You Are Allowed to Have A Shvach Seder: Adapted from Rabbi Susan P. Fendrick

It is so easy in these times to feel we are not achieving Pandemic Perfection. Am I being productive? Am I declutterting? Am I running cool activities for my kids? Am I keeping up with my workout routine? Am I learning tons of new things and attending all the Zooms? Am I handling everything online like a boss? Are I and my spouse holding down two full time jobs while supervising three young children in their online learning for multiple hours a day? 

You are living through an international pandemic. For all of the support you have, for all of the jokes people are making, for all of the new Torah that is being learned... you are experiencing a collective trauma as an individual, within the delimited space of your own home and your own life. You may be managing others' experience of that trauma. You are dealing with challenges you have never faced before. You may feel scared, angry, depressed or lost. 

So light the candles, bless the wine and the holiday. Eat the symbols. Be together. Talk about some things. Read some things. Be energized or be tired. Do things you never did before. Do the minimum, do the maximum. But go to sleep knowing you have fulfilled your obligation. 

You do not have to make up for the Seder you're not having, or the Seder you wish you could have had. Do this year's Seder however that works for you this year. Do your best to keep yourself and your family healthy and safe. Connect to the themes of Passover - getting out of narrow places, celebrating life, gratitude, remembering our obligations to each other and all others. You are allowed to have a Shvach seder. Dayeinu, it is more than enough.


haggadah Section: Introduction