This year we will be observing a bittersweet anniversary. Last year was the first Seder we observed in quarantine and we hoped that it would be our last. For most of us, it will not be.Those of us whose observance allows it will be able to hear the Haggadah with friends over Zoom. But we will not be cooking with grandparents or meeting new babies or hugging dear friends who are home for the holiday. We will be missing loved ones whose faces we will never see at our table again. We will tell our ancient story of Jews sheltering behind blood-marked doors, waiting for the plague to pass over, and moving towards freedom and we will feel it in a new way. We will allow ourselves expressions of our losses even as we celebrate our foundational narrative—our story of freedom.


haggadah Section: Introduction