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Preparing a Small Quarantined Seder Table
Contributed by Joelle Boedecker

  • TOP HAGGADAHS FOR 2023

2020 is the year of the Quarantine Seder. Perhaps you're joining a virtual seder, or you've decided to host a small, intimate Seder with only the members of your house. Perhaps you're reading this in the future and it's just a difficult year to travel to be with friends or family. Perhaps you can't afford the cost of setting up a perfect seder this year.

Whatever your reason and need, we can all use a dose of self-forgiveness as we plan a small Seder. It can be a real challenge (if not impossible) any year to gather all the supplies needed to fill your seder plate and set your seder table. So, I offer up these suggestions, for anyone that is comfortable being flexible in your table setting and kosher for Passover rules.

  • Seder Plate - this can be as simple as a single dinner plate. The seder plate is an opportunity to be creative with what each item represents to you. These are just representations of the story of slavery, sacrifice, hope, and freedom.  You don't NEED a shankbone on your seder plate, promise. Your plate can include:
    • something bitter (horseradish is tradition, but anything bitter in your kitchen could work. This year lots of people are using lemons - when life gives you lemons)
    • something sweet (charoset is tradition, it's just apples, walnuts, and wine mixed together to represent mortar, but you can try other things, perhaps a smoothie, trail mix, or apple sauce)
    • something green (parsley or celery is traditional, or just any vegetable, root vegetables totally count)
    • something that represents birth (egg is tradition, but a plant or herb  or round items like a potato or an onion could all work)
    • something that represents a sacrifice (lamb shank bone is tradition, but this is whatever sacrifice means to you right now, maybe it's a representation of what you don't have access to during quarantine)
    • something that doesn't belong on the seder plate (orange is tradition to acknowledge that everyone belongs at our Seder table, but this can literally be anything this year, anything at all)
       
  • Matzah - this is a tough one to find alternatives for, but if you can't find or make matzah, you can just have three pieces of paper or cardboard. When you eat matzah later in the seder, you can replace it with whatever you think would taste ok with your "something sweet" and "something bitter", maybe a chip or an unleavened cracker.
     
  • Four Cups of Wine - Don't have enough wine? just bring enough of your beverage of choice, any kind of juice, or just water if that's all you have. 
     
  • Salt Water - presumably you have access to salt and water, just put a pinch of salt in a cup of water, that's good enough
     
  • Elijah's cup - Can't afford to waste any beverages? just pour a drop into Elijah's cup, he'll be visiting a lot more houses this year. ;-)
     
  • Miriam's cup - this would just be a simple cup of water, you can do it!
haggadah Section: Introduction

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