We have the Seder plate, the matzoh, the brisket, more desserts than a person should eat, but this Passover will be different from all other Passovers, a new and troubling version of itself.  Other Jewish holidays are holier, but none is more communal. We Jews are, by definition, not social distancers; it takes 10 to make a minyan, the quorum required for public prayer. And a Passover Seder is the ultimate antithesis of social distancing. We are commanded to come together to retell the Passover story, to share it with our children, even those too young to comprehend.

One measure of the Passover imperative to gather came in Israel, where a group of Orthodox rabbis authorized videoconferencing for Seders as long as the link was launched before the holiday began — this despite the fact that Orthodox Jews would ordinarily not be permitted to use electricity, as on the sabbath. The exception, the rabbis wrote, was justified “to remove sadness from adults and the elderly, to give them motivation to continue our traditions.”

So, this Passover is different but we are more grateful for it than ever. We are grateful for the doctors, nurses, EMTs, pharmacists, janitors, policemen, Amazon, Instacart and Doordash delivery people, truckdrivers and grocery clerks. We pray for their safety and the safety of their families.

We are grateful most of all because we are together and supporting one another during this time. Some of our beautiful loved ones are here and others are far away but in safe communities and carefully riding out this corona storm. Let us say a Shehecheyanu for Zoom, for bringing us all together and enabling the Seder, because I don’t know that we’ve ever had so many family members and friends together at one time. Usually, we get one kid but not another, one family but not all. Tonight, everyone’s here.

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, shehecheyanu, v'kiy'manu, v'higiyanu laz'man hazeh ME’A ZOOM.

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of all, who has kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this season WITH ZOOM.


haggadah Section: Introduction