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.
Jessica in Natter:
Basically the entire rear exterior needs to be replaced (bumper, trunk door, the back/side bits that connect to the bumper). Between this and the new hybrid converter/battery last year, I am rapidly approaching Prius of Thebes territory.
Because “Prius of Thebes” made me giggle,
Jessica:
Age ranking at 111%-137% of bones my age
I've read the Locked Tomb series too recently to not read this as "I have 37% more bones than most people my age" which sounds creepy, but impressive!
Steph:
They might not all be *her* bones.
Cass:
They are now.
MattTBF:
Finders keepers!
Natter 78:
-t:
You figured out how to start the dryer, Tep, you've done enough. Hit the showers.
Steph L.:
Yessssssss!
Dana:
Good luck figuring out how to start the shower.
Steph L.:
Noooooooo!
Vortex: Random question -- what is the difference between a novella and a novelette?
megan walker: It's only a novelette if it comes from the novel region of France, otherwise it's a sparkling short story.
lisah: I have a stupid cold and suddenly have barely any sense of smell and it’s FREAKING ME OUT. Smell is one of my superpowers.
-t: Oh no! Kryptonite sucks
Tom Scola: Did you get tested for COVID?
Steph L. :Kryptonite doesn't cause Covid.
Tom Scola: Green kryptonite doesn’t cause Covid.
erkiaj:
But I'm also fifty-two, and kind of fresh out of "little lady" energy--it's always been an awkward fit, on its best day. which probably peaked at the same time as, say Tears for Fears.
More wit and wisdom from Shir:
Oh, nothing felt normal here in years. So it is not normalcy I'm trying to maintain, it's the sense that I am a human being with a free will and choice in this world, and that another world is possible. War and fascism tend to shrink your sense of the world and being in the world, and what other perspectives look and feel like. You can very easily become a stranger to yourself and drown in doom scrolling and getting in your own head. I'm actively trying to fight it and I've been asking myself repeatedly how can I stay humane in this madness. A singer I love wrote that we are surrounded with so much death, and we must actively seek beauty and art. He's not wrong. It's a human necessity.
