Shir, on Seder in a crisis.
It took a lot of thinking on how to prepare for Seder this year, when nothing feels normal and you can't really plan anything. And it's a holiday of freedom, and we are where we are, and there are the hostages. How can one have a Seder like this?
Eventually, two things helped me this year. The first, 'Seder' also means order. And I've been organizing alternative Seders for a while. What's a better year to call for a new order in the universe than this year? The other one was an interpretation of the text of the Haggada. It was a reminder that the text itself refers to a call for freedom when nothing was certain and everything seemed doomed. And Jews read this text for years, at least some of them had their own uncertainties and doominess. So in this year, I can do it too.
I'm not having an ordinary friends' Seder. Some elements will be missing on pourpse. Others added on purpose (lemon on the Seder plate, symbolizes the hostages. Other than the color, "missing an opportunity" and sourness are a wordplay in Hebrew. This holiday in particular is full of wordplays). It'll be outdoors, since so many of us lost their homes this year, and most of us had to stay indoors and take shelter when we were supposed to be elsewhere. 2/3 of my holiday donations are going to Gaza this year. But a Seder - a certain kind of Seder - will take place. Ordnung muss sein.
Have a good Passover, Jewistas. May our Seders bring back the good kind of order into this world.