year. and the table extended outside for others. Safer says she doesn't think they'll go on Zoom at all. "When you have pictures of people and handing around the phone or on your laptop, it just isn't the same,” she says. Hybrid seder traditions emerge
The eight-day Passover holiday begins with the seder, a celebratory meal at which Jews gather with family and friends to read from the Haggadah, a sort of guide with prayers, blessings and stories. It's an interactive, often intergenerational meal in which elders pass along the history of the Jewish people and children are encouraged to ask questions. And while there are prescribed rituals and rules, each family enjoys its own customs. Traditionally, families living outside Israel have two seders, one on each of the first two nights of the holiday. Before the pandemic, Heidi Skolnik, 59, and her husband, Michael Glantz, 62, of Bergen County, New Jersey, hosted 40 people from his family on the first night and 25 from her side on the second. In 2020, they still had two separate seders — but on Zoom. ” Skolnik says. “Here we were with this obstacle, but we figured out a way to observe and persevere. In some ways the holiday became even more meaningful.” Skolnik creates her own Haggadah, connecting the ancient story of the Jews with news of the day for tableside discussion. In 2020, her version of the Haggadah focused on inclusion and she sent it to relatives who tuned in online from both coasts. They read from the Haggadah as a group but then ate separately. Although the experience was warm and loving, Skolnik says she missed the side conversations, the spontaneous joking and laughing as cousins poke each other and share secrets. Entertainment $3 off popcorn and soft drink combos See more Entertainment offers > This year, on the first night, Skolnik and Glantz will host an in-person seder for eight people, seven of whom have been vaccinated. (Some others may join by Zoom.) The second night will be only on Zoom. Skolnik has her Haggadah ready, and this year's focus will be on . “The cool thing about Passover is just how relevant it is.” Andrew Silow-Carroll and daughter Kayla connected with extended family on Zoom during Passover 2020. Courtesy Silow-Carroll family Passing on Passover traditions
While most Jews have seders at home, some assemble in restaurants and others turn the holiday into a vacation, traveling to hotel- and resort-based seders around the world. Raphi Bloom, co-owner of TotallyJewishTravel.com, a kosher and Jewish travel site, says the usual slate of 130 different Passover programs is now down to about 30 for this year due to the pandemic. Ephraim Nagar, owner of Talia's, a popular kosher restaurant on Manhattan's Upper West Side, says it is still doing two seatings, indoors and outdoors, for Saturday and Sunday evenings’ seders, but operating at only 50 percent capacity per New York state regulations. Continued concerns about mean many people will stick with a fully virtual holiday this year. AARP NEWSLETTERS %{ newsLetterPromoText }% %{ description }% Subscribe More on home-family AARP NEWSLETTERS %{ newsLetterPromoText }% %{ description }% Subscribe AARP VALUE & MEMBER BENEFITS See more Health & Wellness offers > See more Flights & Vacation Packages offers > See more Finances offers > See more Health & Wellness offers > SAVE MONEY WITH THESE LIMITED-TIME OFFERS